On November 24, 2017 Georgian NOC President Leri Khabelov met at the NOC offices the President of the World Olympians Association Mr. Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of a global initiative called ‘Peace and Sport'.

The meeting was attended by Mrs. Alexsandra Bouzou, advisor to the President, First Vice President of the NOC E. Bersihsvili, Vice Presidents N. Salukvadze and M. Khabareli, President of the Modern Pentathlon and Triathlon Federation of Georgia V. Malishev and Head International Relations of the GNOC R. Aptsiauri.

During the meeting Joel Bousou debriefed the NOC leaders on the WOA activities and the projects this association plans to realize in the short run. He emphasised great importance of the cooperation between all generation Olympians and  protection of  their  interests. 

The President spoke about the recent initiative launched by the WOA on recognizing the status of every Olympian by symbolic award of the title OLY. Each Olympian has opportunity to register online for obtaining the OLY status and get certificate in recognition of this significant status which is the symbolic recognition of their importance in the society and Olympic movement in general. The WOA President encouraged all Olympians to join the initiative by registering online for getting the status.

At the 8th International IOC Athletes' Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland on November 11, WOA President Joël Bouzou OLY presented the first OLY certificate to IOC President Thomas Bach. The initiative allows Olympians to use the OLY post-nominal letters. OLY can be used on official documentation, CVs, business cards, social media. In fact anywhere an Olympian would use their name, in the same way a university graduate may use PhD.

Serving as a symbolic recognition of an Olympian's status in society, OLY promotes an Olympian's social, charitable, and community-based work, acting as a reminder of their achievements and of their responsibility to embody the values of Olympism in everyday life.

President of the WOA was rather honoured to hand over the certificate to the Georgian NOC President.

NOC President  expressed gratitude to Mr. Bouzou for his visit and presenting of OLY Certificate  and spoke about the NOC activities, short term plans with regard to Georgian Olympians Association. He stated: "NOC will organize in December the Assembly of the National Olympians Association which will be attended by the delegates from National Olympic Sports Federations. We believe new composition of the NOA Executive Board will continue more effective and active work that will be supported from our side"- said L.Khabelov. 

The guests visited the Olympic museum and received information on the rich Olympic history of Georgia.