Olympic Week – Lausanne
Lausanne Olympic Week
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Olympic City: Lausanne
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Olympic Capital: since 1994
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Edition of the Games: Youth Olympic Games 2020
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Programme: since 1981
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Periodicity: yearly
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Dedicated website: Olympic Museum
Olympic Week is an annual event in which a diverse range of sporting and cultural activities are offered to the youth of Lausanne during their October school holidays. All activities are completely free of charge and open to all participants.
The event combines sport, culture and education under the Olympic banner in an effort to encourage young people to get active, learn and engage with one another. Over the course of the week, over 5,000 youngsters try out new and fun sports while immersing themselves in the values of Olympism.
The event targets local children aged between 8 and 15 and offers introductions to over 30 different sports. A huge number of stakeholders are involved in the design and delivery of the event from start to finish. Among these are 150 team leaders, each of whom is ideally suited to introduce their relevant sport to the youngsters. These experts are supported by 120 volunteers drawn from the local population.
All activities are centrally located on the grounds of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. Sporting activities take place in the Museum gardens, which are fully equipped with all the necessary installations and equipment needed for the various sports on offer. The cultural and educational activities are split amongst the gardens and inside the Museum buildings themselves. The Museum houses a significant collections of artistic, scholastic and anthropological works all of which are integrated into the programme.
The 5-day event was first introduced in 1981 by then-President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch. Lausanne has always had a strong Olympic heritage with the IOC being based in the City since 1915. The City is also home to a number of other important international sporting organisations, including the Olympic Museum.