Frequently Asked Questions

The Olympic symbol and other elements of the Olympic Identity

Who wrote the Olympic anthem?

The music for the Olympic anthem was composed by Spiros Samaras, to words by Kostas Palamas, for the first Games in Athens in 1896. Various musical arrangements went on to be played at the opening ceremonies. In 1958, in Tokyo, the IOC Session decided that the Samaras/Palamas composition would be the official Anthem as of the 1960 Games (Squaw Valley and Rome).

The Olympic anthem is one of the Olympic properties:

Olympic Charter: Chapter 1, Rule 7.4 and its Bye-law and Rule 12

Olympic documents

Visit the Olympics.com documents repository to find a list of all documents published on this website. This section contains the major reports, studies, publications and information regarding the Olympic Movement.

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The Olympic Studies Centre

The IOC Olympic Studies Centre is the world source of reference for Olympic knowledge. As an integral part of the IOC, we are uniquely placed to provide the most accurate, relevant and up-to-date information on Olympism.

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