International Olympic Committee Vikelas as its first president. As of June 2017, its membership consists of 95 active members, 41 honorary members, an honorary president (Jacques Rogge) and one honour member (Henry Kissinger). The IOC is the supreme authority of the worldwide modern Olympic movement. The IOC organises the modern Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, held in summer and winter, every four years. The first Summer Olympics organised by the IOC was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics was in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. After
Olympic Games ceremony I declare open the Rio Olympic Games, celebrating the XXXI Olympiad of the Modern Era". Next, the Olympic flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Hymn is played. The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic flag must "fly for the entire duration of the Olympic Games from a flagpole placed in a prominent position in the main stadium". At most games, the flag has been carried into the stadium by prominent athletes of the host nation, but in 2012, it was carried by an international group of athletes and non-athletes