Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the National Olympic Committee and Chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, has welcomed the participants of the 1st International Sports Innovation Conference and hopes the conference will help spread the values of tolerance and peace across the globe.

Organised by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, which is a Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative, the first International Sports Innovation Conference will be held on November 18 at the Hilton Al Habtoor under the theme "Tolerance and Peace in Sport”, and some of the world’s leading ambassadors of sports and tolerance will be sharing their experience at the conference.

Leading the list of speakers is Carl Lewis, one of the most celebrated athletes in Olympic history, and Kirsty Coventry, Africa’s most decorated Olympian and now Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, alongside Dr Sonia Ben Cheikh, Tunisia's Minister of Youth and Sports, Ms Daniela Bas, Director of the Division For Inclusive Social Development at the United Nation's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and former Egyptian judoka Mohamed Ali Rashwan, winner of a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games, and the 1985 and 1987 World Judo Championships.

Welcoming the participants, Sheikh Ahmed said: "Coinciding with the Year of Tolerance in the UAE and in sync with the objectives of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, we are pleased to work towards realising the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to empower communities and promote the noble values of cooperation, peace and tolerance through sports.

"We have launched a number of different initiatives to propagate these values, and the newest of them is this pioneering International Sports Innovation Conference, which has brought together sports legends, who have left an indelible mark in the history of the Olympic Games and international sports, top government officials and promising young Arab sports heroes for a dialogue on ‘Tolerance and Peace in Sport’.

"We have selected a very diverse group of speakers representing different generations, cultures and nationalities in order to emphasise the universality of sports as a language of tolerance and peace. An athlete is a role model not just for the youth of his homeland, but for young and old around the globe.

"We hope that our sports sector in the UAE and the Arab world will benefit from this conference, and we hope this conference will help further the noble values of tolerance, peace and unity around the globe.”

The Conference will start with Bas and Rashwan talking about "Sports - Language of Tolerance”, while Ben Cheikh and Coventry, winner of seven swimming Olympic medals, will take centre stage in the second session, titled "Sports Diplomacy.”