IOC President: "The moment of truth has arrived"

Only one day separates us from the official start of the Summer Olympic Games. "The moment of truth has arrived" for the Olympic Games in Paris, whose competitions started yesterday, two days before the opening ceremony, emphasized the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach. "We have every reason to believe that we will experience unforgettable Olympic moments, but we are in sports. And in sports, we are only at the end of training," said the German official. "Now the moment of truth has arrived: the competition begins, for athletes and organizers", said the former fencer, Olympic team foil champion at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal (Canada), where the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci shone. From sportingly, the Paris Olympics kicked off yesterday with the first football and rugby matches in VII, just ahead of Friday night's grand opening parade on the Seine, which will take place outside a stadium for the first time in Olympic history. The competition will then continue for over two weeks, until August 11, before the Paralympic Games take over from August 28 and until September 8. "The stage is set, everything is in place, everything is ready. Let's go!", the president of the Lausanne-based Olympic organization assured in French.

On the other hand, the Olympic athletes launched an appeal for peace, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Fresco of the Olympic Armistice for the Paris Games, in the presence of the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach. In a statement released by the IOC, it is stated that athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC refugee team wore scarves and waved flags with the slogan "Give peace a chance", at the event that took place in the Olympic Village. "You are the ambassadors of peace of our times", said the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, present at the event, to the athletes. "You Olympic athletes will show us what our world would be like if we all lived in the same Olympic spirit of peaceful coexistence. You will compete fiercely against each other. At the same time, at the same time, you will live peacefully together under the same roof , here in the Olympic Village. Respect the same rules and, most importantly, you will respect each other. In this way, you will send a resounding message of peace from Paris to the world," emphasized the leader of the Olympic Movement. "May this appeal inspire all political leaders of the world to act for peace," added Thomas Bach.

Each edition of the Olympic Games, starting with the Winter Olympics in Turin (2006), has benefited from a unique mural dedicated to peace and the Olympic Armistice, in the athletes' village, presenting the signatures of thousands of athletes, coaches and officials of the participating teams. The Olympic Truce was originally in place for the Games in ancient Greece to allow the safe passage of athletes and spectators.