Dear Olympic friends,
When we stand on the threshold of this 2021 Olympic year, we can look back with pride and satisfaction on a memorable 2020 that has set the course for our future.
We celebrated the 125th anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee and the reactivation of the Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin. To mark this historic milestone, we officially inaugurated the Olympic House, the new headquarters of the IOC, on June 23, 2020, in the presence of representatives of the entire Olympic family. This year of the 125th anniversary highlighted the enduring vision of our founder to make the world a better place through sport and showed us that his ideals are more relevant than ever in our fragile world.
It was also a successful year in terms of carrying out reforms of the 2021 Olympic Agenda and strengthening its three pillars of credibility, sustainability and youth.
In 2020 we took a significant step to strengthen the long-term credibility of the Olympics with far-reaching reforms to evolve the Olympic host selection process. With the 2021 Olympic Agenda we have revolutionized the candidacy process and the organization of the Olympic Games from start to finish. With the creation in 2020 of future hosting committees to oversee interest in organizing future Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, we are further evolving the application process. This evolution of the revolution will reinforce the relevance of the Games in our times.
To safeguard the long-term credibility of sport, the IOC has recently committed to a US $ 10 million action plan to strengthen the protection of net athletes. This commitment represents a major step forward in the fight against doping together with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
With the 2021 Olympic Agenda, we have made sustainability a central element of all our activities. What better example of this than the Olympic House, which in its category is the most sustainable building in the world.
Our commitment to sustainability and viability is also reflected in the way the Olympics are held. The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games will be the highlight of this IOC commitment. Tokyo 2021 aims for carbon-neutral Games. From Olympic medals made from recycled electronics, to powering the Olympics with renewable energy or using zero-emission vehicles and many more initiatives, the Tokyo 2021 Olympics will be an inspiration for development. sustainable.
The Olympic Channel is another concrete result of the 2021 Olympic Agenda and, in the three years since its launch in 2016, it has become our platform to connect with the younger generation and involve them digitally with the Olympic sport 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. . With over 2.6 billion video views, we already have a solid foundation to build on. Most importantly, almost 80% of the audience participating on social media is under the age of 35, so it’s clear that the content resonates with our target audience of young people.
All our actions to strengthen the pillars of credibility, sustainability and youth of the 2021 Olympic Agenda are also echoed among our partners. In 2020, we saw how our TOP program was expanding and strengthening significantly. Most recently, we welcomed Airbnb to the Olympic family as a TOP partner, in a partnership designed to create a new hosting standard that would be a victory for host cities, a victory for spectators and fans, and a victory for the athletes. This past year also saw significant contract extensions with existing TOP partners and rights issuers. The first TOP alliance of Coca-Cola and Mengniu was another demonstration of the relevance and stability of the Olympic Games. Counting on our oldest partner, Coca-Cola, an iconic American brand, along with a young Chinese company, Mengniu, joining hands with our TOP Worldwide program is a great example of the unifying power of the Olympic spirit. We thank all our partners because their trust and confidence in the Olympic Movement is our most valuable asset.
All these elements together give the Olympic Movement unprecedented strength and stability to carry out its mission. In our fragile world today, this stability is the strongest currency any organization can have. This strength and stability reinforces the great unity of the Olympic Movement. And it is this unity that is the center of our success.
With this solid foundation, we look forward to this 2021 Olympic year with full confidence and expectation.
We begin this momentous year with the Lausanne 2021 Youth Winter Olympics, in what will be a special moment for all young athletes and for everyone in the Olympic capital. For the first time, this unique festival of culture, youth and winter sports will arrive in our country, the Olympic capital of Lausanne and Switzerland. With local young people involved in so many aspects of the organization, these will really be YOG for young people, for young people. In this way, the Lausanne 2021 Youth Winter Olympics will inspire a new generation with Olympic sport and Olympic values.
When the Tokyo 2021 Olympics begin, the eyes of the world will be on Japan. More than half of the world’s population will follow these Olympics, demonstrating their true universality.
I have never seen an Olympic host as prepared as Tokyo at this stage before the Games. There are already all the elements needed for the success of the Olympics. All of Japanese society unites behind the Olympics. Interest in tickets has exceeded all expectations. More than 200,000 people have applied to volunteer. The commitment of the business community is at record levels. The relief of the Olympic torch, which will soon begin, will be another time to energize the enthusiasm of the public before the Games. Athletes from the world’s 206 national Olympic committees and the IOC Olympic Refugee Team can look forward to an amazing experience. The Olympics are not just the biggest sporting event in the world. The Tokyo 2021 Olympics will also be a celebration of unity in the diversity of all mankind.
An Olympic year is an important reminder that we can only send this strong message of unity in diversity to the world in solidarity. Universality in the Olympics is only possible if everyone can participate. Earlier this Olympic year, allow me to reiterate the IOC’s unwavering commitment to our model of Olympic solidarity, which benefits all athletes from all CNOs in the world. As the athletes of the world look to Tokyo and beyond, they can trust our support and solidarity. Based on the great strength and stability of the Olympic Movement, we want all athletes to continue to benefit from the success of the Olympic Games, either directly or through their respective teams and sports.
We can only fulfill our mission of uniting the world if the Olympics are above any political difference. This global solidarity and true universality can only be achieved if the IOC and the Olympic Games are politically neutral.
The Olympics are always a global platform for athletes and their sporting performances. They are not and should never be a platform to advance political goals or any other potentially divisive goal. We strongly oppose the growing politicization of sport, because only in this way can we fulfill our mission of uniting the world in peaceful competition. As history has shown, this politicization of sport leads to no results and in the end only delves into existing divisions.
Therefore, we maintain an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure that the political neutrality of the Olympic Games is respected. In 2020, I was able to address this issue at the G20 Summit and the United Nations General Assembly. On both occasions, our message was well received by world leaders and representatives of UN member states, who showed their support for our political neutrality by unanimously adopting the Olympic Truce Resolution for the Olympic Games. Tokyo 2021.
Athletes have an essential role to play in respecting this political neutrality on the pitch. It is important to note in this regard that there is broad support and understanding among a large majority of athletes that the playing field and ceremonies should not become a stage for political statements or any kind of protest. Respecting fellow athletes also means respecting their unique Olympic moment and not distracting them with their own political views.
We must all do our part to ensure that the Tokyo 2021 Olympics are remembered as a wonderful celebration of unity in the diversity of all mankind. United in our Olympic values and building on the solid foundations of the continued strength and stability of the Olympic Movement, we look to the future with great confidence and great anticipation of the memorable and successful Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Olympic spirit, I wish you a happy and prosperous 2021 Olympic year.
With kind regards
Thomas Bach