This year's Olympic Day, celebrated on andaround 23 June, saw more people gettingactive than ever before. By reaching out to its millions of fans on Facebook and followerson Twitter and YouTube, the IOC promptedmore people around the world to get up and get active, and then share theirsporting moments via videos, photos and text messages. "I am thrilled to see how many people areembracing the spirit of Olympic Day andsharing their sporting moments with us," saidIOC President Jacques Rogge. "This is whatthe IOC has always strived to achieve: to getpeople active regardless of their age, genderor athletic ability. Thanks to our initiatives insocial media, we are reaching out to an evengreater number of people around the worldand spreading the values of sport."Twitter and Facebook users were invitedto share what they were up to in terms ofsporting activities, and tens of thousands ofcontributions from people being active weresubmitted. Jose Zapiain Busto, from Hawaii,won a trip to the London 2012 OlympicGames for his sailing photo posted on Twitter,while Dana Spinks, also from the USA, won a trip to Lausanne and The Olympic Museumfor her pole vaulting video posted onFacebook. On YouTube, a stunning videoentry of biking in Nuremberg from SaschaStraub from Germany won him a trip to thefirst Winter Youth Olympic Games inInnsbruck in 2012. In China, a call to action was also sentout on the IOC Weibo microblog and theYouku video channel, with various prizesbeing awarded. The IOC currently interacts with over fourmillion fans on Facebook, with roughly10,000 new fans joining every week. Morethan 135,000 people follow the IOC onTwitter and in 2010 the IOC's website,www.olympic.org, registered more than sevenmillion visits. The homepage of the IOC'swebsite highlighted all the Olympic Dayactivities taking place around the globe via aworld map, displaying events organised byaround 170 National Olympic Committees(NOCs). The map received 150,000 views. Finland integrated Olympic Day into "YourMove", a mass event that involved 42,000young people. The United States hosted thelargest Olympic Day celebration in its history,with more than 350 events. In Australia, 100Olympians including champions Susie O'Neill(swimming) and Nikki Hudson (field hockey)visited schools to talk about their Olympicexperiences. In Lusaka, Zambia, the firstOlympic Youth Development Centre in theIOC's Sports for Hope Programme organisedan 8km race in which 1,000 peopleparticipated. Special educational workshopson the Olympic values, the fight againstdoping, HIV/AIDS awareness, environmentalpreservation, child protection and girlempowerment were also conducted as partof the celebrations. And in Japan, which was hit by a devastating earthquake andtsunami in March, a charity concert wasorganised for more than 2,000 people. Theproceeds will benefit projects that use sportas a vehicle to bring relief and hope to theJapanese population. LeftThe IOC encouraged visitors to uploadtheir sporting videos to its YouTube siteBelowOlympic Day activities were held byaround 170 NOCs all over the worldRECORDPARTICIPATION ATOLYMPIC DAY2011OLYMPIC REVIEW15

16OLYMPIC REVIEWDuring its 123rd Session inDurban, the International OlympicCommittee (IOC) electedPyeongChang, in the Republic of Korea,as the host city of the XXIII OlympicWinter Games in 2018. PyeongChangwon in the first round of voting with 63votes, against Munich (25 votes) andAnnecy (seven votes)."PyeongChang presented a strongand inspiring project that enjoys massivesupport from the government and thepublic," said IOC President JacquesRogge. "I have every confidence thatPyeongChang will deliver on itscommitment and host excellent Games in 2018."He continued: "PyeongChang'sinspiring project sets out to have theheart of the Olympic Winter Gamesbeating in the mountains. "The South Korean project will leavea tremendous legacy as PyeongChangwill become a new winter sports hub inAsia, allowing athletes and younggenerations to practise winter sports athome, be exposed to the Olympic valuesof excellence, friendship and respect, and pursue their Olympic dream. IOCELECTS PYEONGCHANGASHOST CITYOF2018OLYMPICWINTERGAMESNEWEVENTSFORSOCHI2014LINDBERG TO CHAIRPYEONGCHANG 2018 COORDINATIONCOMMISSIONIOC President Jacques Rogge has appointed Gunilla Lindberg to chair the CoordinationCommission for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea, in2018. Lindberg will lead a strong, multinationalteam of men and women, who will beresponsible for assisting and guiding thePyeongChang Organising Committee during the period leading up to the Olympic WinterGames, as well as monitoring the progress of preparations.Lindberg, who led the 2018 EvaluationCommission, has rejoined the IOC ExecutiveBoard, building on her two previous mandates as a member (2000-2004) and Vice-President(2004-2008). An IOC member since 1996 andSecretary General of the Association of NationalOlympic Committees (ANOC) since 2004,Lindberg brings vast experience from her timespent on Coordination Commissions for fiveOlympic Games."Ms Lindberg has all the qualities andcharisma to lead the team who will beresponsible for assisting PyeongChang in thenext seven years", said Rogge. "She knowsexactly what it takes to stage successful OlympicWinter Games and through the work that shecarried out while leading the 2018 EvaluationCommission. She is already well acquainted withPyeongChang's Olympic project and immediatepriorities. She will be a strong ally to theOrganising Committee and will ensure that wesee great Games in 2018."The IOC has confirmed the inclusion ofski slopestyle (men and women), snowboard slopestyle (men and women)and snowboard parallel special slalom (men and women) on the sports programme of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.The decision was taken by the IOCExecutive Board (EB) ahead of the 123rdIOC Session in Durban, South Africa, and follows the inclusion in April of skihalfpipe (men and women), women's skijumping, biathlon mixed relay, figureskating team event and luge team relay."We are very pleased with the addition of ski and snowboard slopestyleand snowboard special slalom in theOlympic Winter Games programme," saidIOC President Jacques Rogge. "Such events provide great entertainment for the spectators and add further youthful appeal to our already action-packed line-up of Olympicwinter sports. We look forward to welcoming all the athletes to Sochi in 2014."The EB also agreed on a shortlist of sports that will be considered forinclusion in the sports programme of the2020 Olympiad. The sports are: baseball,karate, roller sports, softball, sportsclimbing, squash, wakeboard and wushu,one of which could be added to the2020 sports programme to be voted onby the 125th IOC Session in BuenosAires in 2013.I congratulate PyeongChang. The IOClooks forward to collaborating with themover the next seven years."AboveIOC President Jacques Roggepresents a diploma to the CEO ofPyeongChang 2018, Yang Ho Cho