Very good choice. As every year at this time since 2017, the IOC has revealed the names of the two winners of its trophies rewarding exceptional coaches. The 2024 class includes two great legends of Olympic sports, a man and a woman, representing two different sports: diving coach Jane Figueiredo (Zimbabwe / Portugal) and pole vault technician Vitaliy Petrov (Ukraine). They were honored on Monday, November 18 at the Olympic House in Lausanne in the presence of Thomas Bach. Olympian Jane Figueiredo, who represented Zimbabwe and then Portugal, coached seven Olympic medalists during her career, including the British Tom Daley and Matty Lee. Vitaliy Petrov's athletes, for their part, have set 36 world records and won six Olympic medals and 21 world champion titles. At the top of the list is Serguey Bubka, present on Monday in Lausanne for the trophy ceremony. More than 110 applications were received by the IOC for this year 2024. The candidates were nominated by Olympians, international federations, national Olympic committees, members of the IOC Athletes' Commissions or the IOC Athletes' Entourage, as well as IOC Members. Jane Figueiredo and Vitaliy Petrov succeed Laura Martinel (Argentina, judo) and Taesuk Chang (Republic of Korea, fencing), who were honoured last year.
