XI Olympic Congress Baden-Baden 1981

At the 1981 Congress in Baden-Baden, Germany, expectations were great, falling as it did just a year after the boycotted Moscow Games and with Los Angeles around the corner.

It was no exaggeration to say the credibility of the Olympic Movement was at stake and new initiatives pointing the way ahead were required.

Pope conveys greetings

The Congress was opened by West German President Dr Carl Carstens with music composed by Leonard Bernstein exclusively for the event. Pope John Paul II and the UN General Secretary conveyed their greetings. Speakers included Prince Philip of Britain while the honorary guest was the 92-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Lord Phillip Noel-Baker.

Athletes’ Commission

For the first time the athletes played a leading role in a Congress, with Kip Keino, Sebastian Coe and Soviet ice hockey goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak all speaking. Their accounts rang with an authenticity nobody dared contradict and the Congress in Baden-Baden paved the way for the IOC Athletes' Commission, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. A member of the Athletes’ Commission sits on every other IOC commission and working group, so an athlete’s opinion is taken into account in all decisions made including the bidding process, the organisation and the programme for each Olympic Games.

IOC Congresses

I Olympic Congress - Paris 1894

II Olympic Congress - Le Havre 1897

III Olympic Congress - Brussels 1905

IV Olympic Congress - Paris 1906

V Olympic Congress - Lausanne 1913

VI Olympic Congress - Paris 1914

VII Olympic Congress - Lausanne 1921

VIII Olympic Congress - Prague 1925

IX Olympic Congress - Berlin 1930

X Olympic Congress - Varna 1973

XII Olympic Congress - Paris 1994

XIII Olympic Congress - Copenhagen 2009

More about IOC History

Evolution of the IOC

Founded at the first Olympic Congress in Paris in 1894, the IOC is the leader of the Olympic Movement and the guardian of the Olympic Games. It acts as a catalyst for collaboration across the entire Olympic community. Discover some of the key milestones in the IOC’s history, from the first publication of the Olympic Charter in 1908 to the founding of the Executive Board in 1921 to the first ever Olympism in Action Forum in 2018.

Lausanne, Olympic capital

The IOC was originally based in Paris, until Pierre de Coubertin moved it to Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1915. In 1994, to coincide with the centenary of the IOC, Lausanne was officially designated the Olympic Capital. Read here to discover more about the relationship between the IOC and the city it calls home.

IOC Presidents

Since the creation of the IOC in 1894, there have been nine presidents. The president is elected by the Session in a secret ballot among the IOC Members. Today, the president is elected for a term of office of eight years, renewable once for a period of four years. The current President is Thomas Bach – meet him and his predecessors here.