AICO International Representation
November 2023

November 2023 was a rich month for AICO at the international level, whose president, Christophe AIT-BRAHAM, was able to promote, around the role of our institution in collecting, protecting, knowing, sharing and promoting culture and Olympic heritage through collections.

Four international and national events presented AICO and its activities: Exhibition, Festival, AOPC App and WOCF, among others.

40th International Festival of Sports Film, Film and Television – 7 – 11 November 2023

Organized by FICTS, our cultural partner, in Milan, from 7 to 11 November 2023, under the direction of Professor ASCANI Franco, President of FICTS. The logo of AICO, as a cultural partner, was present on all the materials of the Festival, and the President of AICO was able to make a brief statement at an award ceremony during the Closing Ceremony. It was also an opportunity to meet many professionals from the film sector and to introduce them to the cultural part of the Olympic Games, through the collection. The Festival was a great showcase to promote AICO to other cultural, Olympic and sports entities.

Paris Forum – 13 November 2023

Dialogue between France and China, as part of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China or when culture and the Olympic collection facilitate dialogue between Beijing and Paris, Olympic Cities. – 13
November 2023 – Paris. (program)

At the invitation of Justin HOU KOUN, General Vice-President of China Sport Philately and Collection Association, a Member Association of AICO, Christophe AIT-BRAHAM was able to present a very concrete example of Paris-Beijing relations through Olympic culture: “When Paris and Beijing bear witness and share together around Olympic culture and heritage, the example of the WOCF Olympic Expo Paris 2023. Paris and Beijing, two Olympic cities, two cities rich in history, have left their mark on the Olympic Movement.

Today, two years after the Beijing 2022 Games and one year before the Paris 2024 Games, I would like to illustrate my point with an event, a symbol of this sharing between our two Olympic communities: the 27th Paris 2023 World Olympic Collectors Fair.

Indeed, there could not have been a better illustration.

From 23 to 25 June 2023, Paris hosted this Olympic and cultural event, organized under the aegis of the IOC’s Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, and AICO; event labelled “Cultural Olympiad” by Paris 2024.

An international exhibition “Sharing our Olympic History” brought together around 15 collections (11 private collectors, 3 sports and cultural institutions and an international delegation from China) 15 views, 15 shares on this heritage that the Olympic Games of the modern era have left us since 1896.

The international delegation of China represented by Mr. WANG Shu, under the aegis of Mr. HOU KOUN Justin, composed of 37 collectors, accepted our invitation to exhibit exceptional compositions of Olympic pins, thus sharing with our French and foreign visitors and our 350 schoolchildren in Paris (for the Olympic Day of June 23rd), the values of Olympic and Chinese culture.

These 37 paintings have enjoyed a certain success and admiration in front of the national and international press: How could an Olympic exhibition mobilize and unite so many people from different backgrounds, from such distant countries?

That’s also the magic of the Games and the Olympic spirit: bringing people together, multiplying their strengths to achieve the best together!

Culture in general, and the Olympic spirit in particular, have been, are and will be the vectors of a continuous and benevolent dialogue between our two Olympic cities.”

The IOC Culture and Heritage Commission – 21 November 2023

As an IOC-recognized organization, AICO is represented by its President on the Culture and Heritage Commission, under the chairmanship of IOC Member Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul.

For this 2023 session, AICO presented to the Commission all the partnerships it had been able to forge over the past 4 years, in particular in the context of the organization of the WOCF Paris 2023, while inviting the institutions linked to the Commission, to develop together types of exchanges around the WOCF.

Four types of partnerships have been developed: Institutional, Cultural, Official, and Events

Conference Pierre de Coubertin and Olympism: Values, History and Culture – November 25, 2023 – Argenteuil (France)

At the request of the French Pierre de Coubertin Committee, the Departmental Olympic Committee of the 95 and other local institutions, the President of AICO led the symposium entitled “Pierre de Coubertin and Olympism: Values, History and Culture,” with the intervention of four major specialists on different themes: history, sport, culture.

The conference ended with this conclusion, opening on the part of the legacy of the Games: “Our debates and exchanges over the course of this half-day have allowed us to understand the full scope of the modern Olympic movement.

To the question of why we are still talking about Olympism, the various interventions of our speakers put into perspective the Olympic movement and all the direct or indirect activities that result from it and that have had an impact on our socio-cultural environments.

Not only is Olympism 365 days a year, every year, but it is also everywhere and not only in the Olympic cities, and for everyone and not only for high-level athletes.

When the Games are over, the flame is extinguished, the athletes return home with their gold, silver and bronze medals, journalists, volunteers and spectators leave enriched by an extraordinary human experience, but what is left?

There is still an impact in our societies, a intangible legacy, but also a material legacy, and in particular some iconic objects that all tell an Olympic story, some examples of which you will find in the two showcases in front of you.

Mascot, torch, medal, coin, official report, poster… They are all witnesses of each of the Olympiads that have stood the test of time.”