Thursday May 25

 Today was our first full day in Lausanne, Switzerland. The plan was to meet at 8:30 in the morning in the hotel lobby to head to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Studies Center (OSC). However, there might have been two students who slept a little late, one of which was me.

We all met up on the way to the IOC OSC and once we got there we sat down for a few lectures. First, we met with the head of the OSC, and she explained to us the history of the IOC as well as the entire general layout. She explained to us what the different branches of the organization were as well as each of their roles in running one of the world’s largest organizations. This little lecture gave us some helpful background information in understanding how every department helps with organizing the Olympic games.

Next, we had a shorter lecture given by one of the head archive librarians, introducing us to the IOC archives website, and how to find all the available tools to help with our research paper. Following this, we actually went into the different library rooms, one of which had books relating to each olympic sport, another included every bid candidate document related to choosing the host country, and a third room in which two employees showed us some of the oldest documents they have in the archives. They showed us some of the first invitations to countries to be involved in the Olympic games, as well as a very cool map detailing the different flights when traveling to the olympics. It was crazy that back then, a flight from England to Germany could cost as little as 5 Euros. We also saw some of the notes taken by Pierre De Coubertin, the creator of the Olympics, during the initial meetings which planned the first games.

After this, we went to the Olympic museum, which was the coolest part of the day. It included many amazing historical artifacts, as well as many objects and clothing used during the past Olympics. For example, there was a basketball signed by the USA’s “Dream Team” as well as a pair of Jesse Owens’ running shoes. There were costumes that were worn during past opening ceremonies as well as many videos showing us these amazing performances put on to start the Olympic Games.

On the final floor of the museum, there were some interactive games that tested reaction time, shooting skills, and skiing skills. We were all having a great time and couldn't have asked for a more fun activity.

Once we finished the walk of the museum, we had a nice lunch in the IOC OSC cafe. The food was absolutely amazing and given that all of us were very hungry, we all were more than satisfied with the meal.

We then proceeded to the bus, which took us to the actual IOC headquarters. While we couldn’t go inside, we got a nice picture in front of the olympic rings. Even though we didn’t go inside, it was nice to visit the place where all the magic happens in terms of creating, organizing, running, and preserving the Olympic games.

We then went to FISU, the International University Sport Federation. There, we had a lecture about what FISU does, the tournaments they run and the logistics behind their competitions. Most of us have never heard of FISU before, as it is much more popular in Europe. A simple way to describe FISU is the NCAA of Europe. Because American collegiate athletes are NCAA athletes, they don’t participate in FISU activities despite Lake Placid hosting the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games. We were introduced to the sport of finswimming, which is, as quoted by the FISU employee giving us the lecture, the Little Mermaid as a competition.

As the lecture came to an end, we wrapped up our time at FISU, and made our way back to the hotel. All of us students went out to dinner and then headed to another place to watch a soccer match that some students were a fan of. (My team lost 😢😢😢)

Thursday May 25

    Today was arguably one of the most important days of our trip as we were visiting several Olympic-related sites. Our first stop was the Olympic Museum, where we started our morning off with a brief overview lecture of the Olympics. This lecture contained a bunch of interesting information, but the thing that stuck with me the most was learning about Athletes365. Athletes365 was a program created by the IOC for athletes to help them with off-the-field things like mental health and nutrition, which appealed to me because I want to go into the field of sports psychology. After that lecture, we had another brief lecture about the Olympic World Library site, which reminded me of the SU Libraries page with all of the databases. This was also very interesting to learn about as I’m sure it’ll contain lots of information that’ll help me with my research project. After that lecture, it was time to visit the library, where we did a few different things. We split off into two groups due to the library being relatively small, so first I looked around with a few of my peers for potential sources that could help my research project. While I didn’t find any sources that would help me, I thought it was very interesting to look around that library to find potential sources, and I even found some sports psychology books I might end up reading in my free time if I find them online. After looking around the library my group was able to take a look at some of the archives, which were cool to see as they contained a lot of historical information about the Olympics that happened in the past.

    After that, it was time for us to head to the museum, which I was looking forward to. There were so many things about the museum that I found interesting. The first thing that struck my attention was the film of the opening ceremony with all the nations together doing their signature dances. The next thing I found to be exciting was all the different torches and medals and how that has changed over the years. You can tell how much the Olympics has modernized since the very beginning of the Modern Olympics era. I also enjoyed the games they had even though I wasn’t very good at any of them. After the museum, it was time for our group lunch, which was at the cafe upstairs. Going into the group lunch I didn’t have that many expectations as I thought it was going to be a little quick-service cafe we all got our food at. However, the food at the restaurant was amazing and was probably one of my favorite meals the entire trip so far. We ended our time at the Olympic Museum by walking through the marathon exhibit, which I also found to be a very interesting exhibit learning about the history of the Olympic marathon throughout the years.    

    When we finished the Olympic Museum, it was time for us to move on, as we were headed to take some pictures outside the IOC headquarters. I thought the IOC headquarters was an amazing building to look at, and I enjoyed seeing the new modern headquarters next to the older headquarters. I wish we got to go inside the IOC, but I do understand that the employees were busy at work with the Paris 2024 games coming up in just over a year. After the quick stop at the IOC headquarters, it was time for us to go to FISU for another lecture. FISU was something I had no idea about before going in, so I didn’t know what to expect. During the lecture, it was very difficult for me to pay attention, but I did find it to be very interesting seeing that it was a completely separate competition from the Olympics specifically for people to represent their universities. I didn’t even know the competition was at Lake Placid recently, which is right by Syracuse. We ended our time at FISU by walking around the floor their headquarters was on.

    After the lecture at FISU, we took a small break to head back to the hotel before getting dinner, which was nice because I got to change out of my business casual attire and relax. After that, we ended up finishing our day by getting dinner at a local pub nearby, which was another great bonding experience with my peers. Overall, I’ve had an amazing time so far and I’m excited for what lies ahead as we wrap up this trip. 

We miss you GM and Professor Ryan!