Hungary Puts Olympic Truce back in Spotlight at Historic Games Anniversary

Offers "oasis of peace for sport" says President of Budapest 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee

Coinciding with this week’s three-day Peace and Sport Forum, the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) has hosted an anniversary dinner celebrating modern sport freedoms in those countries that did not attend the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games, in solidarity with Hungary over military intervention by the Soviet Union to put down the 1956

Hungarian Revolution.

Athletes from the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain attended the event, where Pál Schmitt, an active figure in the international sport community, was a keynote speaker.

The former President of Hungary, Schmitt, was also President of the World Olympians Association for eight years, led the Hungarian Olympic Committee for 21 years and has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1983. An Olympic fencing champion, Schmitt is also the President of the Budapest 2024 Summer Olympic and

Paralympic Games Bid Committee and heads up the "Guardians of the Bid" – a group of athletes and sport professionals supporting and advising the bid. Other speakers at the HOC event included Dániel Gyurta, the Olympic swimmer and household name in Hungary who was recently elected to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission.

The first modern Olympic Truce was brokered 60 years ago by the Chancellor of the IOC at the time, Otto Mayer, on behalf of Hungarian Olympians on their way to Melbourne. Although it happened six decades ago, this unique armistice and the symbolism inherent in the support of the international sport community for the Hungarian struggle is still

recognised in the very different Hungary of today, where sport and the freedom to participate has shaped the national experience over recent decades.

"We must not cling to the past it is true," said Schmitt, "but, equally, we must not deny that the past has forged our current strengths and insights. We must never entirely forget, and those who would have us do so, would also have us proceed aimlessly into a future without wisdom. By accepting our past together, we embrace our present together, and stride towards a stronger future together. Sport will always find a way to unite us and make us better human beings."

Hungary is included among the 20 most peaceful countries in the world according to this years’ Global Peace Index, and has been among the top twenty-five most peaceful countries since the index was launched in 2007.

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Speaking of the Budapest Olympic Bid, Schmitt said, "In today’s uncertain times, Budapest 2024 pledges an oasis of peace for sport – a safe place where the world can come together to compete and celebrate freely and unhindered – this is a basic human right that is very close to our hearts and something that we take as seriously as sport itself. Sport can move mountains and heal wounds and there is no greater example of this than the Olympic Games."

This week, the Peace and Sport Forum is also currently underway in Monaco where around 500 Olympians, sports personalities, public figures and academics are joining with leaders from the private sector and civil society to find new ways for sporting endeavours to contribute to a better, more just and more united world.

As a representative of Hungary at the very highest level - an indication of its commitment to sport and its role in peaceful initiatives across the world - Schmitt been supporting the Peace and Sport Forum since its inception in 2007.

The main theme of this year’s forum is "Game on for Peace: Changing the World through Sport". The event takes place against the context of a global background where peace is severely threatened: "widespread violence and extremist acts threaten the stability of our societies at all levels, and the most vulnerable are often the hardest hit."

Budapest is a regular host of initiatives that seek to strengthen communities and foster global friendship through sport development, such as this summer’s World Congress of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA) held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Organised by a collaboration of Hungarian academics and lecturers from

St. John’s University in New York and the University of Physical Education in Budapest, the theme of this year’s ISSA event was "Sport Global Development and Social Change". The conference summarised that "Sport has become an important vehicle for initiatives related to global development and social change… from sport for peace and conflict resolution, [to] the advancement of girls and women in sport and physical activity and the use of sport for economic development."

In October this year, the International Sport and Culture Association held a training seminar in Budapest for organisations from nine EU member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) led by the Hungarian NGO, Hope for Children. The seminar proposed new project ideas to enhance the role of sport in education in conflict resolution, democratic participation and human rights, social inclusion and cultural diversity, environment and health and well-being.

- ENDS -

- This year’s Sportcal listings recognise Budapest as the rising star of major global sport events, ranking the city seventh among the top global sport cities and second in the Future Sports Cities Index 2017-2023. Named as European Capital of Sport 2019, Budapest is a high-value city, with an excellent transport infrastructure and a

long-term sustainable development plan. The Budapest 2024 Olympic Bid proposes a compact and intimate Games footprint in the capital, and a truly nationwide Games that features sport in six other Olympic cities. Budapest 2024 is dedicated to deliver an on-budget and inclusive Olympic and Paralympic Games in one of the top 20 most peaceful

countries in the world. Sports-mad Hungary was one of the founding members of the IOC and has participated in the Games since 1896. Hungary is the only country ranked in the top ten of the all-time Olympic Medal table that has not yet hosted the Olympic Games.

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