I Olympic Congress Paris 1894

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The original invitation to what became the inaugural Olympic Congress, sent out by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in his capacity as secretary general of the Union of French Sports Associations, was entitled: “Reflections on and Propagation of the Principles of Amateurism”.

However, by the time the official invitation cards were sent out the meeting was referred to as a “Congress on the Revival of the Olympic Games”. Thus, on June 16 1894, the first Olympic Congress was declared open in the auditorium of the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Nobel Prize winners

There were 58 French delegates representing 24 sports organizations and clubs, and another 20 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain & Ireland, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the USA representing 13 foreign sports federations. Of the 50 honorary members of the Congress there were no fewer than six future Nobel Peace Prize winners and the first performance of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, which had been discovered in Delphi only the previous year, was the cultural highlight of the event.

Establishment of the IOC

Coubertin’s Olympic dream became a reality on June 23 when a resolution to revive the Olympic Games was adopted unanimously at the final meeting of the Congress. The Congress led to the establishment of the International Olympic Committee, of which Coubertin became general secretary and later president, and it was also proposed that the first modern Olympic Games would take place in Athens in 1896. Furthermore, a definition of amateurism was agreed upon and was the first step towards an international agreement.

IOC Congresses

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

XI Olympic Congress - Baden-Baden 1981

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.