Launch of signature campaign to support Olympic Truce
Chairman of the International Olympic Truce Foundation (IOTF), Dr Jacques Rogge, and Foreign Minister for Greece and IOTF Vice-Chairman, Mr George Papandreou, today launched the Olympic Movement signature campaign in support of the Olympic Truce.
The signature ceremony, which was held during the annual board meeting of the IOTF and the International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC), took place at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne.
This initiative is part of a worldwide signature campaign launched during the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City which already gathered the support of 170 personalities around the world including the Pope, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African President Nelson Mandela, former US President, William J. Clinton, and, from today, members of the Olympic Movement.
The IOTF and IOTC are international non-governmental organisations founded by the IOC to mobilize the world in the cause of peace and international understanding through sport initiatives. They also encourage a symbolic world appeal for the observance of the Olympic Truce during the Olympic Games and beyond.
With two years to go before the Games of the Olympiad return to their birth place in 2004, the concept of the Olympic Truce or "Ekecheiria", which used to mark the cessation of conflicts between nations during the period of the Games in Ancient Greece to allow the safe passage of athletes, is being revived through this worldwide dissemination of the Olympic Truce message.