First of all, we would like to congratulate all the athletes who participated in the Vancouver Olympics! As the Olympic Creed states:
“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
The Olympic Museum itself was an idea of Pierre de Coubertin, mentioned for the first time in 1915 after having established the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne. However, for a long time – several decades – this remained in an embryonic phase. On September 6th 1921, Lausanne signed the agreement which placed premises at the disposal of the IOC for the first time. When it moved from the Montbenon Casino to the Villa Mon Repos in 1922, however, the Olympic Museum was only a collection of the Baron’s personal possessions. It was after the election of Juan Antonio Samaranch as IOC President, in 1980, that the project for a new Museum was launched. In 1982, a provisional Museum opened its doors in the centre of Lausanne, on Avenue Ruchonnet, where its task was to prepare for the future by making an inventory of the existing collections and develop them further. In 1982 and 1984, the City of Lausanne and the IOC acquired the two properties which today house the Olympic Museum and Park. In 1988, work began, The Olympic Museum was inaugurated on June 23rd, 1993.
And do you know what?
Yes…the archives of the past games are preserved in STiL cans!
If you wish to have a virtual tour of the Museum, take a look at this link: http://www.olympic.org/en/content/The-Olympic-Museum/Museum-Tour/