The event has become a ritual. For two days, the IOC organised its 11th International Athletes’ Forum at the Olympic House in Lausanne. It was a full house, with over 400 athletes representing the Athletes’ Commissions of 181 National Olympic Committees, 54 International Federations, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the IPC, the Organising Committees of the next Olympic Games and continental associations. The two-day forum ended with a question-and-answer session with Thomas Bach. Dressed in a polo shirt, the IOC President took to the stage to hold the microphone for two hours, without evading the slightest subject. In addition to the expected topics, such as safety in sport, the Paris 2024 Games and the possible participation of neutral athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports, the discussions revolved around the digitisation of sport and artificial intelligence, the growing popularity of e-sports, the length of athletes’ stay in the Olympic Village, and the Youth Games in Dakar in 2026. Among the concrete measures announced by the IOC to the athletes’ representatives was the launch by OBS, the IOC subsidiary in charge of producing images for the Games, of two audiovisual training programmes. Aimed at Olympic and Paralympic athletes, they will prepare them for career opportunities during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
