Sustainability Report 2012 - Generali Versicherung AG

Sports areaGenerali regards sport as aneducational and training toolthat imparts sound principlesand values. This is why itsupports youth and amateursports through numerousinitiatives, often simplyconsisting of providing sports kits or equipment. Thisenables a great many young people and communitiesto continue to enjoy a wide range of sporting disciplines,such as: tennis, golf, football, swimming, volleyball,basketball, rugby, sailing, triathlon, cycling, marathonrunning, etc..The Group companies also play an active role insponsoring professional sports and high-profileevents in the areas where they operate. With theGroup's assistance, communities can stage nationaland international events with positive effects for both thelocal economy and the image of the city. In developingmarkets, such events may be an opportunity for widereconomic growth, with positive implications at variouslevels.Barcolana, Trieste, ItalyAs mentioned, the sponsorship of high-profile sportingevents is often used by the companies to keeptheir clients, employees and sales force staff happy.The geographical areas with the keenest interest insports are in Europe - the countries in the SustainabilityReport scope and Central Europe countries in particular.The Group companies’ main sports sponsorships of 2012involved international professional events, federations,national teams and Olympic committees, club teams andfamous athletes. In some cases the sponsored athleteswere involved in initiatives aimed at promoting sportamong the young, encouraging them to try and emulatetheir heroes.In the Czech Republic, Generali Survival 2012, a24-hour non-stop sports competition for couples,was held on the weekend of 8-10 June. The mottoof the event was 'If it isn’t in your legs, it must be inyour head - the integration of disabled people intothe outdoor non-handicapped race'.The underlying idea of the event was the totalintegration of the disabled and neurotypical peoplein the competition, the goal being to measure theirpotential in multiple sporting disciplines and toshow that, contrary to what many people think, ahandicap is not a physical problem but a lack ofdesire, something which anyone can be affected by.Thirty couples, 9 of which with a participant in awheelchair, lined up at the start line ready to take onthe same 180 km-long course in multiple disciplines(orienteering, mountain biking and handbiking,climbing, slalom canoeing, in-line skating, hurdles,swimming in a swimming-pool and open-airswimming, golf, archery, shooting, wheelchair racefor neurotypical people and quad bike race for thedisabled), with the aim of cutting the finish line tapewithin 24 hours.Twenty-five of the thirty couples completed thecourse; the fastest of the neurotypical competitorsfinished in 13 hours and 31 minutes, while thefastest couple with a participant in a wheelchair took15 hours and 57 minutes.For in-depth information, see thewebsite www.generalisurvival.cz118 | Assicurazioni Generali - Sustainability Report 2012