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OLYMPIC TRUCE (EKECHEIRIA)
AND THE INTERNATIONAL
FOUNDATION OF OLYMPIC TRUCE
By Mr Georgios PAPANDREOU (GRE)
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Président
of the International Foundation of Olympic Truce
Thank you Mr Filaretos. I don't know if that was a wish or a spell you put on
me, but I thank you very much for your kind words.
Your Reverence, Mr Prefect, Mr Mayor of Ancient Olympia, Mr President of the
International Olympic Academy, dear Professors, dear friends, students from the
Academy, dear friends athletes who are in the Olympic Movement and of course
my dear friend Mr Rogge, member of the IOC, it is truly an honour to be here with
you this afternoon. I'm sorry I'm a bit late but we had a long day today, with
a number of things, which as a minister of Foreign Affairs I could not avoid.
I wanted to say a few words today about what we are trying to do with the
2004 Olympic Games.
In July 2000 President Samaranch of the International Olympic Committee and
I inaugurated the International Olympic Truce Centre in Athens. It has a liaison
office in Lausanne and its symbolic headquarters here in Olympia. I would like to
thank Mr Filaretos for offering the Olympic Academy for this symbolic Centre of
the Olympic Truce and for all the very good work he has been doing in this
Academy and in the issues of the Olympic Truce.
This Centre is an ambitious undertaking of the International Olympic
Committee. It is being done in Cupertino with Greece, to promote an international
cease-fire during all future Olympic Games and hopefully beyond.
Mr Lambrinidis told you a bit of the Ancient history and the fact that the
Olympic Games were developed around the idea of peace. Sometimes this is
not understood and not known. It did not begin as someone thinking of games but
in fact as someone trying to find a way to bring peace to this region where we
actually are now. And then came the idea of the Olympic Games and the Olympic
Truce. During that time, of course, the Olympic Games needed athletes and very
many of them came from the warriors; that was a very good reason to stop the
war, to stop any wars. At that time there were people who would go around the
ancient area of Hellenism, of Greece, and they would announce the Games. As
soon as they did that, a holy truce began.
Of course we do not believe that the Truce is going to solve all the problems
or all the wars around the world. We know that wars are often fought either for
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