The 41st General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees was held at Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) premises in Rome, during 7th and 8th December. Although, due to bad weather, some of the officials of the Olympic movement were prevented from reaching the Italian capital, including IOC President Jacques Rogge, the Assembly was still attended by over 300 delegates, representatives of all 49 member countries, EOC, IOC , the organizing committees of the Olympic Games program, International Federations, sports, and other institutions. MOC delegation was led by President Dusan Simonovic. The head of the Assembly was Patrick Hickey, head of the EOC, and the Mayor of Rome, Mr. Gianni Alemanno, gave a welcoming speech and expressed hope that Rome could once again host the Olympic Games in 2024, and these thoughts were also shared by Luca Pancalli, Vice President of CONI. Delegates have been given information about numerous reports from different institutions and commissions of EOC from the previous year, as well as reports of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), IOC's Olympic Solidarity and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The Organizing Committees for IOC and EOC's competitions – Summer and Winter Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) and Games of the Small States of Europe, had their presentations. Among others, Sebastian Coe has given the final Report from the Olympic Games "London 2012." This General Assembly will be remembered by a historic decision to launch European Games. Apart from Armenia who did not vote, European countries have strongly supported the project, with 38 votes in favor, 8 against and 2 abstentions. According to the president of EOC Patrick Hickey, the aim of the European Olympic family is, not to make a copy of the Olympics, but to create a different, innovative event and, above all, to support young athletes. European games will be held every four years, one year before the summer Olympic Games, and possibly these will also serve as qualifications for the Olympic Games. The General Assembly has decided that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will be the host for the first Games in 2015. Sports program has not yet been defined, so far the scheduled list includes 15 sports from the Olympic program, and two non-Olympic, and the expected number of participants is around 7,000. According to the agreements, the European games will include: handball, volleyball, rugby, boxing, kayaking, fencing, judo, shooting, archery, taekwondo, table tennis, badminton and triathlon, with the ongoing negotiations with European Athletics Federations about swimming, gymnastics and wrestling. From non-Olympic sports: competitive dances and karate is to be decided. EOC has awarded its annual prizes to prominent sports workers in Rome, and the reward "Piotr Nurowski" for the best young athlete, went to sixteen-year old Lithuanian swimmer Ruta Meilutite, who won the gold medal at the London Olympics.
