Short answers, pulled from the story.
The International Olympic Committee was founded on the 23rd of June 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, with Demetrios Vikelas serving as its first president. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it has operated ever since.
Kirsty Coventry has been IOC president since March 2025. She is the first woman and the first African to hold the position, elected from a field of seven candidates that included Sebastian Coe and David Lappartient.
During the 2013-2016 Olympic quadrennium, the IOC had revenues of about 5.0 billion US dollars, with 73% from broadcasting rights and 18% from Olympic Partners. The IOC retains approximately 10% for its own operational costs and distributes the rest to organising committees, national Olympic committees, and international federations.
On the 10th of December 1998, Swiss IOC member Marc Hodler announced that IOC members had accepted gifts from Salt Lake City's 2002 bid committee in exchange for votes. Four investigations followed, ten IOC members were expelled and ten more sanctioned, and co-heads Tom Welch and David Johnson faced fifteen counts of bribery and fraud from the US Department of Justice.
An independent investigation led by Richard McLaren found in July 2016 that Russia's Ministry of Sport and the FSB operated a state-directed doping system from at least late 2011 to August 2015. The IOC declined WADA's recommendation to ban Russia entirely from the 2016 Olympics, instead delegating decisions athlete by athlete; on the 5th of December 2017, it suspended the Russian Olympic Committee from the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The inaugural Olympic Esports Games will take place in 2027 in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The IOC announced the event in February 2025 in collaboration with the Esports World Cup Foundation.