This prestigious distinction, the highest honorary recognition in France, rewards the eminent merits of Thomas Bach in the exceptional success of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. These Games, which marked history with their modernity, their inclusiveness and a global impact without precedent, realize the ambitions of the IOC's Olympic Agenda 2020 and embody a new era for Olympism.
Addressing the gathering, President Emmanuel Macron said:
“Dear Thomas, on September 14, you presented the Olympic Cup to the French people. Three months later, it is the French people who crown you for your commitment, your sense of excellence, your friendship, for your vision of sport, popular, democratized, inclusive, a sport like a school of life, a sport which does not sort, which educates and which brings together and which can do so many things. A sport and Games for all. »
“Your election at the head of the IOC launched 11 years of Herculean work, 11 years of magnifying the coat of arms of Olympism, 11 years of conductor, of executing the Olympic Agenda, of placing emphasis on the athletes , to harmonize, to agree, to promote Games that are more polyphonic, more responsible, more sustainable, more diverse, ultimately more human. Games which pursue, under your leadership, an ambition for peace. The International Olympic Committee is also a diplomatic vision, in fact, with which France finds itself very intimately, with a thirst for the common, the universal. »
“Your personal commitment to promoting multilateralism, to respect between peoples, to peace, must be saluted here. You have gone to the maximum of what an IOC President in these troubled times could do to try to obtain peace, to obtain the possibility, in fact, of these moments of truce that the Games offer. »
“With you, the word of the IOC counted, and the Olympism will always find France at its side to uphold our common ideals and protect the autonomy and unity of the international sports movement. »
“From Rio to Paris, via Tokyo, from the years of Covid to the return of wars, you have nevertheless succeeded throughout your mandates in making the whole world vibrate, uniting billions of human beings around a magic common, of a shared emotion, of a rediscovered pride. Useful games are probably your greatest achievement. »
“You have resolutely been able to adapt the Olympics to the new realities and aspirations of sport. »
“The year 2024 marks your last Games as IOC President. And it is a happy coincidence for you as a friend of France that these last Games took place in our country. The eyes of the world will remember these magnificent scenes of the opening ceremony on the Seine, these music, these victories salted with sweat and tears, the pangs of Advent, the adrenaline of surpassing and the joy of coronations. This summer, you managed to make a country proud of itself. »
“Being an Olympic champion, a precise fencer, a rigorous lawyer, an enthusiastic German and European is probably the perfect combination, which has allowed you to brilliantly manage this committee. You leave it in perfect working order. A little also in a state of mourning. But there too, with the spirit of the institution, of its best interests, you decided to transmit. »
