IOC chief eyes amendment to Olympic motto

MANILA – The iconic Olympic motto could be set for a modification according to no less than the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

IOC chief Thomas Bach said early Thursday (Philippine Time) he has proposed to amend the highly anticipated athletic meet’s longtime tagline “Citius-altius-fortius” or “Faster-higher-stronger” by adding another word to it.

“During the last session of the IOC, I made a proposal to add to the Olympic motto of ‘Citius-altius-fortius’ after a hyphen the word ‘communis’, which means in English ‘Faster-higher-stronger-together’. We discussed this idea today (Wednesday) in the executive board,” Bach said in a global press conference.

He said many people have already expressed their support for his idea.

“The executive board endorsed it, and we will now turn to the IOC members asking for their comments,” Bach said.

He also said some other tweaks in the existing Olympic charter may take place as well.

“Depending on the outcome of this consultation, we may come with the proposal of a change in the Olympic charter at the IOC session in Tokyo in three months,” he said.

The upcoming IOC session will happen in line with the Tokyo Olympics scheduled from July 23 until Aug. 8 this year.