As a member of the IOC, Sir Philip Craven was involved in voting for all 40 recommendations proposed by President Thomas Bach, even the Paralympics was mentioned in only one of them.  

That proposal was to "strengthen relationships with organisations managing sport for people with different abilities".

Bach claimed some priorities, including a continuation of the strong relationship between the IOC and IPC, were not included because they were already accepted and in motion.

"There is business as usual between the two bodies," Sir Philip told insidethegames afterwards.

"But there has been a definite deepening and strengthening in our relations, which has been very obvious from my perspective in the last 12 months, since the President got his feet under the table.

"The new TV Channel has already been opened up to the Paralympic Movement.

"We have spoken to him [Bach] about it on several occasions and have also spoken to Yiannis Exarchos, head of Olympic Broadcasting Services, and it's a very exciting concept."

International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven speaking alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Sochi 2014 Paralympics ©Getty Images



When asked about changes to the bidding process, and the impact of a recommendation that could allow more sports to be held outside host cities, Sir Philip claimed he was not worried at this stage about things becoming logistically harder for Paralympic athletes.

They remain "very closely consulted" in the entire process, he said.

He added: "Bidding cities present their bid as a Paralympic as well as an Olympic bid, and we are confident, that wherever the Paralympic Games take place, we can do a good job."

Sir Philip also underlined the importance of using sport as an educational tool, the subject of Agenda 2020 recommendation 22, which vows to "strengthen the IOC's partnership with UNESCO to include sport and its values in school curricula worldwide".

This was the subject of his only question in the debate and is something the IPC has already worked strongly towards, with making sure this is achieved over a four year period rather than just at Games-time seen as key.

"I'm passionate about making the world a better place to give in, and we focus on the education area, we can do that in conjunction with the IOC," he said.

Ensuring people are aware of sport in between as well as during Olympic and Paralympic Games is key, according to IPC President Sir Philip Craven ©Getty Images



But the Briton, elected for a final four-year term as IPC chief last year, does not believe there is a need for a similar reform process in the Paralympic Movement.

"We were a similar situation [to the IOC] when I came into the IPC," he told insidethegames.

"We had a Board of 22 members and only eight were elected by the General Assembly, and I thought that very strange,

"I wanted Board members to represent the iPC and not other bodies, so as to ensure they did not have vested interests.

"Our first General Assembly I presided over was entitled. 'Engineering the Future', and we discussed in great detailed what we wanted in the future.

"Then we had our own Extraordinary General Assembly in Cairo, where we put forward a changed constitution, and a new Governing Board, with both motions on this passed very strongly.

"But, we are constantly evolving and had discussion in Berlin on the IPC's 25th anniversary in September and we've got the finalisation of another four year strategic plan coming up in 2015."

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