I first would like to thank the International Olympic Academy for this kind invitation to address the 61st International Session for Young Participants. It is a great pleasure for me to speak to you today on behalf of the International University Sports Federation and to share my observations and experiences with you on the topic of “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport and exercise”.

The topics I will cover in my presentation will include the following:

• An overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport and exercise in different sport areas.

• The challenges of the global pandemic for an international sports federation like FISU.

• Finally, I will conclude with some consequences and opportunities for the future which I would like to discuss with you after the presentation.

When the outbreak of a lung disease with an as yet unknown cause was announced in Wuhan in China on 31 December 2019, no one could have guessed its extent around the world. Even when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 epidemic a global pandemic on 11 March 2020, no one could have had any idea of the challenges facing all countries and their populations in all areas of life – including sport.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport and exercise in general

The “Corona” regulations, sanitary measures and lockdowns in many countries, regions and cities had a significant impact on the sporting activities of the population. In most of the countries, mass sport was totally stopped during several periods. Even if some exercises and training were sometimes still organised, in many places it was only possible under sanitary restrictions or at a distance (i.e.online). The consequences for sport clubs, gyms and other sports providers were serious in some cases: often sport clubs saw a decline in membership – especially among children and young people. The German Olympic Sports Confederation, for example, announced that around one million members had been lost in 2020. Financial difficulties exist in many sport clubs – especially those that run their own sports facilities and employ full-time staff. Commercial sports providers also saw their existence threatened in many cases. In those times of the pandemic, they had running costs, but no new customers. In addition, they had to cope with cancellations of contracts due to the long closure of gyms and sports facilities. And this resulting lack of exercise – even if some people took up sports such as jogging and cycling during the pandemic – had extensive consequences for the population. You can see this clearly in the age group of children and young people. 60 minutes per day – that’s how long children and adolescents should exercise, according to the World Health Organization. But even before the pandemic, fewer and fewer children and teenagers achieved this minimum amount of exercise. The biggest consequence of inactivity during the pandemic was, in many cases, mainly overweight. The situation was exacerbated by children and young people staying at home and sitting in front of the TV and computer for several hours a day. In addition to the lack of exercise, children and young people in particular suffer from the lack of social contact. A study by the University Hospital of Hamburg found that 71 percent of children feel burdened by the contact restrictions. This isolation has consequence because social interaction is the most important developmental driver that children and teenagers have. So, exchange with peers is extremely important. In addition, there is a lack of exchange with role models and other educational instances.

The situation for the young age groups was exacerbated by the fact that physical education classes at school – for many children and young people the only time when they exercise at all – were also cancelled or only conducted digitally. This meant that important skills in sport, but also for life outside sport, could not be acquired. Swimming is one such skill. In Germany, for example, fewer and fewer children are learning to swim, and this was intensified during the pandemic because the swimming pools were closed for many weeks and swimming lessons for children could not take place. Similarly, the pandemic situation affected students and universities. These were also closed, buildings could no longer be entered and classes were also conducted digitally worldwide. University sport was disrupted, university sports facilities were closed, and courses were taught online. Sports and physical activity students were particularly hit by these measures and many universities did not offer practical sports courses at all or only reduced and under sanitary measures.

While the effects on grassroot, school and university sport were often not in the public spotlight, elite sport was frequently the subject of news coverage and the media. Like the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, a number of major sporting events had to be either postponed or cancelled. This also affected the sports leagues in most countries. When they were held, it was under massive restrictions, sanitary concepts and with few or no spectators. The absence of spectators, but also the withdrawal of sponsors, no income from match days and events as well as a lack of financial reserves often put sports federations and sports leagues in financial difficulties. Besides all these problems, federations and organisers of international major sport events had to deal with another problem: often, the inhabitants of the host city or nation became very sceptical about hosting an international sporting event – they were afraid that the virus or new mutations of it could be brought in by foreign delegation members, media representatives or spectators. This could be seen, for example, in the case of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the Japanese population: more than 2/3 of whom opposed the hosting of the Games in their country.

When we look at elite sport, we must not forget one group: the athletes. The consequences of the Corona pandemic were significant for them. Different areas can be identified in which athletes were affected by the pandemic. In addition to the cancellation of competitions and difficult training conditions – especially in sports that have to be played indoors, require physical contact or need specific sports facilities – the athletes also suffered corona-related income losses. A study by the German Sport University Cologne shows this for Germany: the average gross income of Germany’s junior athletes fell by 17% per month in 2020 compared to the previous year; for Olympic and Paralympic athletes the decline is even higher with 25%. In addition, athletes complain about mental problems, a lack of motivation and goals due to the cancellation of competitions and the postponement of major sporting events such as the Olympic Games in Tokyo. When competitions took place, this often led to a risk of infection. The sanitary concepts applied by national and international organisers at sporting events varied and were also followed more or less strictly by the participating athletes and their accompanying staff. Especially outside the competition areas and competition halls, infections seem to be possible, for example in warm-up halls. Long-COVID must also be mentioned in this context. More than 500 athletes from Germany alone have or had to deal with a COVID infection. Some of them have long-term consequences of a COVID infection that endanger their careers. Athletes have already reported back long-COVID symptoms, including shortness of breath, reduced performance, heart problems and coordination problems. A “return to sport” is not yet foreseeable for many athletes and it is also unclear whether they will reach their previous performance level again.

Challenges for FISU as an international sports federation

Like all other national, continental, and international sports federations, the International University Sports Federation FISU was, and is still affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before I speak about FISU’s challenges in the pandemic, allow me to introduce FISU to you in a film.

Since its founding in 1949, the International University Sports Federation is the key driver to expand the role and reach of university sport around the world. FISU believes that sports values and sports practice work in perfect synchronicity within one’s university studies.

FISU offers opportunity and inspiration to students around the world to play sport. The health, wellbeing, and experiences that students gain from sport help them become exemplary leading members of society. Hence, FISU’s motto of Excellence in Mind and Body.

In keeping with this adage, FISU organises world-class sports and educational events, all with the mission of providing university students with the opportunities to pursue excellence in mind and body.

As an organisation, FISU had to go through the same challenges as those described earlier during my presentation. Not only is FISU an event owner, an event organiser and an international governing body, but it is also on a more administrative level, an employer, and an organisation with many stakeholders connected in various ways.

As many International Sports Federations, FISU’s headquarter is in Lausanne, Switzerland, and consequently was subject to the rules established by the Swiss confederation and the region. Those rules were strict, and very protective for the organisation’s employees and required a lot of adaptation of its working processes. With the financial assistance of the regional and federal authorities, FISU could keep its entire team, but this team has had to develop a new way of working. This is the case of many employees around the world, but in the business of sport events, replacing in-person contact by video conferences in many cases, has drastically changed the atmosphere and policies. When the situation requires it, sport is flexible, adaptable, and resilient, and this was demonstrated in FISU with the staff working from home for more than a year, while having to adapt to new dates for its events, new formats for its activities but with very few cancellations, making the organisation as a whole, very proud of what was achieved.

This requested cooperation from all the staff, but also investment for new equipment, software and office adaptation to make the working environment in accordance with the requirements of the authorities and of the projects.

The challenges for FISU in the organisation of its activities

FISU traditionally hosts many events. Its Winter and Summer World University Games are organised every two years (both in the same year), on the years without Games, the World University Championships take over, and every year FISU organises several educational activities.

Like every other event owner around the world, FISU was impacted by the pandemic and has had to take measures to adapt. The most visible of those measures have been the postponement of the Lucerne 2021 FISU Winter Universiade – from January to December 2021 – and of the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games – from August 2021 to June 2022. Many FISU World University Championships had to be cancelled in 2020, while the educational events – the FISU World Forum and the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy – planned physically, respectively in Budapest, Hungary and Kazan, Russian Federation had to be hosted online. This again, demonstrated the adaptability, the flexibility and the efforts put in place to guarantee the continuity of the University Sports Movement in this difficult time for everyone involved.

One of the most important impacts, but also one of the least visible from the outside have been the difficulties faced by FISU’s member associations. As for many international governing bodies, FISU is composed of a diverse membership spread across the globe. Even if the impact of the pandemic has been seen all around the world, the measures taken to tackle COVID by respective governments and authorities have been different. This has led to inequalities on the continuation of the university sport activities, the chances for athletes to train but also the financial situation of members – often funded by governments, which suddenly have reallocated funds towards the fight against COVID. FISU as the international governing body has done its best to monitor the situation but also to assist its members and ensure the continuity of the University Sports Movement in those difficult times.

The pandemic, highlighting the resilience and the adaptation of FISU

Even if we can obviously not say that the pandemic has been a positive thing, we can nevertheless note that it has contributed to highlight the level of resilience and adaptation an organisation like FISU is capable of.

Indeed, during what can be described as a crisis, FISU has demonstrated that it was able to maintain most of its activities – some of which have taken new formats which might sustain in the future – and even to launch new projects and activities. During those difficult times, FISU has launched “Healthy Campus” a project dedicated to supporting and promoting good sanitary practices and active lifestyles. This period was also the occasion for FISU to promote through its social media platforms several challenges for students, insisting on the importance to stay active despite the restrictions and the inability to access the campuses – and sometimes even to simply go outside.

The adaptation of the FISU educational events using an online platform did not only enable the events to take place, but also to reach new participants that would not have been able to travel physically; this is the type of legacy that might remain from the crisis we are currently experiencing.

Conclusions

The COVID pandemic has created many difficulties for the whole world of sport. It has also put in the spotlight the diversity and large number of stakeholders involved in sport and their role in the movement. In the past months, the impact of this worldwide and lasting crisis on sport has been financial, social, economic but also personal and cultural as we have seen it in all the elements presented above. Through the example of FISU and its stakeholders, I hope to have shown you how, we, within the University Sports Movement have dealt – and still deal – with this situation. I also hope that through my presentation and the discussion we will have around it, we will be identifying sustainable lessons and that we will agree on one of the key learnings of this pandemic: sport and the sport movement are resilient, they contribute strongly to the well-being and to the social inclusion – and to many other aspects of our lives of course. Sport is strong, sport is necessary and the sport movement with its diversity of stakeholders is resilient and despite the hits it has taken during those past months, it will surely reinvent itself to come back stronger, like an athlete after a challenging match. We all hope that the difficult times of this pandemic will soon be behind us for good, and I take this opportunity to thank you all for your attention and remain at your disposal for any questions you might have.

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BURK Verena, "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sport and exercise", in:K. Georgiadis(ed.), Olympic Games and the Pandemic: Opportunities, Challenges and Changes , 61th International Session for Young Participants (Ancient Olympia, 17-23/09/2021), International Olympic Academy, Athens, 2022, pp.40-46.

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