we're acknowledging & contributing
Recognizing Truce-Bearers
We're recognizing cultural, political, social and other leaders and figures worldwide who live, support and help sustain the spirit and ideals of the Olympic Truce. Individuals we're honoring as "Truce-Bearers."
And, we're making and commissioning cultural contributions that elevate and celebrate Olympic and noteworthy international sporting and other high profile cultural events around the world.
This includes the 2017 America's Cup; with the poetorial "Ultramarine," a body of written, spoken and visual poetry, including award-poems for each competing AC35 team and their boats, the challengers and the Cup defender.
Also PyeongChang 2018, the Winter Olympic Games. With the poetorial "Peace~ability," a body of written, spoken and visual poetry calling us to our deeper consciousness, shared humanity and inner and outer peacefulness. Including poem-awards for designated Truce-Bearers, among them the President of the UN General Assembly and the Governor of Korea's Gangwon province.
The Foundation returned in 2024, after the global pandemic that precluding our involvement for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
At the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, we honored humanitarian and Olympic Marathon champion Tegla Loroupe, and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, with commissioned poetry and presentation of a symbolic Olympic discus.
At the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan~Cortina, we recognized as Truce~Bearers
Isabelle Picco, Monaco’s Ambassador & Permanent Representative to the UN, as well as
The People & Republic of Italy
Their award-poems are here below to listen to or read…
for Isabelle Picco, Ambassador from Monaco to the UN, Truce-Bearer
As an ambassador, of truceful possibilities.
As a protector, and dignifier,
of the human spirit.
Of displaced, disempowered men,
women and families seeking refuge,
safe harbor, from the world’s storms.
From society’s callous slings and arrows.
As a carrier, of a burning Olympic ideal,
of unity, and oceanic message, of harmony.
Who works in diligent, compassionate
and courageously large ways from a small
but potently peace-abiding,
sport-ennobling place
on the map. From the heart
of a principled principality.
From the heart
of a faithful servant
of our greater humanity.
by Colin Goedecke
Poet Laureate
of the Truce Foundation
at the Milan~Cortina Olympic Games
Winter 2026
A Culture of Harmony | Una Cultura dell'Armonia
for the People & Republic of Italy, Truce~Bearers
We find it everywhere here.
In every molecule of Italia.
In your melodic language,
voice to gesture.
In how you relate. With
abundant armonia
transcending disagreement,
passionate debate, conflict.
In your daily rhythms, and rituals.
Like the passeggiata, a kind of
communal meditation.
Your meals, as sacred pauses and
balances, between work and rest.
Your notion of bella figura, congruing
the inner and the outer-presented self.
Your cuisine, an expression
of culinary symphony. And its
reverence for semplicità, simplicity.
Letting each ingredient speak truly
for itself, without upstaging or
overwhelming any others.
A truce-filled metaphor.
So, too, your campanilismo,
loyalty to community and family.
That nourishes local and social unity.
Your well-known way, of multi-generations
living, historically, and learning to live
peacefully, under a shared roof,
around a shared table. No less,
your friendships, flowing with reciprocity.
And, especially, your generosity,
generosità molto apprezzata.
Opening your country, city of Milano,
alpine countryside of Cortina
d’Ampezzo, and all your beauty,
bellezza and bounty,
to host these Winter Games.
To receive, safeguard and honor
its rousing athletes and enthusing audiences.
To show the world the elevating value
and inspiring virtues of genuine,
all-part harmony.
Colin Goedecke
Poet Laureate of The Truce Foundation,
Poeta Laureato della Fondazione Tregua,
at the Milano~Cortina Olympic Games
Winter 2026
Honorings around earlier Olympics include those in Rio (2016), and others (see the link below for more details)...
Award Presentations
His Excellency Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Prime Minister of Greece (2004)
His Excellency Mr. George Papandreou, Foreign Minister of Greece (2004)
Mr. Mitt Romney, President of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Games (2004)
His Excellency Mr. Gianfranco Fini, Foreign Minister of Italy (2006)
Mr. Peter Ueberroth, President of the US Olympic Committee (2006)
His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria (2006)
Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia (2006)
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco (2007)
The Hon. Lillian Boyce, Minister of Youth and Sport, Turks and Caicos (2007)
The Marquis de Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch, President-Emeritus of the International Olympic Committee (2008)
Mr. Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of State Council Information Office of China (2008)
Mr. Irwin Belk, Founding Member of the US Olympic Committee (2008)
Mr. Richard C. Levin, PhD, President of Yale University (2008)
Lord Michael Bates, House of Lords, British Parliament (2012)
The Honorable Mario Pescante, Member of the International Olympic Committee and Chair of its International Relations Commission (2012)
Mrs. Anita DeFrantz, Member and Executive Board Member of the International Olympic Committee (2016)
Mr. Wilfried Lemke, United Nations Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace (2016)
Mr. Andrew Parsons, President of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (2016)
Mr. Carlos Henrique Schroder, General Director, Globo Television Network (2016)
Admiral James G. Stavridis, NATO's 16th Supreme Allied Commander-Europe (2016)
Mr. CHOI Moon-soon, Governor of Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea (2018)
Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018)
Mr. LEE Hee-beom, President of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (2018)
See a complete overview of the honorees and ceremonies here.