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112-619: The building of the complex started in June 1981 and was officially opened by then- President of the International Olympic Committee , Juan Antonio Samaranch , on February 14, 1982. Zetra Olympic Hall was constructed specifically for the 1984 Winter Olympics, hosted in Sarajevo, and was completed in 1982. Its first major event was the 1983 World Junior Speed Skating Championships . It was described as an "ultramodern, angular edifice" with

224-447: A copper roof. The indoor venue hosted ice hockey and figure skating events, as well as the last closing ceremony held in an indoor place until Vancouver 2010 . From 1984 to 1991 , Zetra remained in service as a venue for ice sports. It served as the venue for several international speed skating events, and several speed skating world records were broken here. The arena suffered substantial damage from shelling, bombing and fire by

336-466: A "visionary hero." According to Michel, "To use the word 'genocide' in relation to the Congo is absolutely unacceptable and inappropriate. ... maybe colonisation was domineering and acquiring more power, but at a certain moment, it brought civilisation." Michel's remarks were countered by several Belgian politicians. Senator Pol Van Den Driessche replied, "[A] great visionary? Absolutely not. What happened then

448-675: A Belgian. When both of these plans failed, Leopold shifted his aspirations of colonisation to Africa. After numerous unsuccessful schemes to acquire colonies in Africa and Asia, in 1876 Leopold organized a private holding company disguised as an international scientific and philanthropic association, which he called the International African Society , or the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of

560-558: A college principal. Phokianos was also one of the advocates of sport in Greece; he had organized a series of Olympic Games sponsored by Evangelos Zappas in 1875, and in 1888 he had organized an elite and private Games as the founder of the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club . Phokianos could not travel to Paris for financial reasons and because he was finalizing the construction of his new college. Instead, de Coubertin turned to one of

672-608: A colony as a private citizen. The Belgian government lent him money for this venture. During his reign, Leopold saw the empires of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as being in a state of decline and expressed interest in buying their territories. In 1866, Leopold instructed the Belgian ambassador in Madrid to speak to Queen Isabella II of Spain about ceding the Philippines to Belgium, but

784-563: A commemoration marking 40 years since the massacre had also come from Jewish organizations worldwide and politicians from the United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, Australia, and Germany. He and the IOC instead opted for a smaller ceremony in London that took place on 6 August, and one at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base on the 40th anniversary of the attack, 5 September. Thomas Bach was elected President of

896-486: A cost of US$ 500,000 per year) at a presidential suite for his stays in Lausanne , Switzerland , where the IOC headquarters are located. Besides his lavish accommodations, he was increasingly criticized for the judging and doping scandals and rampant corruption that occurred under his watch. A closed-door inquiry later expelled several IOC members for accepting bribes but cleared Samaranch of wrongdoing. Samaranch declared that

1008-643: A dance at Dachau" —most did not, and few athletes withdrew from the Games. The Olympic competition was suspended on 5 September for one complete day. The next day, a memorial service of eighty thousand spectators and three thousand athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium . Brundage gave an address in which he stated: "Every civilized person recoils in horror at the barbarous criminal intrusion of terrorists into peaceful Olympic precincts. We mourn our Israeli friends [...] victims of this brutal assault. The Olympic flag and

1120-399: A distinctly Belgian character. Leopold extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of ivory , and after a rise in the price of rubber in the 1890s, by forced labour from the people to harvest and process rubber. He ran the Congo using the mercenary Force Publique for his personal enrichment. Failure to meet rubber collection quotas was punishable by death. Meanwhile,

1232-562: A great number of buildings, urban projects and public works. According to the historians Wm. Roger Louis and Adam Hochschild , this was largely possible thanks to the profits generated from the Congo Free State , though this is disputed. These projects earned him the epithet of "Builder King" (Dutch: Koning-Bouwheer , French: Roi-Bâtisseur ). The public buildings were mainly in Brussels , Ostend , Tervuren and Antwerp , and include

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1344-684: A handful of terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic movement. The Games must go on...." Brundage strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from the Olympics due to its racial policies. After the attacks in Munich, Brundage drew a comparison between the massacre of the Israeli athletes and the barring of the Rhodesian team, for which he later apologized. Brundage

1456-416: A large fortune in Congo securities, only some of which the Belgian government and Leopold's three estranged daughters were able to win back. As Leopold's older brother, the earlier crown prince Louis Philippe , had died the year before Leopold's birth, Leopold was heir to the throne from his birth. When he was 5 years old, Leopold received the title of Duke of Brabant , and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in

1568-578: A large share of the local population could sell only to the state, which could set prices and thereby control the income the Congolese could receive for their work. For local elites, however, this system presented new opportunities, as the Free State and concession companies paid them with guns to tax their subjects in kind. Under his regime, millions of Congolese inhabitants, including children, were mutilated, killed or died from disease and famine. In addition,

1680-452: A major international scandal in the early 20th century, and Leopold was forced by the Belgian government to relinquish control of the colony to the civil administration in 1908. Leopold fervently believed that overseas colonies were the key to a country's greatness, and he worked tirelessly to acquire colonial territory for Belgium. He envisioned "our little Belgium" as the capital of a large overseas empire. Leopold eventually began to acquire

1792-599: A mistress Caroline Lacroix , a 16-year-old French prostitute, and they remained together until his death ten years later. Leopold lavished upon her large sums of money, estates, gifts, and a noble title, Baroness de Vaughan. Owing to these gifts and the unofficial nature of their relationship, their affair ironically lost Leopold more popularity in Belgium than any of his crimes in the Congo. Caroline bore two sons, Lucien Philippe Marie Antoine, Duke of Tervuren , and Philippe Henri Marie François, Count of Ravenstein . Their second son

1904-509: A negative effect on Finland's relationship with Sweden, as Nurmi was a celebrated national hero in his own country. Edström retired from the IOC presidency in 1952 and was succeeded by Avery Brundage. Avery Brundage became vice-president of the IOC in 1945 and was subsequently elected president in 1952, at the 47th IOC Session in Helsinki , succeeding Sigfrid Edström. While he was being considered for this honor, Brundage fathered two sons with

2016-413: A new decree mandating that Africans in a large part of the Free State could sell their harvested products (mostly ivory and rubber) only to the state. This law extended an earlier decree declaring that all "unoccupied" land belonged to the state. Any ivory or rubber collected from the state-owned land, the reasoning went, must belong to the state, thus creating a de facto state-controlled monopoly. Therefore,

2128-578: A personal payment of 50 million to him. The Congo Free State was transformed into a Belgian colony under parliamentary control known as the Belgian Congo . Leopold went to great lengths to conceal potential evidence of wrongdoing during his time as ruler of his private colony. The entire archive of the Congo Free State was burned and he told his aide that even though the Congo had been taken from him, "they have no right to know what I did there". When

2240-419: A record number of athletes participated in those Games, and the number of nations with an IOC membership and participating increased at every Games during his presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes. One achievement of Samaranch has undoubtedly been the financial rescue of the IOC, which was in financial crisis in

2352-403: A rise in the price of natural rubber in the 1890s, by forced labour from the native population to harvest and process rubber. Leopold's administration was characterized by systematic brutality and atrocities in the Congo Free State , including forced labour, torture, murder, kidnapping, and the amputation of the hands of men, women, and children when the quota of rubber was not met. In one of

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2464-616: A step likened to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee set up in South Africa after the apartheid regime was abolished. On 30 June, the 60th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's independence, King Philippe released a statement expressing his "deepest regret" for the wounds of the colonial past, and the "acts of violence and cruelty committed" in the Congo during colonisation but did not explicitly mention Leopold's role in

2576-461: A woman to whom he was not married; in order to avoid a political scandal, he requested that his name be kept off the birth certificates. During his tenure as IOC president, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games . Gradually, this opinion became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members, but his opinions led to some embarrassing incidents, such as

2688-541: Is also remembered for proposing the elimination of all team sports from the Summer Olympic Games, fearing that the Games would become too expensive for all but the wealthiest nations to host; he also proposed the elimination of the Winter Olympic Games entirely due to its association with commercialism. Brundage retired as IOC president after the 1972 Summer Games, having held the post for twenty years, and

2800-680: Is currently in service as a sporting arena. It is also used for music concerts, fairs and conferences. Sometimes, parts of the building are rented for other purposes (e.g. for the elections 2014, it was used as the Main Counting Center and election material storage space). The hall also contains a small museum about the 1984 Winter Olympics as well as a gym, billiard hall, bowling alley, pistol range, two cafes and other sports related content such as headquarters for various clubs and associations. [REDACTED] Media related to Olympic Hall Juan Antonio Samaranch at Wikimedia Commons NOTE: During

2912-477: Is popularly referred to as the Builder King (Dutch: Koning-Bouwheer , French: Roi-Bâtisseur ) in Belgium in reference to the great number of buildings, urban projects and public works he commissioned. Leopold was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private colonial project undertaken on his own behalf as a personal union with Belgium. He used Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to

3024-399: The 1972 Summer Olympics . The Olympic Movement experienced a difficult period during his presidency, having to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Games and the financial failure of the 1976 Montréal Games . Due to limited interest from potential hosts, the cities of Lake Placid, New York and Los Angeles, California were chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games and

3136-513: The 1984 Summer Games , respectively, in the absence of any competing cities. Killanin resigned prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, after the massive political boycott of those Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan , but retained his position until the Games were completed. Juan Antonio Samaranch (who was later created the 1st marquess of Samaranch ) was elected President of

3248-519: The Belgian Constitution came in 1893. Universal male suffrage was introduced, though the effect of this was tempered by plural voting . The eligibility requirements for the Senate were reduced, and elections would be based on a system of proportional representation , which continues to this day. Leopold pushed strongly to enable a royal referendum, whereby the king would have the power to consult

3360-598: The Catholic Party , Progressive Liberals and the Labour Party caused the Belgian Parliament to compel the king to cede the Congo Free State to Belgium in 1908. The deal that led to the handover cost Belgium the considerable sum of 215.5 million Francs. This was used to discharge the debt of the Congo Free State and to pay out its bond holders as well as 45.5 million for Leopold's pet building projects in Belgium and

3472-509: The Congo Free State , an area 76 times larger than Belgium, was established under Leopold II's personal rule and private army , the Force Publique . In 1894, King Leopold signed a treaty with Great Britain which conceded a strip of land on the Congo Free State's eastern border in exchange for a lifetime lease of the Lado Enclave , which provided access to the navigable Nile and extended

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3584-505: The Franco-Prussian War , he managed to preserve Belgium's neutrality in a period of unusual difficulty and danger. Leopold pushed for a reform in military service, but he was unable to obtain one until he was on his deathbed. The Belgian army was a combination of volunteers and a lottery, and it was possible for men to pay for substitutes for service. This was replaced by a system in which one son in every family would have to serve in

3696-641: The French Riviera , including the Villa des Cèdres and its botanical garden , and the Villa Leopolda . Thinking of the future after his death, Leopold did not want the collection of estates, lands and heritage buildings he had privately amassed to be scattered among his daughters, each of whom was married to a foreign prince. In 1900, he created the Royal Trust , by means of which he donated most of his properties to

3808-522: The Internet would indeed be censored for journalists . Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and Swiss IOC executive director Gilbert Felli —and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made a secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of

3920-645: The Labour Party . Increasing social unrest and the rise of the Labour Party forced the adoption of universal male suffrage in 1893. During Leopold's reign other social changes were enacted into law. Among these were the right of workers to form labour unions and the abolition of the livret d'ouvrier , an employment record book . Laws against child labour were passed. Children younger than 12 were not allowed to work in factories, children younger than 16 were not allowed to work at night, and women younger than 21 years old were not allowed to work underground. Workers gained

4032-909: The Olympic Village and have them suspended from the U.S. Olympic team. When the USOC refused, he threatened to ban the entire U.S. Olympic team. However, Brundage made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics . He may be best remembered for his decision during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich , West Germany , to continue the Games following the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed eleven Israeli athletes. While some criticized Brundage's decision—including L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray, who wrote "Incredibly, they're going on with it. It's almost like having

4144-1092: The Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark (1852–1880), memorial arcade and complex, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (1905–1969) and Duden Park in Brussels (1881); the Hippodrome Wellington racetrack (1883), the Royal Galleries and Maria Hendrikapark in Ostend (1902); the Royal Museum for Central Africa and its surrounding park in Tervuren (1898); and Antwerpen-Centraal railway station in Antwerp (1895–1905). In addition to his public works, Leopold acquired and built numerous private properties for himself inside and outside Belgium. He expanded

4256-424: The decline included epidemic disease, a reduced birth rate, and violence and famine caused by the regime. Leopold was born in Brussels on 9 April 1835, the second child of the reigning Belgian monarch, Leopold I , and of his second wife, Louise , the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. His eldest brother, Louis Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium , died in infancy in 1834. As heir apparent, Leopold

4368-595: The "shamateurism" from Eastern Bloc countries, in which team members were nominally students, soldiers, or civilians working in a non-sports profession, but in reality were paid by their states to train on a full-time basis. Brundage claimed that it was " their way of life ". Thorpe's amateur status was restored by the Amateur Athletic Union in 1973, following Brundage's retirement. The IOC officially pardoned Thorpe in 1982 and ordered that his medals be presented posthumously to his family. After his death in 1975, it

4480-407: The 1860s. The British monarch at the time, Queen Victoria , was Leopold II's first cousin, as was Victoria's husband, Prince Albert , since Leopold's father, Albert's father, Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha , and Victoria's mother, the then Duchess of Kent , were all siblings. As a young man, Leopold II served in the Belgian military and achieved the rank of lieutenant-general. He also served in

4592-443: The 1970s. The games themselves were such a burden on host cities that it appeared that no host would be found for future Olympiads. Under Samaranch, the IOC revamped its sponsorship arrangements (choosing to go with global sponsors rather than allowing each national federation to take local ones), and new broadcasting deals which brought in much money. Also during his tenure as IOC president, Samaranch insisted that he be addressed with

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4704-470: The Belgian Senate during this time. At the age of 18, Leopold married Marie Henriette of Austria , a cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and granddaughter of the late Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II , on 22 August 1853 in Brussels. Lively and energetic, Marie Henriette endeared herself to the people by her character and benevolence. Her beauty earned her the sobriquet "The Rose of Brabant". She

4816-414: The Belgian government took over the administration in 1908, the situation in the Congo improved in certain respects. The brutal exploitation and arbitrary use of violence, in which some of the concessionary companies had excelled, were curbed. Article 3 of the new Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 stated that: "Nobody can be forced to work on behalf of and for the profit of companies or privates", but this

4928-414: The Belgian nation in perpetuity, and arranged for the royal family to continue using them after his death. On 15 November 1902, Italian anarchist Gennaro Rubino attempted to assassinate Leopold, who was riding in a royal cortege from a ceremony at Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula in memory of his recently deceased wife, Marie Henriette . After Leopold's carriage passed, Rubino fired three shots at

5040-636: The Congo Free State had long-lasting negative impacts. Ethnic groups subjected to more intensive rubber exploitation exhibited significantly lower economic development over a century later, driven by disruptions to traditional economic systems and human capital accumulation. Their work also examined how colonial co-option of local chiefs during the rubber era may have undermined leader accountability, linking to broader critiques of indirect rule strategies across Africa. The oppressive policies under Leopold's personal rule are seen as engendering entrenched underdevelopment with enduring economic and political consequences in

5152-437: The Congo, she traveled on steamboats owned by the state and its company allies, who controlled where she went and what she saw. When she returned to England, Jones placed her articles in the newspapers. She stated "I have witnessed more atrocities in London streets than I have ever seen in the Congo." Thereafter, the king paid her a monthly salary to lobby members of Parliament. International opposition and criticism at home from

5264-469: The Congo, the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the colonial nations of Europe authorised his claim and committed the Congo Free State to him. Leopold ran the Congo, which he never personally visited, by using the mercenary Force Publique for his personal gain. He extracted a fortune from the territory, initially by the collection of ivory and, after

5376-515: The Congo. In 1878, under the auspices of the holding company, he hired explorer Henry Stanley to explore and establish a colony in the Congo region. Much diplomatic maneuvering among European nations resulted in the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 regarding African affairs, at which representatives of 14 European countries and the United States recognized Leopold as sovereign of most of the area to which he and Stanley had laid claim. On 5 February 1885,

5488-468: The East Indies. Similar methods of forced labour were employed to some degree by Germany, France, and Portugal where natural rubber occurred in their own colonies. Efforts by Leopold to dampen international criticism of human rights abuses included the sponsoring of an author, May French Sheldon , by his British consule Sir Alfred Lewis Jones on an expedition of the Congo Free State in 1891. While in

5600-532: The Force Publique were required to provide the hand of their victims as proof when they had shot and killed someone, as it was believed that they would otherwise use the munitions (imported from Europe at considerable cost) for hunting. As a consequence, the rubber quotas were in part paid off in chopped-off hands. Shortly after the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference (1889–1890), Leopold issued

5712-513: The Free State's sphere of influence northwards into Sudan. After rubber profits soared in 1895, Leopold ordered the organization of an expedition into the Lado Enclave, which had been overrun by Mahdist rebels since the outbreak of the Mahdist War in 1881. The expedition was composed of two columns: the first, under Belgian Baron Dhanis , consisted of a sizable force, numbering around 3,000, and

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5824-508: The Games, described him as "...a classic stiff-collared bureaucrat ," and further contended that "[the IOC] has made billions off athletes such as Bolt for years, yet he has to find someone to pick on." In an interview with The Irish Times ' reporter Ian O'Riordan , Rogge clarified, "Maybe there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. [...] What he does before or after the race I have no problem with. I just thought that his gesticulation during

5936-570: The IOC on 10 September 2013, as the successor to Jacques Rogge, at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires . He made his first appearance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi and was one of the IOC presidents to take part in other sporting events being held. Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and

6048-519: The IOC on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch , who had led the IOC since 1980. Under his leadership, the IOC aimed to create more possibilities for developing countries to bid for and host the Olympic Games. Rogge believes that this vision can be achieved in the not too distant future through government backing and new IOC policies that constrain

6160-593: The IOC on 16 July at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow , that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics —between 15 and 18 July 1980. He officially assumed presidency at the end of the Moscow Olympics. During his term, Samaranch managed to make the Olympic Movement financially healthy, with big television deals and sponsorships. Although the 1984 Summer Olympics were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries,

6272-411: The IOC's worst crisis was over but a group of former Olympic athletes, led by Mark Tewksbury , continued to push for his removal. It became a tradition for Samaranch, when giving the president's address at the close of each Summer Olympics, to praise the organizers at each Olympiad for putting on "the best ever" Games. Jacques Rogge (later created The 1st count Rogge) was elected as president of

6384-633: The IOC. Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored. Rogge commented that Usain Bolt 's gestures of jubilation and excitement after winning the 100 meters in Beijing are "not the way we perceive being a champion," and also said, "that he should show more respect for his competitors." In response to his comments, Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel, who covered

6496-594: The Olympic Games, venues that have naming rights sold may not use their name during the Olympic Games. President of the International Olympic Committee The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC Executive Board consists of

6608-405: The Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs — Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention. The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic Games grew to become

6720-511: The Serb forces on Monday, May 25, 1992 during the Bosnian War . The interior of the structure, such as the basements and main hall, were put into service as a morgue , storage space for medication and supplies, and a staging area for UN equipment. The wooden seats from the venue were used as material for coffins for civilians killed in the war. After the war, it was discovered that though the building

6832-463: The acting president until the end of World War II , when he was formally elected IOC president. He played an important role in reviving the Olympic Movement after the war. In 1931, Edström was involved in the controversial decision to ban legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from competing at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as the IOC considered Nurmi to be a professional athlete. This had

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6944-430: The age of nine from pneumonia after falling into a pond. His death was a source of great sorrow for King Leopold. The marriage became unhappy, and the couple separated after a last attempt to have another son, a union that resulted in the birth of their last daughter, Clementine . Marie Henriette retreated to Spa in 1895, and died there in 1902. Leopold had many mistresses . In 1899, in his 65th year, Leopold took as

7056-422: The ambassador did nothing. Leopold quickly replaced the ambassador with a more sympathetic individual to carry out his plan. In 1868, when Isabella II was deposed as queen of Spain, Leopold tried to press his original plan to acquire the Philippines. But without funds, he was unsuccessful. Leopold then devised another unsuccessful plan to establish the Philippines as an independent state, which could then be ruled by

7168-566: The army . He served in the army until his accession in 1865, by which time he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general. Leopold's public career began on his attaining the age of majority in 1855, when he became a member of the Belgian Senate . He took an active interest in the senate, especially in matters concerning the development of Belgium and its trade, and began to urge Belgium's acquisition of colonies. Leopold traveled abroad extensively from 1854 to 1865, visiting India, China, Egypt, and

7280-419: The assessment of the 1919 Belgian government commission: roughly half the population were killed or died during the Free State period. Hochschild points out that since the first official census by the Belgian authorities in 1924 put the population at about 10 million, these various approaches suggest a rough estimate of a population decline by 10 million. Smallpox epidemics and sleeping sickness also devastated

7392-419: The atrocities. Some activists accused him of not making a full apology. Leopold II remains a controversial figure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the capital Kinshasa (known until 1966 as Leopoldville in his honor) his statue was removed after independence. Congolese culture minister Christophe Muzungu decided to reinstate the statue in 2005. He noted that the beginning of the Free State had been

7504-474: The birth rate rapidly declined during this period. Estimates for the total population decline range from 1 million to 15 million, with a consensus growing around 10 million. Several historians argue against this figure due to the absence of reliable censuses, the enormous mortality of diseases such as smallpox or sleeping sickness and the fact that there were only 175 administrative agents in charge of rubber exploitation. Reports of deaths and abuse led to

7616-427: The chairman president, four vice-presidents, and ten other IOC members; all of the board members are elected by the IOC Session , using a secret ballot, by a majority vote. The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games , held every two years, alternating summer and winter games (each every four years). The IOC president holds the office for two terms of four years, renewable once for another term, so would expect to lead

7728-429: The colonial nations of Europe authorised his claim by committing the Congo Free State to improving the lives of the people. The central services of the state were located in Brussels. All officials within the Congo were Belgian, including those in administration, the army, and the courts. Belgian officers from the army played an essential role in the Congo’s governance. Even religious missions, especially Catholic ones, had

7840-485: The countries on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. His father died on 10 December 1865, and Leopold took the oath of office on 17 December, at the age of 30. He also served in the Belgian Senate during this time. Leopold became king in 1865. He explained his goal for his reign in an 1888 letter addressed to his brother, Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders : "the country must be strong, prosperous, therefore have colonies of her own, beautiful and calm." Leopold's reign

7952-399: The death of several Belgian officers and the loss of his entire force. Nonetheless, Chaltin continued his advance, and on 17 February 1897, his outnumbered forces defeated the rebels in the Battle of Rejaf , securing the Lado Enclave as Free State territory until Leopold's death in 1909. Leopold amassed a huge personal fortune by exploiting the natural resources of the Congo. At first, ivory

8064-532: The deeply traumatized population. By 1896, African trypanosomiasis had killed up to 5,000 people in the village of Lukolela on the Congo River . The mortality statistics were collected through the efforts of British consul Roger Casement , who found, for example, only 600 survivors of the disease in Lukolela in 1903. Research by Lowes and Montero found King Leopold II's coercive labor practices for rubber extraction in

8176-486: The electorate directly on an issue, and use his veto according to the results of the referendum. The proposal was rejected, as it would have given the king the power to override the elected government. Leopold was so disappointed that he considered abdication . Leopold emphasized military defence as the basis of neutrality, and strove to make Belgium less vulnerable militarily. He achieved the construction of defensive fortresses at Liège , at Namur and at Antwerp . During

8288-583: The end of the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires and was appointed to the lifetime position of Honorary President of the IOC. Rogge died on 29 August 2021 at the age of 79. For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rogge stated in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by the mainland authorities: "For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China." However, on 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper had to retract that statement, admitting that

8400-414: The enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment. He decided to reiterate his efforts at the next congress in 1894, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of recreating the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points that would be debated pertained to amateurism (definition, disqualification, betting, etc.) and the seventh point concerned

8512-418: The exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the 1972 Winter Olympics . Likewise, he opposed the restoration of Olympic medals to Native American athlete Jim Thorpe , who had been stripped of the medals when he was found to have played semi-professional baseball before taking part in the 1912 Summer Olympics (where he had beaten Brundage in the pentathlon and decathlon). Despite this, Brundage accepted

8624-549: The failed regicide , the king's security was questioned, because the glass of the landaus was 2 cm thick. Elsewhere in Europe, the news of this assassination attempt was received with alarm. Heads of state and the pope sent telegrams to the king congratulating him for surviving the assassination attempt. The Belgians rejoiced that the king was safe. Later in the day, in the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie before Tristan und Isolde

8736-438: The first uses of the term, George Washington Williams described the practices of Leopold's administration of the Congo Free State as " crimes against humanity " in 1890. While it has proven difficult to accurately estimate the pre-colonial population and the amount by which it changed under the Congo Free State, estimates for the Congolese population decline during Leopold's rule range from 1 million to 15 million. The causes of

8848-465: The flags of all the world fly at half-mast . Sadly, in this imperfect world, the greater and the more important the Olympic Games become, the more they are open to commercial, political, and now criminal pressure. The Games of the XXth Olympiad have been subject to two savage attacks. We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail. I am sure that the public will agree that we cannot allow

8960-464: The founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leopold I and Queen Louise , Leopold succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in 1865 and reigned for 44 years until his death, the longest reign of a Belgian monarch to date. He died without surviving legitimate sons; the current King of the Belgians, Philippe , descends from his nephew and successor, Albert I . He

9072-802: The grounds of the Royal Castle of Laeken , and built the Royal Greenhouses , as well as the Japanese Tower and the Chinese Pavilion near the palace (now the Museums of the Far East ). In the Ardennes , his domains consisted of 6,700 hectares (17,000 acres) of forests and agricultural lands and the châteaux of Ardenne , Ciergnon , Fenffe, Villers-sur-Lesse and Ferage. He also built important country estates on

9184-869: The king arguing that bringing Christianity to the country outweighs a little starvation, and uses many of Leopold's own words against him. Writer Arthur Conan Doyle also criticised the "rubber regime" in his 1908 work The Crime of the Congo , written to aid the work of the Congo Reform Association. Doyle contrasted Leopold's rule with British rule in Nigeria , arguing that decency required those who ruled primitive peoples to be concerned first with their uplift, not how much could be extracted from them. As Hochschild describes in King Leopold's Ghost , many of Leopold's policies, in particular those of colonial monopolies and forced labour, were influenced by Dutch practice in

9296-459: The military. According to historian Jean Stengers, Leopold II’s imperialism was driven by economic advantage rather than political grandeur. Leopold sought to maximize profit through efficient exploitation, including forced labor and direct revenue. However, Stengers emphasizes that Leopold’s voracity was not solely for personal enrichment; it was also rooted in patriotism—a desire to ensure Belgium’s prosperity and embellishment. Leopold commissioned

9408-552: The more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris— Demetrios Vikelas —whom he invited to take part in the congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games , Greece being the original home of the Olympics (at Olympia from 776 BC to 393 AD), and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first president of the IOC. Pierre, Baron de Coubertin , took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after

9520-565: The most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics . He subsequently stepped down from the IOC presidency after the 1924 Summer Olympics , which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900. He was succeeded as IOC president in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour. De Coubertin remained honorary president of the IOC until his death in 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland. He also designed

9632-409: The native population, beatings, widespread killings, and frequent mutilation when production quotas were not met. One practice used to force workers to collect rubber included taking wives and family members hostage. Missionary John Harris of Baringa was so shocked by what he had encountered that he wrote to Leopold's chief agent in the Congo, saying: I have just returned from a journey inland to

9744-461: The olympic flag of IOC in 1914. Henri, Comte de Baillet-Latour was elected IOC president in 1925, after the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron de Coubertin, stepped down from the post to become honorary president. The Belgian Comte led the IOC until his death in 1942, when he was succeeded by his vice-president Sigfrid Edström. When IOC president Henri de Baillet-Latour died in 1942, Swedish industrialist Sigfrid Edström took over as

9856-494: The organization for at least two Summer Olympic Games and two Winter Olympic Games . Initially, a person from the country who was holding the games would assume the role of IOC president. However, this was quickly abandoned. The Baron de Coubertin had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised

9968-538: The possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress. De Coubertin gained support from several personalities: Leopold II of Belgium ; Edward, Prince of Wales ; Crown Prince Constantine of Greece ; William Penny Brookes , the creator of the Wenlock Olympian Games in Shropshire, England; and Ioannis Phokianos, a professor of mathematics and physics and

10080-409: The procession. The shots missed Leopold but almost killed the king's grand marshal , Count Charles John d'Oultremont. Rubino was immediately arrested and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1918. The king replied after the attack to a senator: "My dear senator, if fate wants me shot, too bad!" ("Mon cher Sénateur, si la fatalité veut que je sois atteint, tant pis"!) After

10192-462: The race was maybe a little disrespectful." He rejected calls for a minute of silence to be held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Games attack during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics , despite the standing request of the families of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members who were held hostage and murdered by the Palestinian group Black September . Calls for such

10304-547: The region resulted in the Casement Report , which detailed the extensive abuses under Leopold's regime. A widespread war of words ensued. In Britain, former shipping clerk E. D. Morel with Casement's support founded the Congo Reform Association , the first mass human rights movement. Supporters included American writer Mark Twain , whose stinging political satire entitled King Leopold's Soliloquy portrays

10416-642: The region. Inspired by works such as Joseph Conrad ’s Heart of Darkness (1902), originally published as a three-part series in Blackwood’s Magazine (1899) and based on Conrad's experience as a steamer captain on the Congo 12 years earlier, international criticism of Leopold’s rule increased and mobilized. Reports of outrageous exploitation and widespread human rights abuses led the British Crown to appoint their consul Roger Casement to investigate conditions there. His extensive travels and interviews in

10528-697: The right to be compensated for workplace accidents and were given Sundays off. Leopold's reluctance to use the Dutch language in public did little to solve the linguistic conflict in Belgium and made him more unpopular than his father with the Flemish Movement . However, his nephew and heir, Prince Baudouin , became something of a hero to the Flemings, and Leopold did make some speeches in Dutch shortly before and after Baudouin's premature death in 1891. The first revision of

10640-538: The size, complexity and cost of hosting the Olympic Games. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics , Rogge became the first IOC president to stay in the Olympic village , to enjoy closer contact with the athletes. During the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics , Rogge delivered a commemoration of Georgian luge athlete , after his fatal accident while practicing in Whistler on 12 February 2010. Rogge retired at

10752-567: The start of Leopold's control are only "wild guesses", and that attempts by E. D. Morel and others to determine a figure for the loss of population were "but figments of the imagination". Adam Hochschild devotes a chapter of his 1998 book King Leopold's Ghost to the problem of estimating the death toll. He cites several recent lines of investigation, by anthropologist Jan Vansina and others, that examine local sources (police records, religious records, oral traditions, genealogies, personal diaries, and "many others"), which generally agree with

10864-436: The title of " Excellency ", a title used for heads of state and government (the title of Excellency is, however, also used to address Grandees of Spain , and he was a Spanish Marquis and Grandee since late 1991). In addition, when he traveled to conduct Olympic business, he would insist on a chauffeured limousine as well as a presidential suite in the finest hotel of whatever city he visited. The IOC put an annual rental (at

10976-441: The village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit. Estimates of the death toll range from one million to fifteen million, since accurate records were not kept. Historians Louis and Stengers in 1968 stated that population figures at

11088-407: Was also an accomplished artist and musician. She was passionate about horseback riding , to the point that she would care for her horses personally. Some joked about this "marriage of a stableman and a nun ", the latter referring to the shy and withdrawn Leopold. The marriage produced four children: three daughters and one son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant . The younger Leopold died in 1869 at

11200-648: Was badly damaged, the foundation was secure. Although the original blueprints were never recovered, in September 1997, reconstruction on the venue, facilitated by the SFOR , began. The International Olympic Committee donated $ US 11.5 million to the project, which cost an estimated DM 32 million ( € 16.4 million). The reconstruction was completed in 1999. Zetra hosted the Balkans Stability Pact Summit in July 1999. It

11312-525: Was booed by the crowd in expression of disapproval of his rule. Leopold's reign of exactly 44 years remains the longest in Belgian history. He was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken . Attention to the Congo atrocities subsided in the years after Leopold's death. Statues of him were erected in the 1930s at the initiative of Albert I, while the Belgian government celebrated his accomplishments in Belgium. The debate over Leopold's legacy

11424-426: Was born with a deformed hand , leading a cartoon to depict Leopold holding the child surrounded by Congolese corpses with their hands sliced off: the caption said "Vengeance from on high". They married secretly in a religious ceremony five days before his death. Their failure to perform a civil ceremony rendered the marriage invalid under Belgian law. After the king's death, it soon emerged that he had left his widow

11536-435: Was exported, but this did not yield the expected levels of revenue. When the global demand for rubber exploded, attention shifted to the labour-intensive collection of sap from rubber plants. Abandoning the promises of the Berlin Conference in the late 1890s, the Free State government restricted foreign access and extorted forced labour from the natives. Abuses, especially in the collection of rubber, included forced labour of

11648-510: Was granted the title of Duke of Brabant in 1840. The French Revolution of 1848 forced his maternal grandfather, Louis Philippe, to flee to the United Kingdom. Louis Philippe died two years later, in 1850. Leopold's fragile mother was deeply affected by the death of her father and her health deteriorated. She died of tuberculosis that same year, when Leopold was 15 years old. Leopold's sister Charlotte became Empress Carlota of Mexico in

11760-602: Was marked by a number of major political developments. The Liberals governed Belgium from 1857 to 1880, and during its final year in power legislated the Frère-Orban Law of 1879. This law created free, secular, compulsory primary schools supported by the state and withdrew all state support from Roman Catholic primary schools. The Catholic Party obtained a parliamentary majority in 1880, and four years later restored state support to Catholic schools. In 1885, various socialist and social democratic groups drew together and formed

11872-469: Was not enforced, and the Belgian government continued to impose forced labour on the natives, albeit by less obvious methods. The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 and became known as the Republic of the Congo . On 17 December 1909, Leopold II died at Laeken from an embolism , and the Belgian crown passed to Albert I , the son of Leopold's brother, Philippe, Count of Flanders . His funeral cortege

11984-414: Was performed, the orchestra played The Brabançonne , which was sung loudly and ended with loud cheers and applause. Leopold was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State , a private project undertaken on his own behalf. He used explorer Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, an area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885,

12096-470: Was reignited in 1999 with the publication of King Leopold's Ghost by American historian Adam Hochschild, which recounts Leopold's plan to acquire the colony, the exploitation, and the large death toll. The debate then periodically resurfaced over the following 20 years. In 2010, Louis Michel , a Belgian member of the European Parliament and former Belgian foreign minister, called Leopold II

12208-549: Was revealed that Brundage had notified the IOC that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball years before. Brundage also opposed anything that he viewed as politicizing sport. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City , U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to show support for the Black Power movement during their medal ceremony. Brundage ordered the USOC to expel both African-American men from

12320-547: Was shameful. If we measured him against 21st century standards, it is likely that Leopold would be hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague." In June 2020, a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Brussels protested the murder of George Floyd , causing Leopold II's legacy to become once again the subject of debate. MPs agreed to set up a parliamentary commission to examine Belgium's colonial past,

12432-504: Was succeeded by Lord Killanin. Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin was elected as Honorary President of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) in 1950, and became the Irish delegate at the IOC in 1952. He eventually became senior vice-president of the IOC in 1968, and succeeded Avery Brundage to the presidency on 23 August 1972, being elected at the 73rd IOC Session in Munich, just prior to

12544-562: Was to strike north through the jungle and attack the rebels at their base at Rejaf. The second, a much smaller force of 800, was led by Louis-Napoléon Chaltin and took the main road towards Rejaf. Both expeditions set out in December 1896. Although Leopold had initially planned for the expedition to carry on much farther than the Lado Enclave, hoping indeed to take Fashoda and then Khartoum , Dhanis' column mutinied in February 1897, resulting in

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