Rio de Janeiro celebrates Olympic Day
The host city for the next Olympic and Paralympic Games embraces the celebration of Olympic values
Rio 2016 host city celebrates Olympic Day (Governo Municipal do Rio de Janeiro)
This Tuesday is the day to celebrate sportsmanship; the impulse that drives athletes to give their best in every performance. Celebrated worldwide, 23 June is Olympic Day - and there are just 409 days to go until the opening of the first ever Olympic and Paralympic Games in South America.
Olympic Day is much more than just a sports event. All around the world, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages will take part in sporting activities, such as traditional Olympic Day Runs as well as exhibitions, concerts and educational seminars which help to disseminate the values of the Olympic Movement, based on three key philosophies: "move, learn and discover". Some countries have even incorporated the date into their school curriculum.
As part of the celebration, the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) has organized a host of activities to take place at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park for around 200 children registered with social projects in Rio de Janeiro. Artistic gymnasts Arthur Zanetti (Olympic champion), Rebeca Andrade and Flavia Saraiva, will participate in the activities. The Team Brazil mascot will also be launched on the day.
In its 67th edition this year (2015), the first Olympic Day was celebrated in 1948, with nine National Olympic Committees promoting ceremonies in their respective countries. The date was chosen to commemorate the birth of the IOC and the Olympic Games of the Modern Era. On June 23 1894 in Paris, the IOC was officially created in an international congress promoted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the then secretary general of the Sport Associations Union of France, at the Sorbonne. At this congress, it was decided that the first Games would be held in Athens in 1896, and the next would be in Paris in 1900.
"Our Olympic Day celebrations aim to demonstrate the transformative role of sport in the lives of children and young people in Brazil. We want to spread the idea of the social and educational value of sport – its power to integrate, include and mobilize people," said Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee and the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).
Olympic athletes from all over the world are celebrating on social networks:
Brazilian synchronised swimming team
At home, Brazil's women will be on the quest for the first Olympic medal in the team's history:
Chad le Clos
The South African swimmer retweeted the message of the photographer who immortalized the moment when le Clos discovered that he had beaten idol Michael Phelps at London 2012:
Celebrating #OlympicDay with our @chadleclos . One of my best images from #London2012 @Team_SA_2015 @Image_SA pic.twitter.com/vRg0Xk86UJ
— Roger Sedres (@rogersedres) 23 Giugno 2015Ranomi Kromowidjojo
The Dutch champion of the 50m and 100m freestyle at London 2012 celebrated the day with humour:
