End of November 2023, General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). As tradition dictates, in the fall preceding a year of Games, the body adopts the Olympic truce which will come into effect shortly before the start of the events. But this edition in New York is special. For the first time, the truce is not validated by consensus, and a vote must be organized. One hundred and eighteen countries vote in favor, two abstain, Russia and Syria. A symbolic vector of peace, the Olympic truce is now a very fragile ideal.
Now established as an Olympic tradition, the truce was introduced in the early 1990s. “There was a desire on the part of the IOC to make a rapprochement with the United Nations, and on the occasion of a General Assembly in 1993 the idea of a resolution emerged to put forward this notion of a sacred truce which would have to be respected for each summer and winter Olympic Games.”deciphers Sylvain Bouchet, historian specializing in the Olympics, as the truce begins on Friday July 19.
Although the modern version of the truce was not born at the same time as the renovation of the Olympic Games, it nevertheless remains the legacy of a concept that was very present in Antiquity, theekecheira (truce), of major importance in the context of the time. “The Greeks were never united, there were a multitude of city-states. Normal times were confrontation, war. The truce allowed the free movement of spectators, athletes to go to the competition sites.”recalls the historian.
Adopted before each edition by the United Nations General Assembly since 1993, the Olympic truce provides for a cessation of conflicts between seven days before the start of the Olympic Games and seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games. “Its aim is to preserve, as far as possible, the interests of athletes and sport in general and to use the role of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation”it is written on the Olympic website.
A beautiful symbol on paper, but without effect in practice. “The Olympic truce remains an ideal, unfortunately it has never stopped the conflicts”says Sylvain Bouchet. Even in Antiquity, it was not always respected. “The Olympic Games lasted twelve centuries, we don’t have information on all the editions but there must have been some differences. And we also know that on the site of Olympia there were battles, authors like Pausanias or Xenophon speak of it”relates the historian. For example, at the time, a mummified corpse of a soldier was found in the temple of Olympia, evidence of armed combat on the historic site of the Games.
Today, the ideal seems increasingly challenged. Since the beginning of the 21st century, many editions of the Olympic Games have seen their truce shattered by armed conflicts. In 2008, on the eve of the opening ceremony in Beijing, on August 7, the Georgian army launched an offensive in South Ossetia against Russia. Six years later, Russian troops occupied Crimea in the middle of the Sochi Games. And just four days after the end of the last edition, in Beijing in the winter of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, the start of a conflict that continues to this day. The IOC had immediately “condemned[é] “firmly condemns the violation of the Olympic truce by the Russian government”. “Today the Olympic truce is a communication element, it is not a reality. In Antiquity, it allowed athletes to move from one city to another without being killed, it has nothing to do with the idea that the Olympic ideal is peace on earth”says Jean-Baptiste Guégan, specialist in geopolitics in sport.
“It is not the Olympic Games that will call into question global geopolitics. Recent examples show that.”
Sylvain Bouchet, historianto franceinfo: sport
This summer, the war in Ukraine will inevitably mark the context around the Paris Games, and the spirit of the Olympic truce, adopted by vote after a claim brought by Russia, but rejected by the leaders of the two nations. On the Russian side, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denounced a violation of the principles of the Olympic charter with the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes. “International sports officials are today violating the principles of the Olympic Charter […] towards Russia by preventing our athletes from participating in the Olympic Games under their flag, with their national anthem, but they want us to comply with the rules they impose on us”he told the Russian press in May.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also rejected the idea of a truce. “We are not against a truce, we are not against the end of the war. But we want a just end to this war. And we are against a truce that would play into the hands of the enemy.”the Ukrainian president revealed to AFP in May. “The Ukrainians were not fans, because having an Olympic truce meant forcing them militarily to stop, under penalty of being singled out by the Russians if they did not respect it”deciphers Jean-Baptiste Guégan.
If the truce is therefore not really a means of stopping, even momentarily, conflicts, it would rather be a symbol to try to promote the ideals of peace. “We manage to have athletes who are there, who meet, in itself that corresponds to this ideal”believes Sylvain Bouchet. To this end, the IOC and Greece founded the International Olympic Truce Centre in 2000, based in Athens. “There is the idea of raising awareness among young people, of setting up initiatives, this can be done through exhibitions, meetings, there is an educational dimension”explains the historian.
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Some also see it as a way to reinforce the apoliticism of the IOC and the Olympic Games, by symbolically distancing them from conflicts. “The IOC is trying to highlight the fact that sport is far from politics, but the Olympics are absolutely political”assures Sylvain Bouchet, who mentions the choice of host cities or economic partners as an illustration. “VS“It reinforces the myth of the IOC’s apoliticism, it reaffirms this fiction of the apoliticism of sport, and it serves the commercial interests of the IOC.”notes Jean-Baptiste Guégan.
For him, the IOC nevertheless remains in its role. “This principle, which does not lead to reality, still allows the IOC to stay in contact with everyone and to recognize states or actors that are not recognized by the UN. Relations are possible between the Israeli and Palestinian national Olympic committees, which is not the case between the two states.” The truce does not stop the fighting, but accompanies a meeting in which athletes from more than 200 countries, including Russians, Israelis, Ukrainians and Palestinians, will take part in a few weeks in Paris.