The Olympic Movement On June 23rd 1894 a meeting held at the Sorbonne in Paris to revive the Olympic games established the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Idea of a peaceful contest of athletes from all over the world - inspired by the ancient Olympic ideals and personified by the Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) - was about to be realised. After fifteen centuries of neglect - the original games having taken place between 776 B.C. and 394 A.D. - the first session of the IOC decided on the venue for the initial Olympiad of the new era. In Athens in 1896 the Olympic movement took its first step as athletes took over the baton from their predecessors of long ago. Coubertin experienced both the triumph and decline of the Olympic movement. The heart of this founder of the modern Olympics found its final resting place in Olympia, cradle of ancient Olympism, and is enshrined in a marble stele in a hallowed Olive grove. The Olympic ideals have remained as an essential element in our system of universal human values. In 1993 a new member joined the great family of national Olympic committees - the Slovak Olympic Committee.