Olympic cities will now have an opportunity to exchange ideas with the inauguration of the General Assembly for the World Union of Olympic Cities (UMVO – Union Mondiale des Villes Olympiques) that was held October 9-11 in Lausanne Switzerland.
The UMVO was created to provide a platform for networking and exchange of experiences between cities that have held, will hold, or have ambitions to hold the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games, said a press release. It is meant to be an informal platform where cities can discuss openly between themselves and with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Union, which was created in December 2002 by the cities of Athens and Lausanne with the support of the IOC, is directed at mayor’s and city officials rather than the bid committees, encouraging open discussions about the opportunities and challenges that host cities can face.
The day and a half program had a mix of world-class speakers and panel discussions with past Olympic hosts.
Past Olympic cities represented included Amsterdam, Mexico City, Albertville, and Calgary while cities hoping to host the Olympics were there such as Busan, Chicago, PyeongChang and Rio de Janeiro. There were also representatives from London and the Mayors of Vancouver and Sochi.
