We are fortunate enough to have more international sports organisations and federation headquarters than any other region in the world. The City of Lausanne and its region are home to 25 sports federations, the vast majority of which represent disciplines on show at the Olympic Games: gymnastics, cycling, archery, table tennis, fencing, boxing, equestrian sports, rowing and indeed figure skating. These international institutions thus benefit from the geographical proximity of the Olympic institutions and the ease of contact with those in charge of them.

Lausanne is also home to around twenty international sports organisations, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the European office of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Such a concentration of major players in world sport in our region has a significant impact in terms of economy, tourism and image. A recent study conducted by the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology (AISTS), a multidisciplinary research and training centre based at the EPFL, estimates the spin-off economic benefits of the presence of the IOC and the international sport federations and organisations on Vaudois soil to be in excess of 200 million francs a year.