The Olympic Truce is a tradition originating from ancient Greece that dates back to 776 BC. A "truce" was announced before and during the Olympic Games to ensure the host city state (Elis) was not attacked and athletes and spectators could travel safely to the Games and peacefully return to their respective countries.
In 1992, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) renewed this tradition by calling upon all nations to observe the Truce during the modern Games. The Truce was revived by United Nations Resolution 48/11 of 25 October 1993,[1] as well by the United Nations Millennium Declaration relating to the world peace and security.[2] Every two years since the 1993 resolution the United Nations has adopted, with varying levels of consensus, a resolution reaffirming the ideals of the Olympic Truce.[3]
In 1996, the Athens Bid Committee committed to revive the Olympic Truce and promoting it to the world through the Olympic flame relay.[4] Three years later, the IOC announced the establishment of the International Olympic Truce Foundation and the International Olympic Truce Centre in cooperation with Greece.[5] The vision was to protect the interests of athletes and sport, and to promote peaceful principles in modern day. Each host city was encouraged to embrace the meaning and spirit of the Olympic Truce in the planning and staging of the Games.[6]
As of 2022, the modern Olympic Truce starts one week before the main opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and ends one week after the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games. The Truce has been violated multiple times in the modern history of the Games, including three violations committed by the Russian Federation, with the most recent breach coming in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This violation was a contributing factor to Russian and Belarusian athletes being excluded from the 2022 Winter Paralympics.[7]
Through this global and symbolic concept, the goal of the Olympic Truce movement is to:
On 22 April 2011, a Member of the House of Lords, Michael Bates, began walking over 3000 miles from Olympia to London to highlight the opportunity to bring the Olympic Truce into reality during the 2012 London Summer Games. With the Walk for Truce,[13] Lord Bates was successful in securing pledges from a number of governments to both sign and implement the Truce, supported on his journey by the British Foreign Office. Lord Bates arrived back in London on February 15, 2012, and continues to lobby for the cause of the Olympic Truce.
The UK promoted the ideals of the Olympic Truce both domestically and for the first time internationally. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) organised truce activities in the UK including: "Get Set for the Olympic Truce" which encourages young people across the UK to learn about the history of the Olympic Truce, to debate and discuss what the Olympic Truce means to their lives and to undertake an activity to promote peace within their school or community. Materials were promoted to over 20,000 schools registered with Get Set.
Truce Inspire is a "truce" strand of the Inspire programme through which LOCOG specifically looked for projects inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which use sport or culture to promote conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace. LOCOG approved a number of projects including: a project led by the University of Ulster which uses sport to support conflict resolution across the education sector; a project providing 200 schools with the opportunity to debate the theme of the Olympic Truce at a Model UN conference; and a project which uses sport to bring together young people from London communities affected by gang rivalry. Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival organised by LOCOG and the NGO Peace One Day is delivering a truce strand of the Film Nation Shorts project through which 14- to 25-year-olds are invited to create films focused on the truce theme. LOCOG has also partnered with Peace One Day to deliver a series of concerts as part of the London 2012 Festival.
International activities were led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which together with partners promoted the ideals of the Olympic Truce internationally[14] under the themes of:
Speaking about the FCO's work on the Olympic Truce, Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham said
On 28 May 2012, during the visit of Foreign Secretary William Hague to Moscow, the UK and Russian foreign ministries (in recognition of their countries shared roles as Olympic Hosts in 2012 and 2014) agreed to work together[15] to promote and support the ideals of the Olympic Truce.
On 12 September 2012, FCO Ministers updated Parliament:[16]
London 2012 had originally planned to showcase the Olympic Truce through the international leg of the torch relay, through a programme called “Heralds of Peace” in which the torch would pass through the home countries of Nobel Peace Prize winners. They planned for the torch to pass through 45 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe before reaching the UK. After the international leg of the torch relay was banned in 2009, London 2012 chose to confine their torch relay to the United Kingdom, apart from a day outside the United Kingdom, in Dublin, Ireland.
The official Olympic Truce logo is a graphic with three elements: a dove, flames, and the Olympic rings. The meaning behind the logo is as follows:
The United Nations is in support of the Olympic Truce and adopts a resolution called "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal" prior to each Summer and Winter Olympic Games.[17] UN member states are asked to observe the Olympic Truce, and work towards the settlement of international disagreements by peaceful and diplomatic means.[18] The United Kingdom was the first ever nation to get all 193 UN member states to sign the Olympic Truce resolution for the 2012 Olympic Games.[19]
UN support is mainly shown through the resolution. It is also shown by the Solemn Appeals for Truce made by the UN Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly shortly before the Summer Olympic and Winter Olympic Games. The lead office within the UN system is The United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). The current UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace is Wilfried Lemke from Bremen, Germany. UNOSDP is situated at the UN Office at Geneva plus a liaison office at UN HQ in New York.
On 17 October 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution, entitled "Sport for Peace and Development: Building a Peaceful and Better World through Sport and the Olympic Ideal", for member states to observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively. The resolution, introduced by LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe, passed without a vote.[19] [20]
The United Nations website recognizes the truce as "the cornerstone of the Olympic Games in ancient times" and the "longest lasting peace accord in history".
In 2021, twenty countries (including Turkey, India, Japan, Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom) refused to sign the Olympic Truce for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Australia and the United States considered this part of their diplomatic boycotts due to the host nation China's human rights abuses, and as a protest regarding the portion of the truce requiring signers to recognize the Olympic Games as promoting human rights and peace.[21] [22]
Historical failures to observe the Olympic Truce include: