03 July 2025 - The world celebrated Olympic Day on 23 June, with people from all corners of the globe coming together for the annual day of sport and physical activity that commemorates the founding of the modern Olympic Games in 1894. This year’s theme, “Let’s Move?”, encouraged everyone to invite a “+1” to join them in getting moving – highlighting all the motivation, joy and connection that working out and playing sport together bring.
Olympians led the celebrations, with over 400 posts shared by athletes on social media to mark the day, and a host of physical events and digital activations organised by the Olympic Movement. Over 150 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Sports Federations (IFs), Olympic Games Organising Committees (OCOGs) and Worldwide Olympic Partners joined the festivities, staging a wide range of events – including the traditional Olympic Day run – creating opportunities to inspire and enable people everywhere to play sport and take part in physical activity.
Here are a few examples:
With excitement building to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the Organising Committee arranged school visits by the official mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tina and Milo, on Olympic Day; and a special local Olympic community event that brought together over 2,000 people, including athletes, ambassadors and partners, to play sport in the iconic Arena di Milano. Together, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a city-wide treasure hunt invited fans to pair up and explore the city in search of specially created 3D-printed, artist-designed, collectables hidden in iconic locations across Milan.
LA28 engaged 3,200 young athletes at nearly 70 sites in Los Angeles County through its PlayLA initiative during a week-long celebration, whilst Brisbane 2032 marked the day by lighting up iconic locations across the city, from Kangaroo Point Bridge to City Hall. The Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 Organising Committee marked Olympic Day with Let’s Move?-focused activities, run by a dozen Olympians and Paralympians at the Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.
In India, the Abhinav Bindra Foundation hosted a variety of sports and movement activities for young people to participate in on Olympic Day – including skipping, football, cricket, volleyball and kho-kho – together with Olympic-themed arts and crafts. The activity is part of the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP), implemented in collaboration with the IOC and the governments of Odisha, Assam and Chandigarh, and has already engaged 10 million schoolchildren
The Reliance Foundation marked Olympic Day 2025 with a vibrant celebration featuring 1,450 school children and a line-up of Olympians and national champions at the Reliance Foundation School in Navi Mumbai. Olympic archers Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, alongside athletic stars Ancy Sojan, Tejas Shirse and Sakshi Chavan, inspired young students to embrace sports and embody the core Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship.
In China, table tennis player Sun Yingsha, swimmer Pan Zhanle and shooter Sheng Lihao championed Olympic Day 2025 through a series of videos, calling on the public to take on the "Let’s Move +1" challenge – a fun and accessible way to get people moving and ignite passion for physical activity in daily life. More than 13,000 people have participated in the “Let’s Move +1” themed Olympic Mini Program on WeChat, through which they could compete with friends, complete daily challenges, and practise sport together. Worldwide Olympic Partner Allianz held a mini marathon at the company’s Hangzhou headquarters, including online fitness challenges and AI-powered engagement initiatives; whilst Mengniu promoted mass sports, and released an Olympic themed short film, encouraging people to move and “give everyone the strength to power on”.
Over 350,000 people have already participated in Worldwide Olympic Partner Samsung’s “Let’s Move?” challenge to walk 260,000 steps between 23 June and 21 July. The IOC marked the day in the Olympic Capital, including the traditional Olympic Day run – a 5km public event around Olympic House in Lausanne.
The theme of this year’s Olympic Day, “Let’s Move?”, shone a light on the benefits of playing sport and working out together, celebrating the motivation, community and joy that movement with others brings. As part of this, everyone was encouraged to invite a “+1” to walk, run, dance, skip and move with them. People were invited to ask a friend to join their team or workout, and could use specially created “Let’s Move?” digital tools. More than 35,000 posts have been shared on social media in relation to Olympic Day.
“Let’s Move” launched in 2023 in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), following its research that alarming numbers of people across the world are not meeting the minimum activity level required for optimal health: one in three adults and 81 per cent of young people (WHO, 2024). Rallying the power and inspiration of the Olympic Movement to highlight this worrying trend, while aiming to encourage and create opportunities for everyone to move more, “Let’s Move” is part of the Olympic Movement’s mission to make the world a better place through sport and will continue beyond Olympic Day, with the ambition, and the support of the Olympic Movement, to keep inspiring and enabling people to move and enjoy physical activity through resources, activations and content.
