Copenhagen elected as host city for the 13th Olympic Congress in 2009
The city of Copenhagen (Denmark) was chosen today by the 118th IOC Session to stage the 13th Olympic Congress, together with the meetings of the Executive Board and the 121st IOC Session. The other candidates were (by alphabetical order): Athens (Greece), Busan (Republic of Korea), Cairo (Egypt), Riga (Latvia), Singapore (Singapore), Taipei (Chinese Taipei).
Convened on the initiative of President Rogge, the 13th Olympic Congress will bring together all the constituent parties of the Olympic Movement to study and discuss the current functioning of the Movement and define the main development axes for the future.
The whole Olympic Movement
Olympic Congresses bring together representatives of all the parties that make up the Olympic Movement, namely the IOC, the National Olympic Committees, the International Sports Federations, the Olympic Games Organising Committees, the athletes, coaches, judges and the media, as well as other participants and observers. Each Congress is convened by the IOC President at specific intervals. The role of the Congress is consultative.
Re-establishing the Olympic Games in 1894
The first Congress, held in 1894 in Paris, decided to re-establish the Olympic Games. Since then, Congresses have regularly addressed specific themes, such as Olympic regulations. The last two editions looked at various subjects grouped together under a general theme: “United by and for sport”, in Baden-Baden in 1981, and “Centennial Olympic Congress, Congress of Unity”, in Paris in 1994.
Congresses and the themes covered
1894 in Paris: Re-establishment of the Olympic Games
1897 in Le Havre: Sports hygiene and pedagogy
1905 in Brussels: Sport and physical education
1906 in Paris: Art, literature and sport
1913 in Lausanne: Sports psychology and physiology
1914 in Paris: Olympic regulations
1921 in Lausanne: Olympic regulations
1925 in Prague: Sports pedagogy – Olympic regulations
1930 in Berlin: Olympic regulations
1973 in Varna: Sport for a world of peace – The Olympic Movement and its future
1981 in Baden-Baden: The future of the Olympic Games – International cooperation – The future Olympic Movement
1994 in Paris: The Olympic Movement’s contribution to modern society – The contemporary athlete – Sport in its social context – Sport and the mass media.