Paris, July 22: Hundreds of Olympic athletes representing their counterparts from the territories of all the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team made a powerful call for peace here on Monday. Four days before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, these athletes gathered in a solemn moment in the Olympic Village. Wearing scarves with the message “Give peace a chance” and holding flags with the same words, they emphasised the powerful role that sport can play in fostering peace and mutual understanding.

The event held in the Olympic Village in Paris included athletes from NOCs whose countries are currently in conflict or war with each other.

“When our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, revived the Olympic Games 130 years ago –- right here in Paris –- he saw it as a way to promote peace among all nations and people of the world. He was a true ambassador for peace. Today, you –- the Olympic athletes –- you are the peace ambassadors of our time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.

“You, the Olympic athletes, will show us how our world would be if we all lived in the same Olympic spirit of peaceful co-existence. You will compete fiercely against each other. At the same time, you are living peacefully together under one roof, here in the Olympic Village. You are respecting the same rules and most importantly you are respecting each other. In this way, you are sending a resounding message of peace from Paris to the world,” he said.

President Bach invited athletes to extend their call for peace: “Please share this call for peace with all your fans, your family and friends back home. In this way, our many voices will become one. This one voice will resonate all around the globe. May this call inspire all the political leaders of the world to take action for peace.”

He concluded: “Together we say: Give Peace a Chance!”

On the occasion, the Paris 2024 Olympic Truce Mural was inaugurated in the presence of the IOC President; the Paris 2024 Organising Committee President, Tony Estanguet; Masomah Ali Zada, Chef de Mission for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024; Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission (AC); and the entire Executive Board of the IOC. Together with the athletes representing all five continents, they signed the Olympic Truce Mural.

“In this Village, there is a symbol within the symbol: it’s the Olympic Truce Mural,” said President Tony Estanguet. “It is the place of gathering and encounters, the place of sharing and peace. It reminds us of the message as humble as it is crucial: the Games cannot change everything, but they can carry something very strong, with the strength of example. An example of peace, solidarity, and progress. An example we value and need more than ever in those troubled times”, he said.

The Olympic Truce Mural has been a feature of every Olympic Village since the Olympic Winter Games Turin 2006, serving as a powerful symbol of sport’s ability to promote peace, and offering a unique opportunity for athletes from around the world to show their support for the values of peace, respect, solidarity, inclusion and equality. Each edition of the recent Olympic Games has a uniquely designed mural in the Athletes’ Village that features signatures from thousands of athletes, coaches and team officials, calling for peace and showing their support for the Olympic Truce.

The tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, or “Ekecheiria”, was established in Ancient Greece to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators.

The IOC decided to revive the concept of the Olympic Truce for the Olympic Games, with a view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly.

Since 1993, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its support for the Olympic Truce ideal and for the IOC’s mission by adopting every two years – one year before each edition of the Olympic Games – a resolution entitled "Building a Peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal".

--IANS

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