STEPS WALKED: 7 November, 2020
20.2 miles (Total 2020.5 miles) 40,400 steps (Total: 4,219,601)
After a couple of days rest in Lausanne I hit the road again from Martigny up to Aigle, where a wrong turn out of St Maurice adds a frustrating 2.5 miles onto the journey.
In Lausanne I visit the splendid Olympic Museum with first class exhibits and great free access to wi-fi. I spend a long time in the correspondence and stamp sections, not just because they were free, but because it was quite amazing to see the personal correspondence about the Games going back to Baron Coubertain in the nineteenth century. Reading through the correspondence made me realise the significant challenges that these founding fathers of the modern games had to overcome in order to secure the participation of member states in the early years of the competition. I can immediately see why they were nervous about the involvement of political and religious groups for no other reason than the fact that they tend to see themselves as superior to other religious and political groups. If we tried to establish the Games again, then there would be one Games for the ‘Western democracies’, another for ‘Islamic theocracies’, and another for ‘Communist autocracies’. The great achievement is that these founding fathers have managed to unite every nation on earth under the Olympic banner, which is inspiring.
The visit to the museum was made all the more enjoyable because of the kind welcome I received from V
eronika Henriod and her colleague Julia after Xuelin explained to them the purpose of my walk. I asked whether there was a section of the museum given over to the Olympic Truce and was surprised to find that there was only a small panel in a temporary exhibition called ‘Hope’ (see pic). It would seem to me that the Olympic museum is the perfect place to help people learn about the importance of the Olympic truce, especially if the truce is more widely implemented at London 2020 and beyond. Fortunately, the museum is having a makeover next year and so there is an early opportunity to make space for the Olympic Truce should the IOC wish to. I think I might mention this to the IOC President when I meet him next week, although I can already picture his eyes rolling heavenward at yet more outside interference.
The curators of the museum were kind and invited me to sign the ‘Golden Book’, which is ordinarily reserved for Olympians who visit the museum – I felt unworthy to sign alongside such sporting heroes, but took it as recognition for the truce rather than for an aging one-armed, unathletic, unknown, and unelected politician.
