Olympians asked to join in Olympic heritage project
23 | 2 | 2018
World Olympians Association is backing an initiative encouraging Olympians at PyeongChang 2018 to share their Olympic journeys and secure their legacies for future generations.
Words of the Olympians is a project run by the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage to help enhance the cultural heritage of the Olympic Games.
Throughout the Games, the IOC Heritage Team has been documenting and preserving the oral histories of Olympians in a series of video interviews. By capturing the thoughts and memories of their lives as athletes competing at the Games, and their careers since, Olympians can make a valuable contribution to the telling of the Olympic story.
“Olympic achievements are lifelong memories. There are so many great stories out there. Their collection can inspire young Olympians to come,” noted Christoph Sieber, an Olympic gold medal winning sailor and Chef de Mission of the Austrian Olympic Team, who has added his words to the project at PyeongChang 2018.
Other Olympians taking part at these Games include:
US Biathletes Pete Karns and John Morton, who competed at the Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976 Olympic Games respectively; Stephen Martin OLY, 1988 Olympic hockey gold medallist who is chef de mission for Ireland at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games; triple Olympian Tracy Evans OLY, who represented the US in freestyle skiing and is a WOA Olympian for Life inductee; Mali Olympic basketballer Kady Kanouté Tounkara OLY, who is now an active member of the ANOCA Athletes’ Commission, Canadian Olympic freestyle skier Maxime Dufour-Lapointe OLY; and silver medal winning Canadian rower Jeremiah Brown OLY.
Olympic athletes are also being encouraged to donate their sports equipment so that it can be used to inspire new generations through the cultural and educational programmes that the IOC runs at the Olympic Museum and around the world.
By donating memorabilia from the Games, Olympians can ensure their legacy lives on forever as part of the rich heritage that has been assembled by the IOC over the course of 120 years of Olympism.
IOC President Thomas Bach OLY said: “Athletes are at the heart of the Olympic Movement. By giving their sports equipment to the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Museum, they share a key moment of their history with the public.
“These objects bear witness to incredible achievements, extraordinary stories and intense emotions. They perpetuate the Olympic dream and embody the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship upheld by the athletes on the field of play and beyond.”
If you are in PyeongChang and wish to take part in Words of Olympians or to donate equipment please contact: anna.volz_got@olympic.org from the IOC Heritage Team PyeongChang 2018.
Photo credit: IOC
