The National Olympic Committee of Sierra Leone (NOC SLE) paid a two–day working visit to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland on 18thand 19th July 2023. President Sualley led a 6–man team on behalf of the NOC. The IOC had 16 participants led by President Thomas Bach and the Director of Olympic Solidarity, James Macleod.

Ms Catherine Laville, Senior Project Manager at Olympic Solidarity – the primary vehicle the IOC uses to support projects – led the first session under the topic NOC Management. This was followed by an official presentation by NOC SLE to the IOC giving their parent body an overview of its operations, and an insight into the manifesto of recently elected President Sualley.

In the afternoon, a courtesy visit was made to the IOC President Thomas Bach at Olympic House. The two leaders had a private meeting where they discussed a range of issues centred on collaboration and the shared vision of promoting Olympism in Sierra Leone.

Thomas Bach presented a signed IOC Certificate of Recognition to the NOC SLE following the decision of the 62nd IOC Session in 1964. It recognised the National Olympic Committee of Sierra Leone as a National Olympic Committee in accordance with the Rules of the Olympic Charter. After the meeting, the visiting delegation was given a guided tour of the Olympic House.  

On the second day Ms Marie Schwarz, another Senior Project Manager at NOC Information Services, NOC Relations steered a meeting on NOCnet/RELAY/Games Management platform.

This was followed up by a meeting with the Head of Accounting and Grant Controlling Specialist at Olympic Solidarity on Finance. The working sessions ended with two further meetings with Olympic Solidarity on Entourage and Sport Development. The visit was climaxed with a guided tour of the Olympic Museum.

12 months before the Paris 2024 Olympics, NOC SLE departed with lots of ideas from the IOC on how to develop its governance and sporting infrastructure that will result in positive outcomes for all its member federations.