11 June 2024 – President Bach was welcomed to the headquarters of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 by its President, Tony Estanguet, on Monday. He was there for the final meeting before the Games of the Paris 2024 Board of Directors, whose members include Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo; the President of the Ile de France Region, Valérie Pécresse; French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera; and Patrick Ollier, President of the Greater Paris Metropolitan Area.

Welcoming the Board members, with just 46 days to go before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, President Bach congratulated them for their organisational “creativity” and “efficiency”, always in line with the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020. He also praised their ability to address and deal with all the challenges they have faced. He added, “perhaps the most important quality you have is unity, which you have shown from the very beginning. You have never politicised the Games, and you continue to organise these Games in the Olympic spirit to produce a festival of humanity,” he said.

“The expectations of the world are enormous – whether you speak to heads of state and government, or the people in the street, or with the athletes, there is one sentiment which is common for all the people: They are fed up with all the war and hate all round the world. Billions of people are considering these upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 to be a symbol of unity,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the IOC President visited a school in Paris that had created its own Olympic museum and organised many of its lessons around the upcoming Olympic Games. He was joined on the visit by Tony Estanguet, the Mayor of Paris and the Sports Minister. During the visit they were treated to an Olympic song, written and performed by pupils at the Epinettes School in the 17^th arrondissement of the capital. At the school, they were able to experience the excitement of all these children and their great engagement, producing designs, taking part in workshops and engaging in sports activities, together with their commitment to the Olympic values and the new Olympic motto that includes the word “Together”, which is a key topic for many of their activities.