13th Olympic Congress

[1] Convened on the initiative of President Jacques Rogge, the 13th Olympic Congress brought together all the constituent parties of the Olympic Movement to study and discuss the current functioning of the Movement and define the main development axes for the future.

[2] President Rogge underlined in his short address the role sport and the Olympic Movement play in society.

According to Rogge, the IOC and all other members of the Olympic Movement will seize the opportunity of the 13th Congress in Copenhagen to demonstrate what has already been achieved in this field, that the Movement is committed to fully playing its role and that it is taking up every challenge in order to set the bar even higher.

[4] It brought together around 1,000 participants representing: IOC members; IOC honorary and honour members; representatives of the International Federations, National Olympic Committees, the athletes and Organising Committees for the Olympic Games; athletes and athlete support staff (coaches, doctors and medical staff); referees, judges and technical officials; the IOC's Olympic partners; and the media.

[4] "Such an opening allows us to exchange points of view, learn from each other and establish contacts which will be valuable for years to come", he believes.