Olympic Oath

An oath was an idea taken from the Ancient Olympic Games where competitors swore an oath beside a statue of Zeus.[1][2] A call for an oath was announced as early as 1906 by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president and founder Pierre de Coubertin in the Revue Olympique (Olympic Review in French).[3] This was done in an effort to ensure fairness and impartiality.[3] The Olympic Oath was first taken at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp by the fencer Victor Boin. Boin's oath in 1920 was:

We swear. We will take part in the Olympic Games in a spirit of chivalry, for the honour of our country and for the glory of sport.[3]

At a winter sports week in Chamonix in 1924, which were retrospectively call the Olympic Games in 1926,[4] all the competitors took an Olympic style oath and were led by Camille Mandrillon.[5][6] Rudolf Ismayr was the first Olympic Champion to take the oath, doing so at the 1936 Games in Berlin.[2] In 1956 Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo became the first woman to recite the oath.[7]

In 1961, "swear" was replaced by "promise" and "the honour of our countries" by "the honour of our teams" in an effort to eliminate nationalism at the Olympic Games.[3][5] Therefore the oath was as follows:

In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.[3]

An oath for the officials had been discussed since the 1950s when the International Amateur Boxing Association asked all its officials to undertake an oath. In 1970 the IOC amended rule 57 of the charter and decreed that a judge from the host nation would also take an oath. The first judges' oath was taken at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo by Fumio Asaki and Heinz Pollay performed the task at that year's summer games in Munich.[2]

The Munich games saw Heidi Schüller become the first female athlete to take the oath at the Summer Games;[5][8] women had been competing at the games since 1900.[9] At the 1988 Games the athletes' oath for the first time was undertaken by more than one person, when Hur Jae and Shon Mi-Na took the oath in unison.[2]

All persons up until the 1980 Games swore the oath on their country's flag. In an attempt to eliminate nationalism from the oath ceremony all have sworn on the Olympic Flag since the 1984 games.[2][6][10][11] The oaths are usually spoken in the language of the host nation (or athlete's mother tongue – Bojan Krizaj represented Yugoslavia but spoke Slovenian), but in 1994 both of the oaths were conducted in English rather than Norwegian.[6]

In 1999, the IOC created the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in an effort to form a more organized battle against doping. Thus, the Athletes Oath was amended to include references to doping and drugs.[5][12][10][13][14] In 2010 the IOC recognised that younger athletes, in particular, are influenced by their coaches. At the first Youth Olympic Games, coaches were also required to undertake an oath for this reason.[2] With effect from the 2018 Winter Olympics, the three oaths were combined into one, led by an athlete, although representatives of judges and coaches are still involved in the taking of the oath.[15][6]

Victor Boin taking the first oath in Antwerp.

The oath being taken collectively at the first winter games in 1924 at Chamonix

Minuzzo was the first woman to take the athletes oath at the winter games.

Jack Shea (l) took the athletes oath in 1932 and his grandson Jimmy Shea (r) did likewise in 2002.

Suzanne Morrow-Francis was the first woman to take the official's oath at the winter games in 1988.

The athletes, judges and coaches that have delivered the Olympic Oath are listed below.

• Olympic symbols

• Recording of the Olympic Oaths being taken in 2012