President of the International Olympic Committee congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, being the original home of the Olympics, and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first President of the IOC. Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrius Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention. The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic
Olympic Committee of Portugal Fernando Lima Bello was elected IOC member for Portugal, in 1989; a position he still exerts currently. He was succeeded on the COP leadership by current president José Vicente de Moura. In 1991, the COP was represented at the first "European Youth Olympic Days" (now called European Youth Olympic Festival, EYOF), held in Brussels. A year later, the committee approved the institution's name changing from "Comité Olímpico Português" (English: "Portuguese Olympic Committee") to the current "Comité Olímpico de Portugal". The COP's abilities as an organiser of international meetings and events and were shown on several occasions. Seven years after its