Why was the french language more important in olympic games?

Question

as i watched the different olympic games or the ending ceremony,for introducing different things,french was spoken first,then english and finally chinese,why is it that?

Answer 1

French and English are the only two official olympic languages, the one of the host country always becoming third for that given olympic. As far as I know, French has always been spoken before English in every olympics.

Answer 2

Pierre De Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympics was French. Hence one of the official languages for the Olympics is French.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure that french is the official language of the olympics.

Answer 4

French and English are both official languages of Olympics games. It is not more important. It's just spoken first.

Answer 5

Because the International Olympic Committee was founded by a French Baron in the 19th century, when French was the Lingua Franca - the language that most "educated" people would learn around the world.  Officially, the USA is listed as the Etats-Unis d'Amerique in IOC publications and alphabetized in the E's in official lists.

All IOC notifications are in French and English - which are spoken on every continent in the world.  Then, notifications are in the host country's language.