TELECOMMUNICATION AND SPORT
17 May 1996
On behalf of the Olympic Movement, I warmly commend the International Telecommunication Union on its choice of "Telecommunication and Sport" as the theme for World Telecommunication Day 1996.
In this year, as the Olympic Movement prepares to celebrate the Games of XXVI Olympiad, the Centennial Games, it is important to reflect on the close link between this global event and telecommunications. The Games, to be held from 19 July to 4 August 1996 in Atlanta, United States of America, will be broadcast live to all five continents thanks to state-of-the-art visual and sound technology. Thousands of millions of viewers will be able to follow the competitions constituting the 26-sport Olympic programme on their national television channels. Five thousand journalists and over 11,000 radio and television commentators and technicians will be on hand to provide coverage. Furthermore, the modern Olympic Games owe their universality and success to science and technology, researchers and professionals in the field of telecommunications and the audiovisual media.
We are convinced that the theme "Telecommunication and Sport" will prove a source of inspiration on World Telecommunication Day at the dawn of the third millennium.
Juan Antonio SAMARANCH