After a 112-year absence, golf is returning to the Olympic programme in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. To mark this event, The Olympic Museum, in collaboration with the International Golf Federation (IGF), is devoting an exhibition to golf. The exhibition will be on at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne until 31 January 2016.
Staged at two editions of the Games (Paris 1900 and St Louis 1904), golf is getting back its Olympic swing. A ‘six hole course design’ offer visitors a chance to ‘walk the course’ enabling them to discover everything about this sport before the upcoming Games: its origins, the equipment, Rules, courses and the biggest golfing icons. No “green fee” is required to enter, as the exhibition is free of charge.
After its time at the Olympic Museum, the Swing exhibit will have a lasting legacy. It will be presented in the fan zone at the golf venue during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and following that will visit the museums, tournaments and offices of a vast number of the IGFs 168 members around the world.
“The IGF is extremely grateful to the IOC for the wonderful opportunity this exhibit provides to showcase the return of golf as an Olympic sport. As you will see in this exhibit much has changed in our sport since it was last in the Olympic Programme. But what has not changed are the values of golf and the spirit in which golf is played and governed. Integrity, Respect, Excellence and Solidarity are values that are in harmony with those of the Olympic movement and on display in this exhibit. Golf’s admission to the Olympic Programme has unified our sport. This exhibition is a great example of this unity and how daily the IGF collaborates with its membership in fulfilling its mission,” Peter Dawson, IGF President noted during the inauguration ceremony of the exhibition.
“The return of Golf to the Games is not only good news for all Golf fans around the world, but this exhibition also highlights values that are really important for the development of the Olympic spirit,” echoed Francis Gabet, IOC Director of Culture & Heritage. “I would like to take two examples that you will discover or re-discover in our exhibition:
“One is gender equality, as golf was one of the first sports to have female athletes competing at the second edition of the modern Olympic Games in 1900. The second is the birth of Golf which is linked with the desire of peace by the people: in fact, the first official mention of golf was in 1457 when King James II of Scotland banned it because people were playing golf instead of training to defend towns and villages!”
This exhibition was created by the Olympic Museum in partnership with the IGF, with the scientific help of the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum, the British Golf Museum, the USGA Museum and Golf Canada. The scenography was imagined by L’atelier Caravane..
Olympic Museum www.olympic.org/museum