One year to go for Olympic Congress in Copenhagen

The 13th Olympic Congress is only one year away. Copenhagen will celebrate the event on Monday 6 October and at the same time launch the Congress logo. In 2009 Copenhagen is also staging the 121st IOC Session, which is decisive for the election of the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Taking the pulse
Taking the pulse of the Olympic Movement, analysing its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluating the opportunities and the risks it faces: these are the challenges which the IOC laid down for the 13th Olympic Congress. Since the previous Congress - the Centennial Olympic Congress held in Paris in 1994 - the world has changed. While the main concern at the previous Congress was to ensure the integration of all the constituents into the Olympic Movement, the challenge will be quite different in 2009. A guiding concept links all five themes chosen for this Olympic gathering: the role of the Olympic Movement in society and in all regions of the world.

Why hold a congress?
By taking a look at the outcome of previous congresses, the answer to this question speaks for itself. The Varna 1973 Congress rethought concept of amateurism. The new eligibility rule for the Olympic Games authorised the financial and material assistance which had in the meantime become indispensable to elite level training, while only personal profit derived from a sports activity remained prohibited. The Baden-Baden 1981 Congress paid unprecedented attention to the concerns of the athletes. For the first time, the athletes themselves played a leading role in a Congress. The Congress in Baden-Baden thus paved the way for the creation of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006. The 1994 Centennial Congress in Paris proved trend-setting in an area of great interest today: protection of the environment, with the environment being declared as an essential component of Olympism.

The Olympic Movement in Society
The role of the Olympic Movement in society and in all regions of the world is the guiding concept of the 13th Congress. Under this umbrella, the five themes are:

- The Athletes
- The Olympic Games
- The Structure of the Olympic Movement
- Olympism and Youth
- The Digital Revolution

The themes, chosen by the 2009 Congress Commission, will include discussions and debates on the success of the Olympic Games, the Olympic values, the social and professional life of athletes during and after high-level sports participation, good governance, ethics of the world of sport, and youth and communication in the digital age.