Full coverage: 2016 Rio Olympics
The Olympic president, besides discussing the water safety in Rio, has been busy in the Olympic city. Thomas Bach would take part in a ceremony to inagurate the Olympic truce wall. This has been a fixture since the 2000 Games in Sydney and celebrates the tradition of the Olmpyic truce, when conflicts were halted in ancient Greece to allow for safe travel to and from the original Olympiad.
The Olympic Truce Wall has been unveiled in the Olympic Village of the Rio Olympics on August 1, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua]
A choir would greet those attending the ceremony, and athletes are encouraged to show their support for the ideals of peaceful competition by signing the wall. After the ceremony, Bach presented the UNHCR refugee choir with Olympic pins and toured the village, which had been the subject of complaints as teams moved in.
Bach chatted to members of the Australian team, which earlier refused to move into the village until their accommodations improved following electrical problems, and water leaks. The IOC chief also met members of the Refugee Team at lunch in the main dining hall of the village.
“Whenever I am here you can see that it is coming to life more and more, and you see the athletes with a smile,” Bach said.