IOC HISTORICAL ARCHIVES

HISTORICAL ARCHIVES

The Olympic Studies Centre provides you access to the IOC’s historical archives. It thus offers over 1,5 kilometres of documents retracing the evolution of the IOC and the Olympic Movement – from their creation in 1894 to the present day.

To help you better understand the resources available, we invite you to take a look at the information sheets below, which provide an overview of the content of our main fonds. These are divided into six topics. Please note that search results on the Olympic World Library do not include resources from the Historical Archives.

We also have fonds on the following topics: relations with international organisations,national organisations, the media, national and continental federations, individuals, relations with commercial firms, sports organisations for people with disabilities, The Olympic Museum.

In general, the records are kept on paper and are available only on site and by appointment. Access is subject to the IOC Archives Access Rules.

THE OLYMPIC MANIFESTO

The 14-page manuscript contains the speech in which Pierre de Coubertin first presented his visionary idea to revive the Olympic Games in the modern world. This speech was delivered on 25 November 1892 at the Sorbonne in Paris to mark the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises des Sports Athlétiques, when Coubertin was only 29 years old. Two years later, in the same auditorium, the decision to re-establish the Olympic Games was formalised.

Access the original manuscript plus the new brochure published by the IOC to discover the significance of the text in its historical context.

SANS texte LE MANIFESTE OLYMPIQUE - Liens

manuscript

brochure

Fonds list

RELATIONS WITH NOCs AND IFs

This series documents the IOC’s relations with the National Olympic Committees and International Federations, and covers in particular recognition, status and the various changes that these organisations experienced during the 20^th century.