(ATR) IOC President Thomas Bach says in a world filled with crisis, the Olympic Movement stands for dialogue, an antidote to isolationism.
"We are living in a world of crises, mistrust and uncertainty," said Bach Tuesday night in a lengthy address at the opening ceremony of the IOC Session in Lima, Peru.
"With such mistrust and skepticism, there is less readiness for real dialogue. There is less willingness to listen, less incentive to engage with the other side," he said.
"These trends in these countries should give us reason for concern. After all, our Olympic Movement stands in stark contrast to this Zeitgeist. We stand for dialogue and understanding. We stand for peace, diversity, tolerance and respect. In sport, everyone is equal, regardless of background, belief or nationality," said Bach, whose use of "Zeitgeist" may be an oratorical first for an IOC President’s speech.
The ceremony at the Gran Teatro in the center of Lima was filled with IOC members, leaders of international federations and NOCs and officials and guests from Peru.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski followed the IOC president at the podium. Alternating between Spanish and English, he praised the Olympics as a positive force for society.
And he included the Lima 2019 Pan American Games in that assessment.
"Many people said to us, why are you spending money on this?," he said about critics who claim the government needs to devote resources to recover from the devastating floods earlier this year.
"I felt that is really important to push everything sport represents, peace, sport, cooperation, ethics. So I went with the Pan American Games," said Kuczynski who was elected last year.
The floods he referenced led the IOC to contribute $600,000 to flood relief. As an accommodation to make the Session less of an intrusion to Peru, the IOC reduced the scope of the program.
The Session begins its work Wednesday morning with the selection of Paris as the host of the 2024 Olympics and Los Angeles as the site for the 2028 Games. Originally a campaign for the 2024 Olympics, the IOC opted two months ago to award Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 as a way to secure two high quality hosts, avoiding rejection for either.
The decision enabled both cities to end campaigning with the certainty each would take an Olympic Games. Hundreds fewer supporters and staff from each city have traveled to Peru as a result, helping to lower the impact of the Session.
In particular, the heads of state of France and the U.S. had little reason to come to Lima, either. That eliminated the hassles of security and other logistics that would have brought Lima to a standstill, the city’s roads and streets often clogged with traffic.
Nine of the 95 IOC members will not attend the Session.
Notable absentees include Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait. He will instead go to Turkmenistan to lead final preparations for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Ahmad is president of the Olympic Council of Asia, which owns the event.
But while that may be the official reason, the Sheikh is also dealing with an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. The inquiry is an outgrowth of the FIFA corruption scandal that has led to dozens of convictions.
The Emir of Qatar will miss his fourth session in a row. Named head of state in 2013, the duties of the office have prevented him from attending.
Two other members are absent after self-suspending their IOC membership following criminal investigations involving each.
Patrick Hickey of Ireland is facing charges of ticket touting in Brazil during the 2016 Olympics. Frank Fredericks of Namibia is under suspicion by French prosecutors of selling his vote in 2013 to support the Tokyo bid for the 2020 Olympics.
Kun-Hee Lee of Korea, chairman of Olympic sponsor Samsung Electronics, will miss his fourth consecutive Session after a heart attack left him in a coma. The family has asked the IOC not to renew Lee’s mandate for another eight years, which would have occurred on the final day of the Session Sept. 16.
Other members absent include Yang Yang of China, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia who is expecting a second child, Nita Ambani from India and Nat Indrapana from Thailand, battling cancer.
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Written and reported in Lima by Ed Hula.
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