Kirsty Coventry addresses the UN this week. [Photo: IOC]
Olympic Truce for Milano Cortina 2026 invoked at UN
by Philip Barker
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has formally endorsed a resolution calling for an Olympic Truce during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics and Paralympics next year.
Around the world, conflict and division continue to cause untold suffering. In such a world, sport, and the Olympic Games in particular, can offer a rare space where people meet not as adversaries, but as fellow human beings,” International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry told the UN General Assembly.
“When athletes come together, they do not see nationality, religion, or background. They see one another as fellow athletes. They compete fiercely, yet they embrace as friends, united by the same hopes and dreams. They show us what humanity can be at its very best. This is the spirit of the Olympic Truce: a call to set aside what divides us and rather to focus on what unites us,” she added.
“But athletes cannot do this alone. They can only inspire the next generation if they are able to compete. In this divided world, we need to work together to keep sport and politics apart.”
Milano Cortina 2026 President Giovanni Malago supported the call on behalf of Italy.
“The draft resolution before you notes the role of sport in inspiring individuals and communities to uphold these core values. It also acknowledges that the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Milano Cortina will be a unifying event to harness the power of sport.”
The resolution “Urges Member States to observe the Olympic Truce individually and collectively, within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations.”
It was co-sponsored by 165 UN members.
There had been many general calls for peace at previous Olympics in the modern era.
In 1952, a German peace campaigner called Barbara Rotraut-Pleyer ran across the field at the Opening Ceremony in Helsinki and attempted to address the spectators. She was ushered away from the stage.
Many others including the late ISOH member Don Anthony had asked for an Olympic Truce to be re-established before the first formal IOC call for a truce was made at the UN in 1993.
This was at the height of the Balkan war when Sarajevo in Bosnia was under siege. The then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch highlighted the call for peace at the Opening Ceremony of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
At all subsequent Olympic celebrations, an Olympic Truce has been called for.
Other events have also highlighted the ideal. In 2016, soldiers symbolically laid down their arms and walked from Elis to Olympia on the eve of the Torch Lighting Ceremony. Before the Flame was lit for Beijing 2022 IOC President Thomas Bach and Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou signed a declaration of the Olympic Truce with the Mayors of Olympia, Ilida and Sparta. This was based on the “Ekecheiria,” a truce which operated during the Olympic Games of antiquity.
“We ask that weapons be laid down and all hostilities be ceased around the world, so that we can give peace and reconciliation of people a chance to prevail,” said the declaration.
The 2026 Olympic Truce is set to run from the seventh day before the start of the Winter Olympics to a week after the conclusion of the Paralympics.
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