IOC opens Olympic House headquarters on milestone Olympic Day

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) inaugurates new headquarters in Lausanne on the 125th anniversary of an organization founded by Pierre de Coubertin on high ideals. They included fostering peace through sport, a legacy of the Olympic Truce. The world glimpsed the legacy at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

A crucial component of the Ancient Greek Games, the Olympic Truce made the competition possible as it allowed athletes and spectators from warring city-states to travel to the event and participate in complete safety. Athletes from the two Koreas, technically at war more than six decades after the Korean War, entered the stadium together for the opening ceremony, and competed together as part of a combined women’s hockey team. In Sep 2018 North and South Korea announced that they would jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.

The International Olympic Truce Foundation, inaugurated in 2000, formally builds the legacy into the IOC mission, with the aim of promoting "the Olympic ideals to serve peace, friendship and understanding in the world."

The IOC selected Danish architecture firm 3XN to design the headquarters in 2014 after an international competition. Construction began in 2016. Named Olympic House, it will bring the 500 staff in four locations around the city under one roof. The Olympic Museum in the same city will host the general public.