EOC President Spyros Capralos presented Michele Kang with the IOC Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Champions Award for Europe at the IWG Women & Sport Global Summit in Birmingham on 9 July.
The award recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to gender equality, diversity and inclusion in and through sport. Six trophies are presented each year, one at world level and one for each continent.
President Capralos presented the award alongside EOC GEDI Commission Chair Anneke van Zanen-Nieberg and French NOC President Amelie Oudea-Castera, while EOC Executive Committee member Annamarie Phelps is Co-Chair of the IWG Women & Sport Global Executive and was in attendance.
President Capralos said: “Michele Kang is someone who has successfully funded, built and demanded change in women’s football.
“Ms Kang is the founder of Kynisca Sports International, the first global multi-club organisation dedicated exclusively to women’s football. She owns the Washington Spirit in the US, OL Lyonnes women’s team in France and London City Lionesses here in England.
“She has put her resources and her conviction behind a simple but powerful belief: that equal means equal results.”
He added: “The Kang Women’s Institute, focused on female athlete health and performance, is another expression of that commitment. Michele Kang is changing what women’s sport looks like, and what it can become.”
President Capralos also used his address to speak on the EOC’s own commitment to gender equality under its Strategic Agenda 2030, noting that seven of the EOC’s 16 Executive Committee members are women.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry was also in Birmingham to present the world-level award went to Abhijit Bhattacharya at the Summit. A former captain of the Indian men’s national volleyball team, Bhattacharya has launched large-scale, inclusive grassroots sports programmes for children in rural and underserved communities in Assam, northeastern India, ensuring equal access and visibility for girls and boys in sport.
The six winners for 2025 are:
- Global: Abhijit Bhattacharya
- Africa: Racheal Kundananji
- Americas: Mónica Elvira Franco Luzcando
- Asia: Kim Yeon-koung OLY
- Europe: Michele Kang
- Oceania: Robyn Cockburn
