Greece wants to permanently host the election of new International Olympic Committee Presidents in ancient Olympia, the Hellenic Olympic President said in an interview.
“My dream is to have this election in Ancient Olympia, to remind everybody where the Games started, 2,800 years ago,” Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos told AFP.
“Every eight or 12 years to organise the election of the IOC president in Ancient Olympia, this is something that is feasible. I think that overall it would give positive vibes to everybody in the Olympic movement,” he said.
Greece is scheduled to host the next IOC presidential election in March 2025, when the term of IOC President Thomas Bach ends.
Under Olympic tradition, Ancient Olympia on April 16 will also host the flame-lighting ceremony for the torch relay of the Paris 2024 Games.
Ten days later, at the ceremony to hand over the flame to Paris organisers in Panathenaic Stadium, Nana Mouskouri, one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, will be invited to perform, Capralos said.
“We hope in the handover ceremony that Nana Mouskouri will be able and will come to sing the national anthems. That would be a very special moment, because Nana Mouskouri is somebody very well-respected and very well-known in France and Greece, but also all around Europe and the world” said Spyros Capralos.