Corporate body

International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• Comité international olympique (CIO)

June 23, 1894-

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an international sports organization governing the Olympic movement. It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss Civil Code (articles 60–79). The IOC was founded in Paris, France by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas in 1894 as the authority responsible for organising the modern (Summer, Winter, and Youth) Olympic Games. The IOC is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and of the worldwide "Olympic Movement", the IOC's term for all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. As of 2020, there are 206 NOCs officially recognised by the IOC. The current president of the IOC is Thomas Bach. The stated mission of the IOC is to promote the Olympics throughout the world and to lead the Olympic Movement by encouraging and supporting the organization, development, and coordination of sport and sports competitions; ensuring the regular celebration of the Olympic Games; cooperating with the competent public or private organizations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace; acting against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement; and encouraging and supporting the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women. The IOC was created by Pierre de Coubertin, on June 23, 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president. The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games (YOG), held in summer and winter, every four years. The first Summer Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics was in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The first Summer YOG was in Singapore in 2010, and the first Winter YOG in Innsbruck was in 2012. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. After that year, however, the IOC shifted the Winter Olympics to the even years between Summer Games, to help space the planning of the two events from one another, and improve the financial balance of the IOC, which receives a proportionally greater income in Olympic years. Beginning in 1995, the IOC has worked to address environmental health concerns resulting from the hosting of the Olympic games. In 2009, the UN General Assembly granted the IOC Permanent Observer status. The decision enables the IOC to be directly involved in the UN Agenda and to attend UN General Assembly meetings where it can take the floor. In 1993, the General Assembly approved a Resolution to further solidify IOC–UN cooperation by reviving the Olympic Truce. The IOC received approval in November 2015 to construct a new headquarters in Vidy, Lausanne. The IOC announced on February 11, 2019 that "Olympic House" would be inaugurated on June 23, 2019 to coincide with its 125th anniversary. The Olympic Museum remains in Ouchy, Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 2002, the IOC has been involved in several high-profile controversies including taking gifts, its DMCA take down request of the 2008 Tibetan protest videos, Russian doping scandals, and its support of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics despite China's human rights violations documented in the Xinjiang Papers.

Paris, France
Lausanne, Switzerland

International Olympic governing body
Sport

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Catalogued November 2022.

1) Archival material
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee
3) https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-olympic-committee/?originalSubdomain=ch
4) https://olympics.com/ioc/history