The International Olympic Truce Foundation and the International Olympic Truce Centre were established in July 2000 as a joint initiative of Greece and the International Olympic Committee, turning the commitment of the Olympic Movement to promote its peaceful principles into concrete action.
The initiative first took form in 1998, with a proposal from the Greek Government to the members of the International Olympic Committee for the institutional revival of Olympic Truce in the new millennium. In a historic December 1999 decision, the International Olympic Committee announced the establishment of the International Olympic Truce Foundation and the International Olympic Truce, in cooperation with Greece.
The commitment to the Olympic Truce gained further impetus with the proposal from the candidate city of Athens that the 2004 Olympic Games would ignite the meaning of the Olympic Truce and promote its values around the world through the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay.