DOHA : The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) honoured 102 employees at its “Journey & Achievement Ceremony 2026” on Wednesday, recognising long service, professional excellence and achievements in employee development programmes.
The ceremony was held at QOC headquarters in the presence of QOC President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and was attended by senior officials, including First Vice President Mohamed bin Yousef Al Mana, Second Vice President Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari and Secretary General Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain.
Sheikh Joaan presented awards to 30 employees and recognised 72 graduates of five development programmes completed in 2025.
The Appreciation Award recognised employees with 25 or more years of service as well as retired staff for their contributions to the committee.
Excellence Awards were presented across supervisory, specialist and employee categories, while Incentive Awards recognised job commitment, initiative, teamwork, leadership and contributions to the organisation of sporting events.
Seven employees received the “Ambition” Award for obtaining academic qualifications during 2025.
The 72 graduates included 12 from the Leadership Excellence Programme and 15 each from programmes covering sports event organisation, professional competencies, institutional communication and artificial intelligence.
The programmes are designed to strengthen leadership and professional skills, prepare future leaders and improve the QOC’s capacity to organise sporting events, while promoting institutional communication and the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
The communication and artificial intelligence programmes were introduced under the direction of Sheikh Joaan.
Maryam Mohammed Saif Al Kuwari, QOC director of human resources and administrative affairs, said this year’s ceremony focused on creativity as a workplace value.
“Organisations looking to the future do not simply repeat what has worked in the past, but continuously seek better ways of working and developing,” Al Kuwari said.
She said the QOC had recruited 98 employees over the past three years, including professionals and graduates from leading universities in fields such as sports management, information systems, law, finance, accounting, marketing and communications.
Women now account for 42% of the QOC’s workforce, with female representation also increasing in supervisory and leadership positions, she added.
Al Kuwari said the QOC began its employee development programmes in 2019 with one programme and now has five specialised programmes.
A total of 277 employees have graduated from those programmes since their launch, while nearly 100 training, awareness and educational programmes were delivered in 2025, benefiting about 1,000 employees from QOC departments, sports federations and committees.
She said the artificial intelligence programme was aimed at helping employees use AI tools more effectively to improve productivity, working methods and the development of more efficient and innovative solutions.
