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Olympic Order

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Olympic Order

The Olympic Order is the highest award of the Olympic Movement and is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. It was established in May 1975 by the International Olympic Committee as a successor to the Olympic Certificate. The Olympic Order originally had three grades (gold, silver and bronze), although the bronze grade fell dormant in 1984. Traditionally, the IOC bestows the Olympic Order upon the chief national organiser(s) at the closing ceremony of each respective Olympic Games.

Contents

The insignia of the Olympic Order is in the form of a collar (or chain), in Gold, Silver or Bronze according to grade; the front of the chain depicts the five rings of the Olympic Movement, flanked on either side by kotinos emblem (olive wreath). A lapel badge, in the form of the five rings in Gold, Silver and Bronze according to grade, is presented to recipients to wear as appropriate.

Nadia Comăneci is the only athlete to be awarded the Olympic Order twice (1984, 2004), as well as being its youngest ever recipient.

Recipients

The following is a list of recipients of the Olympic Order.

  • 1976: Paul Anspach (Bronze), Jesse Owens, Antonio dos Reis Carneiro (Bronze)
  • 1979: Marcel Leclef (Bronze)
  • 1980: Almicare Rotta
  • 1981: Herbert Kunze
  • 1982: Pope John Paul II (Gold), Károly Kárpáti, Elena Mukhina
  • 1983: Ulrich Wehling, Galina Kulakova, Manfred Ewald, Aleksandr Medved, Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Indira Gandhi, Branko Mikulić (Gold), Nadia Comăneci
  • 1984: Peter Ueberroth (Gold), Giancarlo Brusati, Milan Ercegan, Primo Nebiolo, Günther Sabetzki, Horst Dassler, Helene Ahrweiler
  • 1985: Erich Honecker, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Günther Sabetzki, Toni Sailer, Hanji Aoki, Borislav Stanković (second in 2005), King Juan Carlos I of Spain
  • 1987: Leon Štukelj, King Rama IX of Thailand (Gold), Kenan Evren (Gold), John Brown, Alberto Juantorena, Jean-Claude Killy, Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak, Rudolf Hellmann, L N Khurana
  • 1988: Park Seh-jik, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Katarina Witt, Frank King (Gold), Ralph Klein, Reiner Klimke, Jerzy Kukuczka (Silver), Prince Rainier III of Monaco (Gold), Antonio Mariscal, Josef Neckermann, Jasdev Singh, Taieb Houichi, Ante Lambasa, Wolf Lyberg, Frederick Ruegsegger, Aladár Gerevich, Mustapha Larfaoui, Arne B. Mollén
  • 1989: Larisa Latynina
  • 1990: Giulio Andreotti (Gold), Lee Kun-hee, Jonathan Janson, Rudolf Kárpáti, Reizo Koike, Naoto Tajima, Ivan Patzaichin, Lamine Diack, Arnoldo Devonish
  • 1992: Ludovit Komadel (Silver), Jesús Alfonso Elizondo Nájera (Silver), Pasqual Maragall (Gold)
  • 1993: Willi Daume, Jacques Blanc, Anna Sinilkina, Ted Stevens, Jordi Pujol, Dražen Petrović (posthumously awarded), Boris Yeltsin (Gold)
  • 1994: Gerhard Heiberg (Gold), Richard von Weizsäcker (Nr. 43), Nelson Mandela
  • 1995: Miguel Indurain, Jerald M. Jordan (Silver)
  • 1996: Christian Erb Billy Payne (Gold)
  • 1997: Chris de Broglio, Hendrika Mastenbroek, Roy Jones Jr.(vs Park Si Hun 1988 Olympic)
  • 1998: Frédy Girardet, Chung Ju-yung, Erica Terpstra, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg
  • 1999: Alexander Tikhonov, Steffi Graf, Antonio Spallino, Bertrand Piccard, Brian Jones
  • 2000: Res Brügger, Alberto Tomba, David Coleman, Adolf Ogi (Gold), John Coates (Gold), Alida van den Bos
  • 2001: See list below
  • 2002: Mitt Romney (Gold), Peter Blake (Posthumously awarded), Shirley de la Hunty (Strickland), Wayne Gretzky, Miroslav Šubrt, Walter Bush Jr., Shoichi Tomita, Flor Isava-Fonseca, Ashwini Kumar, David Wallechinsky
  • 2003: John Williams, Adolf Ogi, Jean Durry
  • 2004: Matthias Kleinert, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki (Gold), Francoise Zweifel, Johannes Rau (Gold), Nadia Comăneci, George Bolos (Silver)
  • 2005: Shirley Babashoff
  • 2006: Hans Wilhelm Gäb, Valentino Castellani (Gold)
  • 2008: Liu Qi (Gold), He Zhenliang, Liu Jingmin, Deng Pufang, Chen Zhili
  • 2009: Thor Nilsen
  • 2010: S R Nathan (Gold), Lee Hsien Loong (Gold), Jack Poole (Gold; posthumously awarded), John Furlong (Gold), Ng Eng Hen, Teo Chee Hean, Vivian Balakrishnan
  • 2011: Fernando Lima Bello, Kip Keino, Vilnis Baltiņš
  • 2012: Eiichi Kawatei, David Stern, Sebastian Coe
  • 2013: King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (Gold), Jacques Rogge (Gold), King Felipe VI of Spain (Gold), Pope Francis (Gold),
  • 2015: Crown Princess Margareta of Romania (Gold), Lord Tevita Poasi Tupou (Silver), Irina Viner (Silver), President and head coach of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation
  • 2016: Ottavio Cinquanta, Patrick Chamunda, Julio Maglione, Anton Geesink (Posthumously awarded), Reynaldo González López (Posthumously awarded), Peter Tallberg (Posthumously awarded), Narayanaswamy Ramachandran, Riesto Nieminen, Vlade Divac
  • Year unknown: Manfred Germar, Klaus Kotter.

    • 2001

  • Albert Scharf (at the IOC headquarters, Lausanne, January 8, 2001)
  • Enrique Sanz (at the IOC headquarters, Lausanne, June 8, 2001)

    • Sports executives, at the 12th IOC Session, Moscow, July 12, 2001:

  • Richard Bunn, Great Britain
  • René Burkhalter, Switzerland
  • Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spain
  • Arnold Green, Estonia
  • Félix Savón, Cuba
  • Eric Walter, Switzerland, sports journalist, former member of the IOC Press Commission and IOC Radio and Television Commission.

    • Athletes, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, July 21, 2001:

  • Myriam Bédard (biathlon), Canada
  • David Douillet (judo), France
  • Krisztina Egerszegi (swimming), Hungary
  • Cathy Freeman (athletics), Australia
  • Kazuyoshi Funaki (ski jumping), Japan
  • Alexander Karelin (wrestling), Russia
  • Marco Marin (fencing), Italy
  • Haile Gebrselassie (athletics), Ethiopia
  • Naim Süleymanoğlu (weightlifting), Turkey
  • Pirmin Zurbriggen (alpine skiing), Switzerland

    • Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch also received the Olympic Order (Gold grade), at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow.

    Australian recipients

    From the Australian Olympic Committee website: ("AO" signifies Officer of the Order of Australia, "MBE" means Member of the Order of the British Empire, etc)

    1. John Brown AO
    2. John D. Coates AC (Gold)
    3. Betty Cuthbert AM MBE
    4. John Devitt AM
    5. Herb Elliott AC MBE
    6. Robert Elphinston OAM
    7. Michael Eyers AM
    8. John Fitzgerald AM
    9. Shane Gould MBE
    10. Dawn Fraser AO MBE
    11. Cathy Freeman OAM
    12. Harry Gordon CMG AM
    13. Sydney Grange AO OBE MVO (Deceased)
    14. Geoffrey Henke AO
    15. Di Henry OAM
    16. Sandy Hollway AO
    17. The Hon John Howard OM AC SSI (Gold)
    18. Stephan Kerkyasharian AM
    19. The Hon Michael Knight AO (Gold)
    20. Bob Leece AM
    21. Margaret McLennan
    22. Norman May OAM
    23. Peter Montgomery OAM
    24. Mick O'Brien AM
    25. Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue AO CBE
    26. Julius Patching AO OBE
    27. William Berge Phillips OBE (Deceased)
    28. David Richmond AO (Gold)
    29. Jim Sloman OAM
    30. Shirley de la Hunty (Strickland) AO MBE (Deceased)
    31. Brian Tobin AM

    Indian recipients

    1. Mool Chand Chowhan
    2. Indira Gandhi
    3. Jasdev Singh
    4. L N Khurana

    Russian recipients

    1. Elena Mukhina, Artistic Gymnastics
    2. Galina Kulakova, Cross-country skier
    3. Larisa Latynina, Artistic Gymnastics
    4. Boris Yeltsin, former President of the Russian Federation
    5. Alexander Tikhonov, Ice Hockey player
    6. Alexander Karelin, wrestling
    7. Irina Viner, President and head coach of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation

    Singaporean recipients

    1. S R Nathan (Gold)
    2. Lee Hsien Loong (Gold)
    3. Teo Chee Hean (Silver)
    4. Vivian Balakrishnan (Silver)
    5. Ng Eng Hen (Silver)
    6. Tan Eng Liang (Silver)
    7. Chris Chan (Silver)
    8. Goh Kee Nguan (Silver)
    9. Francis Chong (Silver)
    10. Eric Tan Huck Gim (Silver)

    British recipients

    1. Sebastian Coe (Gold)
    2. Paul Deighton (Gold)
    3. Doug Arnot (Silver - American, given for services to London 2012)
    4. James Bulley (Silver)
    5. Richard George (Silver)
    6. Debbie Jevans (Silver)
    7. Ian Johnston (Silver)
    8. Keith Mills (Silver)
    9. Colin Moynihan (Silver)
    10. Gerry Pennell (Silver)
    11. Jean Tomlin (Silver)
    12. David Coleman (Silver??)

    References

    Olympic Order Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA