The Museum of the Modern Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece, this afternoon hosted the ceremony for the declaration of the Olympic Truce – a high-profile institutional event, held in the cradle of the Games, to reaffirm the universal significance of the five rings as a language of peace.

CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio attended alongside Deputy Vice President Diana Bianchedi – who also serves as Chief Strategy Planning & Legacy Officer for MICO2026 – just hours before the Olympic Flame is lit.

Also present were IOC President Kirsty Coventry, Italy’s Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation Giovanni Malagò, IOC Members Ivo Ferriani and Federica Pellegrini, Honorary Member Francesco Ricci Bitti, and Italy’s Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, Paolo Cuculli.

The ceremony was promoted by the mayors of the Greek municipalities of Archaia Olympia, Ilida and Sparta, together with the International Olympic Truce Centre.

Inspired by the ritual calling for a truce, first established in Ancient Greece, the mayors issued an appeal for “weapons to be laid down and hostilities to cease across the globe for the entire period from the seventh day before the start of the XXV Olympic Winter Games until the seventh day after the conclusion of the XIV Paralympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, as set out in the United Nations resolution”.

The Olympic Truce declaration was signed by Coventry, Abodi, Malagò and Buonfiglio, as well as by Ambassador Cuculli. “Greece has a special place in my heart, because it was here that I became an Olympic champion for the first time, and it feels almost surreal to be back now,” Coventry stressed, adding: “In a world that can sometimes seem so sad and divided, it is vital that there is still room for young people to dream and to realise what they are capable of – and that makes what we are doing here today all the more important”.