Uniting for a just and sustainable world through sport
As showcased by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, sport can and should play a crucial role in fostering peace, inclusion and environmental stewardship
With ‘Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet’, Brazil has chosen an appropriate theme for its G20 presidency. It also resonates with the overarching mission of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement: building a peaceful and better world through sport. As the G20 leaders come together in Brazil, I extend the hand of the IOC to join forces in a partnership to make this vision a reality for everyone.
The G20 leaders are addressing a myriad of challenges in turbulent times: too many wars and conflicts, financial and economic turmoil, social inequality, the climate crisis – the list goes on. Addressing all these global, interconnected challenges is too complex for any one country or organisation to solve on its own. Humankind will only find global solutions if we come together, united by a shared vision and common principles and rules.
The Olympic Games can contribute to making this vision a reality – because the Olympic Games are the only event that brings the entire world together in peaceful competition.
The recent Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 were a spectacular manifestation of this, with more than half of the world’s population expected to have followed them. In Paris, the world’s best athletes amazed us with their outstanding performances. The entire world came together through the power of sport. Athletes from the territories of all 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team competed fiercely against one another. At the same time they lived peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village. They created a culture of peace, sending a powerful message across the globe.
Fully in line with our Olympic Agenda reforms, the Olympic Games Paris 2024 were younger, more inclusive, more urban and more sustainable. These were inclusive Olympic Games in all aspects. Iconic monuments were transformed into competition venues, bringing urban sports popular with young people into the heart of the city. Spectators became participants, with 40,000 people taking part in the ‘Marathon for All’. An ambitious programme introducing 30 minutes of daily exercise in primary schools throughout France is reaching 4.2 million children. Another significant achievement was full gender parity at the Olympic Games for the first time in history, with the IOC allocating exactly 50% of quota places to female and male athletes.
An emblematic symbol of our commitment to social inclusion is the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, which participated with a record number of 37 athletes in Paris. Beyond their participation, the refugee athletes made sporting history when Cindy Ngamba won the first-ever Olympic medal for the Refugee Olympic Team, sending a message of hope and solidarity to the over 120 million displaced people in the world.
When it comes to sustainability, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee set an impressive milestone by being on track to achieve a 50% reduction of carbon emissions compared to previous Olympic Games – six years ahead of the global target set by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Harnessing the power of sport
The Olympic Games are about sport – and so much more. Sport is health. Sport is inclusion. Sport is respect. Sport is empowerment. Sport is solidarity. Sport is peace. All of this taken together is why the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games truly were games of a new era.
This power of sport has been recognised by more than 60 heads of state, governments and international organisations during the unprecedented Sport for Sustainable Development Summit, organised jointly by the IOC and France on the eve of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. These leaders issued a call to accelerate the contribution of sport to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to the UN Pact for the Future. For its part, the IOC announced an increased Olympic Solidarity budget of $650 million aimed at strengthening the role of sport as
an important enabler for the SDGs.
With the G20 leaders gathering to shape our shared future, I reiterate the call I made at the summit in Paris: join us in making the world a better place through sport. The Olympic Movement is ready to partner with you to build a just world and a sustainable planet.
