Inside the Olympic museum
by Philip Barker
The Olympic Museum in Lausanne has celebrated the 30th anniversary of its opening with a special exhibition and other events held in the museum precincts.
Visitors were invited to hit an anniversary piñata in the presence of Olympians, and in the evening there was a “Choréoké” dance event.
The museum formally opened on Olympic Day 1993 when in front of a gathering of Olympic champions from all over the world, double Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt lit a cauldron outside the museum.
Coubertin himself had tried to establish a museum in Lausanne at Mon Repos but it was not until Juan Antonio Samaranch became International Olympic Committee President in 1980 that the project to construct a permanent and expansive exhibition space truly took flight.
“It will be at once a meeting place, a place of research and the centre from which Olympism will radiate its influence,” Raymond Gafner, IOC member in Switzerland explained.
The cauldron outside burns day and night to this day.
“To design a cauldron of this kind was not an easy task,” Samaranch reflected “After all, the stadium cauldrons display and maintain a flame destined to preside there only briefly, whereas this one will hold a flame that burns constantly. Its design had to be innovative without offending against the Olympic spirit.”
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