New Year’s Message 2024 by IOC President Thomas Bach

28 December 2023

Dear Olympic friends,

At the start of this very special Olympic year, there is so much to be grateful for and so much to look forward to.

Kicking off this Olympic year will be the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024. Building on the great legacy of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, we will celebrate a new generation of athletes in Gangwon – “Growing Together and Shining Forever”.

With the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 only months away, the athletes, the fans, the entire Olympic community – all of us – we are looking forward to a new era of Olympic Games: younger, more inclusive, more urban, more sustainable. The very first Olympic Games with full gender parity. The very first Olympic Games aligned with Olympic Agenda from start to finish.

It is truly inspiring to see everyone in the Olympic Movement making this new era of Olympic Games a reality. Therefore, we can look forward with great confidence to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as a symbol of global unity and peace.

Our expectations for these Olympic Games are shared by billions of people. In these difficult times we are living through, people everywhere are exhausted and tired of all the antagonism, the hostility, the hate they are confronted with in every area of their lives.

Deep in our hearts, we are all longing for something unifying. Something that brings us together, despite the differences we have. Something that gives us hope. Something that inspires us to address problems in a peaceful way. Something that brings out the best in us. We are longing for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to unite the entire world in peaceful competition.

These feelings are also shared by the international community. The United Nations General Assembly approved the Olympic Truce Resolution for Paris by an overwhelming majority and [with] no votes against – a remarkable display of unity in these so divisive times.

We are very grateful for this strong global support. At the same time, all the great expectations for Paris mean a great responsibility for all of us – the responsibility to live up to these expectations.

We can only achieve this if we in the Olympic Movement stand together. Therefore, we need to stand against efforts to fragment world sport along political lines – and we need to stand together for the unifying power of sport.

Beyond the Olympic Games Paris 2024, we are standing united for our mission to make the world a better place through sport. With our Olympic Agenda 2020+5, we are strengthening the role of sport in society; promoting Olympic values in communities everywhere; improving lives with the power of sport; and in this way, contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in areas such as health, education, gender equality, climate action, peace and many more.

With Olympic Agenda, we are also driving forward the digitalisation of the Olympic Movement. The digital revolution, and in particular artificial intelligence and esports, offer us huge opportunities. We need to seize them now. This is why the IOC Esports Commission is studying the creation of Olympic Esports Games. This new endeavour has been received with enthusiasm by the esports community. We are truly breaking new ground. The strong momentum confirms the great potential that this exciting digital project represents for us. Whatever shape the Olympic Esports Games will take, our parameters and conditions are set. We will stay true to our values – the Olympic values of peace, respect, non-discrimination and solidarity.

When it comes to AI, our “change or be changed” imperative takes on a new meaning. We want to use the transformative power of AI to support athletes and to drive the development of sport. This is about identifying talent; creating individualised training methods; making judging more objective; customising the individual viewing experience of billions of Olympic fans. The opportunities are boundless, and we will have to mitigate the risks.

Building on this momentum and energy, we can look to the future of our Olympic community with great confidence. United in all our diversity, we live our Olympic motto: we are going even faster, we are aiming even higher, we are getting even stronger – because we stand together. Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.

What better place than Paris to celebrate this true Olympic spirit?

Paris: the birthplace of our founder, Pierre de Coubertin.

Paris: the City of Light.

Paris: the City of Love.

Paris: the city of a new era of Olympic Games.

In this Olympic spirit, I wish you all the very best for this Olympic year, 2024, and I look forward to seeing you soon in Paris for an unforgettable celebration of the joy of sport, for a celebration of our shared humanity.

All the very best.