2. International Olympic
Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) (French:
Committee international olympique, CIO) is an international
non-governmental organization based in Lausanne,
Switzerland, created by Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, on 23
June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president.
Today its membership consists of 105 active members and
32 honorary members.
The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games and Youth
Olympic Games, held in Summer and Winter, every four
years. The first Summer Olympics organized by the
International Olympic Committee were held in Athens,
Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics were in
Chamonix, France, in 1924. Until 1992,
3.
4. The committee
was housed at
the Monrepos
palace in
Ludwigsburg,
Germany until
the building of
the
headquarters in
Lausanne in
1968
5.
6.
7. The IOC session is the general meeting of the
members of the IOC, held once a year in which
each member has one vote. It is the IOC’s supreme
organ and its decisions are final.
Extraordinary Sessions may be convened by the
President or upon the written request of at least
one third of the members.
Among others, the powers of the Session are:
To adopt or amend the Olympic Charter.
To elect the members of the IOC, the Honorary
President and the honorary members.
To elect the President, the Vice-Presidents and all
other members of the IOC Executive Board.
To elect the host city of the Olympic Games.
8. In the early 1980s, the Olympics were on the
verge of bankruptcy when the IOC drafted a team
to help market the event and the organizationIn
1998, one of the members of that team, Michael
Payne, became the first marketing director of the
IOC.[ During his 20 years with the IOC,Payne
created a multi-billion dollar marketing program
for the organization which turned the Games
around financially.
9. International Olympic Sports Federations (IFs)
The IOC is now the largest single revenue source for the
majority of IFs, with its contributions of Olympic broadcast
revenue that assist the IFs in the development of their
respective sports worldwide. The IOC provides financial
support from Olympic broadcast revenue to the 28 IFs of
Olympic summer sports and the seven IFs of Olympic winter
sports after the completion of the Olympic Games and the
Olympic Winter Games, respectively.
The continually increasing value of Olympic broadcast
partnership has enabled the IOC to deliver substantially
increased financial support to the IFs with each successive
Games.
