BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said in his New Year message that the IOC can look back with pride and satisfaction on a memorable 2019 which has set the course for the future as it stands on the threshold of the Olympic Year 2020.
The IOC celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding and the revival of the Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin by officially inaugurating Olympic House, the new IOC headquarters in 2019.
Bach said it was also a successful year with regard to the delivery of Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms and strengthening its three pillars of credibility, sustainability and youth.
"We took a significant step in 2019 to strengthen the long-term credibility of the Olympic Games with far-reaching reforms to evolve the process of selecting Olympic hosts. With Olympic Agenda 2020, we have revolutionised the candidature procedure and the organisation of the Olympic Games from start to finish. With the establishment in 2019 of the Future Host Commissions to oversee the interest in hosting future Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, we are evolving the candidature process even further," said Bach.
To safeguard the long-term credibility of sport, the IOC has most recently committed to a 10-million U.S. dollar action plan to reinforce the protection of clean athletes. This commitment represents a major step forward in the fight against doping together with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
With the Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC has also made sustainability a central element to all its activities. "The Olympic House is the most sustainable building in the world in its category. Our commitment to sustainability and feasibility is also reflected in the way the Olympic Games are run," Bach said.
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be the most prominent expression of this IOC commitment. Tokyo 2020 aims to accomplish a carbon-neutral Games.
According to Bach, the Olympic Channel is another concrete outcome of Olympic Agenda 2020. Since its launch in 2016, it has become IOC's platform to connect with the young generation and engage them digitally with Olympic sport 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"With over 2.6 billion video views, we already have a solid foundation to build on. Most importantly, nearly 80 per cent of the audience engaging on social media are below the age of 35, so clearly the content is resonating with our target audience of young people," he said.
The Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 will be a special moment for all the young athletes and for everybody in the Olympic Capital. For the first time, this unique festival of culture, youth and winter sport will come to the Olympic Capital of Lausanne and to Switzerland.
When the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 get underway, the eyes of the world will be on Japan. Over half of the world's population will follow these Olympic Games, demonstrating their true universality.
"I have never seen an Olympic host as prepared as Tokyo at this stage before the Games. All the elements for successful Olympic Games are already in place. All of Japanese society is uniting behind the Olympic Games," said Bach, adding that the Olympic Torch Relay, which will soon get underway, will be another moment to galvanise public enthusiasm ahead of the Games.
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will also be a celebration of unity in diversity of all humankind. "We can only accomplish our mission to unite the world if the Olympic Games stand above and beyond any and all political differences. We can only achieve this global solidarity and true universality if the IOC and the Olympic Games are politically neutral," said Bach.
The Olympic Games are always a global platform for the athletes and their sporting performances. As history has shown, such a growing politicisation of sport leads to no result and in the end just deepens existing divisions.
Bach stressed: "We all have to do our part to ensure that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be remembered as a wonderful celebration of unity in diversity of all humankind."
