The anniversary of the Olympic Games will also involve “Let’s Move”, the global campaign dedicated to movement and daily physical activity.
It’s time to get a move on, to get moving and to do it together. Healthy motor activity is necessary for everyone’s physical and mental health. Olympic Day is celebrated each year on 23 June, the birthday of the Olympic Games, and, on the same day, the IOC promotes a day dedicated to movement. Milano Cortina 2026 is leading the way: at least thirty minutes of daily physical activity is enough and is a cure-all for keeping the body, mind and spirit healthy. But why 23 June? Let’s find out why it was chosen as the ideal day to unite the whole world in a united aim: to promote and strengthen physical activity.
23 June 1894: the foundation of the IOC
The IOC, the International Olympic Committee, was founded 130 years ago on 23 June 1894, in the halls of the prestigious Sorbonne in Paris, France. Its most prominent promoter was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who fought to revive the ancient Olympic Games. His goal, which became the mission of the IOC itself, was to make the world a better place through sport.
The birth of the Olympic Day
A few years later – in 1947, at the 41st session of the International Olympic Committee in Stockholm – Dr Josef Gruss, representative of then Czechoslovakia on the committee, proposed a World Olympic Day dedicated to the celebration of everything that the Olympic movement stands for. The idea became reality in January 1948, when the next IOC session in St. Moritz mandated the various national committees to organise and promote the event.
The first Olympic Day
Nine committees answered the call: Portugal, Greece, Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Great Britain, Uruguay, Venezuela and Belgium. On 23 June 1948, they organised the first Olympic Day in their respective countries. Gradually, the audience would expand into a worldwide event from 1978, when the IOC, in the most recent edition of the Olympic Charter, turned the invitation into a recommendation for every committee. Since then, together with Olympic Week, Olympic Day has become a fixed and unmissable calendar event.
Olympic Day and “Let’s Move”
The day on which the Olympic Movement celebrates its birth has also become the anniversary of a second unmissable event: the worldwide “Let’s Move” campaign. Through a series of events, activity and physical movement are promoted while preserving the distinctive traits and traditional values of the Olympics, such as solidarity, inclusion and sustainability. It is estimated that more than five million people will take part in the activities planned worldwide and promoted by the IOC through its social channels.
Let’s Move: science says so
Numerous studies have found that, unlike the world that now moves at a hectic pace, its people are doing so less and less. More than 80% of the world’s young people do not reach the recommended daily activity level for optimal mental and physical health. Sport and physical activity are the most effective, convenient and low-cost means of achieving this goal. So this year, it is time to get moving again and turn the ritual of 23 June into an essential daily habit.
Olympic Day towards Milano Cortina 2026
From Milano Cortina to every corner of the globe, many national Olympic Committees have planned initiatives for Olympic Day 2024. Some countries have incorporated the Day into their school curricula, others have turned Olympic Day into a genuine tradition closely linked to the “Let’s Move” campaign. This is the case in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC headquarters, where a race has been held since 1987. Delegations from over 100 countries took part in the latest edition, to encourage all other committees to promote healthy daily physical activity through sport. Similar initiatives are planned in every corner of the planet.
Milano Cortina 2026 promptly joined the “Let’s Move” global campaign with a stacked programme of events that will take place through physical activity organised at the venues of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games and on the web. They even include a focus on the training methods of winter sports professionals and Italian athletes.
