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
Sports and Olympic Committee of Macau, China external sports federation for Macau. CODM hosted the 31st General Assembly of Olympic Council of Asia during November 2012 which elected Hanoi, Vietnam as the host city for the 2018 Asian Games. As was done previously by the Macau Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China has sent several letters to the International Olympic Committee to support recognition of Macau as member of the IOC. This request has been complicated by the fact that the IOC revised its Charter in 1996 to only admit new NOCs that represent independent states recognised by the international