International Olympic Committee
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- Alternative meanings at IOC (disambiguation)
The International Olympic Committee is an organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece, and organise this sports event every four years. The IOC receives its operating funds through advertising and merchandising Olympic memorabilia, as well as through sale of rights to the media who report on the occurrences at the Olympic games.
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History and Function
On June 23, 1894 the Olympic games were re-created by Pierre de Coubertin after a hiatus of 1500 years. The baron hoped to foster international communication and peace through the Olympic Games. The IOC is a parent organisation intended to localise administration and authority for the Games, as well as to provide a single legal entity which owns copyrights, trademarks, and other intangible properties associated with the Olympic games. For example, the Olympic logos, the design of the Olympic flag, the motto, creed, and anthem are all owned and administered by the IOC. There are other organisations which the IOC coordinates as well, which are collectively called the Olympic Movement. The IOC President is responsible for representing the IOC as a whole, and there are members of the IOC which represent the IOC in their respective countries.
Host city bids
Countries which wish to host the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games must bid for the organisation with the IOC, which has the ultimate authority of deciding where the Games will take place. The IOC members, representing most of the member countries, vote to decide where the Games will take place. By law, all IOC members must retire at the age of 81. Members from countries which have cities bidding to host the games are excluded from the voting process, up until the point where their city drops out of the contest.
Delegates
The IOC is controlled by delegates from each country. Those delegates are appointed by the IOC themselves.
Scandals
The IOC has been involved in a number of scandals, most involving members taking advantage of the bidding cities to extort financial and other rewards. The most widely publicised example occurred in relation to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City but earlier stories, reported by British journalist Andrew Jennings, date back decades. After the Salt Lake City scandal, efforts were made to clamp down on the most blatant misbehaviour of IOC delegates (who used their position as voters for the host city to extract favours from bidders for the games), and an advisory board of recently retired former athletes has been set up. Critics of the organisation believe more fundamental reform is required, for instance replacing the self-perpetuating system of delegate selection with a more democratic process.
Presidents
Since 1894, the IOC has had eight presidents:
See also
- List of members of the International Olympic Committee
- List of IOC meetings
- International Paralympic Committee
- List of IOC country codes
External link
- IOC Official Website (http://www.olympic.org/)
- Olympic Watch (http://www.olympicwatch.org/)de:Internationales Olympisches Komitee
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