The Greek word for the ancient truce was projected onto the walls.
Truce Declaration Signed in Ancient Olympia
by Philip Barker at the Museum of the Modern Olympic Games, Ancient Olympia
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry has joined the Mayor of Ancient Olympia and the first citizens of Elis and Sparta in signing a declaration supporting the Olympic Truce resolution for the Milano Cortina Games.
At the Olympic Games of antiquity, an “Ekecheiria” or truce allowed warring city states to compete together at the Olympic Games of antiquity.
“Thank you for continuing a tradition that started so many hundred years ago,” Coventry told a gathering at the new Museum of the Modern Olympics in Ancient Olympia.
“We cannot wait for Italy to shine very brightly in a few weeks and to show the world why it is so important to abide by the Olympic Truce.”
Last week, Coventry requested the United Nations (UN) in New York to adopt an Olympic Truce before and during the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
165 UN member states co-sponsored the resolution.
“People around the world acknowledge the role that sport plays, about the power that sport has to unify and bring people back together and the importance that the field of play should remain neutral,” Coventry added.
“What all of us in this room are here to do is to ensure that the Olympic Movement and Olympic sport remain a space for young people to dream and for young people to realise what is possible.
“It is for us to be able to create hope in sometimes a very sad and divided world. This makes our role even more important.”
The Ceremony was the first international event to be held in the museum which is set to re-open to the public in the next few weeks. Its doors had been closed for almost 18 years after an earth tremor damaged the building in 2008.
The museum was originally established in 1961 by collector Georgios Papastephanou-Provataki who donated his collection of Olympic artefacts to the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC).
“In this museum that re-opens its cycle, we sign something that is much more than a ceremony, we sign the insistence that life is worth more than fear, that people can co-exist through their differences,” said Olympia Mayor Aristides Panagiotopoulos.
He joined the Mayor of Elis, Christos Christodoulopoulos and Michalis Vakalopoulos, Mayor of Sparta, to officially sign the declaration.
Xanthi Georgiou, the High Priestess who had ignited the Flame for both the Tokyo Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Games recited the official Truce declaration,
“Inspired by our revered forebears, we symbolically renew in the birthplace of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Ideals and declare to all the world the sacred agreement of antiquity, the Olympic Truce,” the declaration said.
“We ask that all weapons be laid down and all hostilities be ceased around the world, may we be assisted in this endeavour by the Olympic Spirit, the citizens of the world and the young generation in particular.”
Amongst those to add their signatures to the declaration were Milan Cortina 2026 President Giovanni Malagò, IOC Executive Board Member Spyros Capralos and Hellenic Olympic Committee President Isidoros Kouvelos. IOC Athletes Commission leader Emma Terho also signed alongside Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi.
Pupils drawn from the Ancient Olympia High School performed the Olympic Anthem at the start of an event which was held in conjunction with the International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC).
“At a time when division dominates global headlines, the Olympic Movement stands as one of the last remaining global platforms that unite rather than divide,” IOTC Director Constantinos Filis said.
“Milano Cortina offers more than a celebration of sport, it offers a rare and precious moment to lift our gaze above the strife of conflict and remember what we share, to imagine that cooperation can triumph over confrontation. It is a reminder that peace is not a dream of the naive but a duty of the courageous.”
Musician Mark Chait performed his own composition “On and On” to set the seal on the evening.
A “Truce Declaration” ceremony has been held in Olympia before every Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony since 2016.
On the walls outside the museum, the symbol of the Olympic Truce was displayed.
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