- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is inviting everyone to celebrate Olympic Day on 23 June, revealing You Can Do This! Let’s Move as this year’s theme and highlighting over 150 events and opportunities to join in, play sport and get active across the global Olympic Movement.
"VAN" (Sports Desk - 12.06.2026) :: Celebrated annually to mark the founding of the modern Olympic Games in 1894, Olympic Day brings people together through sport and physical activity. This year will be marked across the Olympic Movement with a host of mass participation events, digital activations and inspiring content.
You Can Do This! Let’s Move is the theme of Olympic Day
Let’s Move is an ongoing initiative from the IOC in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) aiming to inspire and enable people to discover and access the many benefits of movement and sports participation. This year, Let’s Move carries the simple message: You Can Do This, aiming to empower young people to make their first move, by reminding them that feeling awkward, imperfect or uncertain is normal.
Research shows that young people face several barriers to participating in sport and physical activity, with self-doubt being a contributing factor. At the same time, even brief bouts of activity can give an immediate boost to mood and energy. For young people, sport can also support the development of essential life skills such as resilience, perseverance and communication, whilst being a powerful tool in building self-belief. One step, one session, one breath is all it takes to start, and through movement, self-belief can flourish.
“Sport is for all of us. Whether you are an Olympian, part of the local community team, run with friends for fun, we all begin at the same starting line. Often, the hardest step is that first one. Every athlete has been there, with those creeping questions of self-doubt: am I ready, can I do this? But when our bodies start to move, our mindset does too. Confidence builds with each step, you start to believe in yourself, and together, we lift each other up. This is the power of sport – it’s not just about what we can do physically, but what we believe we can do, together”- said IOC President Kirsty Coventry.
Let’s Move first launched in 2022, in response to worrying findings that nearly one-third of adults and, notably, four out of five young people, are not meeting recommended daily physical activity levels (WHO, 2024), contributing to growing health and well-being challenges around the world. Let’s Move has evolved to provide opportunities and inspiration for people to move throughout the year and will continue with initiatives around World Mental Health Day and the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Being physically active is critical for health and well-being, which is why the Let’s Move initiative between the IOC and WHO is so important. Physical activity adds years to life and eases pressure on health systems. Yet in today’s world, many people are not active enough. By removing the social and environmental barriers that prevent young people from being active, we can create more opportunities for everyone to move more and live healthier lives.”
Over 150 opportunities to get active on Olympic Day
Olympic Day is celebrated across the Olympic Movement, with National Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations and Organising Committees of the Olympic Games creating opportunities for their communities to participate all over the world.
Worldwide Olympic Partners, including Alibaba, Allianz, Deloitte and JP Morgan Chase, are set to join the movement. They will run initiatives for their employees to get active on Olympic Day, whilst TCL’s Let’s Move-inspired campaign celebrates everyday action and how greatness begins with the first step.
In China, people can join a gamified challenge led by Olympians on the Olympic mini programme on WeChat. Participants can earn points by checking in at 32 Community Sports and Health Centres across China, bridging digital engagement and real-world participation as part of the Community Sport and Health Cooperation initiative, supported by the IOC through Olympism365 in collaboration with the China Institute of Sport Science (CISS).
As part of the ongoing collaboration through the Olympic Values Education Programme and following the successful campaigns of the previous two years, the IOC is teaming up with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation and Reliance Foundation to once again bring Let’s Move to India with a series of school initiatives and athlete-led content.
For the first time, community champions from across the IOC-supported sport for sustainable development network have been mobilised, acting as local role models. More than 60 community grassroots events are being organised in the Olympism365 network to encourage greater participation in sport and physical activity.
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