(ATR) The Greek capital is chosen to host the 2021 IOC Session where Thomas Bach is expected to stand for a final four-year term as president.
It is the eighth time the Greek capital has been awarded the IOC’s prestigious meeting. The first was in 1896 when Pierre de Coubertin was elected IOC president; the last was just ahead of the 2004 Games.
Athens was selected as host on the final day of the IOC Session in Lausanne on Wednesday. The choice by members is part of a new targeted procedure by the IOC to select host cities for its annual meetings.
The birthplace of the modern Olympics in 1896 will provide the backdrop for the IOC presidential election in 2021. First elected IOC president in 2013 in Buenos Aires, Bach will seek re-election for another four years, the limit under IOC rules.
At the IOC Session today, Hellenic Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos underlined Athens contribution to the Olympic Movement in a presentation emphasizing the 2004 Games legacy and Greek culture.
The Panathenaic Stadium, the white marble venue built in the center of Athens for the first modern Games, has served as the traditional departure point for the Olympic flame over many decades and will have a special role as part of the IOC Session in June 2021.
Thomas Bach’s IOC executive board will meet at the Greek NOC’s headquarters on June 21.
The venue for archery and marathon at the Athens 2004 Games will host the IOC Session’s opening ceremony of the Session on June 23.
Capralos confirmed that the multipurpose Peace and Friendship Stadium on the coast, 10 kilometers (six miles) from the heart of Athens, will host the Session. The IOC’s official hotels will be just a 10-minute drive away.
A chartered flight will take IOC members to ancient Olympia on June 27 in 2021.
Next year’s Session will take place on the sidelines of the Youth Olympic Games at the IOC’s new headquarters in Lausanne.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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