IOC
Olympic gold medal winner Osea Kolinisau was one of six athletes who carried the Olympic flag to the new IOC headquarters
Team Fiji Rugby Sevens captain and Olympic gold medal winner Osea Kolinisau was one of six athletes who carried the Olympic flag to the new International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on the 23rd of June, 2019.
Osea, who led Team Fiji Rugby Sevens in 2016 to win its first ever Olympic gold medal attended the opening ceremony alongside Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee President Makarita Lenoa who officiated in her first formal IOC function.
IOC Member in Fiji and IOC Executive Board Member, Dr Robin Mitchell was also in the forefront of the ceremony.
IOC President Thomas Bach, along with Ueli Maurer, President of Switzerland received the ceremonial key for the house after they cut the ribbon to the new building.
This opening ceremony coincided with the 125-year anniversary of the IOC. The IOC was formed on 23 June 1894 by Frenchmen, Pierre de Coubertin and it was decided that the headquarters would be in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The new headquarters is one of the most sustainable buildings in the world.
According to the IOC, the new Olympic House has been designed as a sustainable building in terms of both construction and operations. It will regroup all IOC staff in one location on the shores of Lake Geneva.
The Olympic House was designed by Danish architecture firm 3XN, which partnered with Swiss architects IttenBrechbühl to oversee the construction of the project.
The new IOC Headquarters is designed around three key elements: movement, flexibility and sustainability.
With its dynamic, undulating facade, the building appears different from all angles and conveys the energy of an athlete in motion. Its interior is designed with as few structural constraints as possible. Its spiral staircase depicts the Five Rings while its roof represents the shape of a dove.
The cost of the building was $149 million USD and it follows seven years of planning and three years of construction.
The first stone was laid at the building in December 2015.
"On our 125th anniversary, we clearly see what a great visionary Pierre de Coubertin was," Bach added.
"By bringing the entire world together in peaceful competition, the Olympic Games are a symbol of hope and peace for all humankind."
The inauguration of the Olympic House, which was attended by IOC members, representatives from international federations and the heads of 206 IOC member committees.
Also in attendance were 125 Olympic legends such as Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the Norwegian biathlete who has claimed 13 Olympic medals, and Olympic champions Tina Maze (Slovenia), Santiago Lange (Argentina), and Yuna Kim (Republic of Korea), to name but a few. They were joined by Yusra Mardini and Yonas Kinde, who both were part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Rio 2016.
You can catch the action from the opening ceremony from this link
https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-officially-inaugurates-olympic-house-and-celebrates-125th-anniversary
