GENEVA, Jan. 13(Xinhuanet)-- After a quiet 2003, the year of 2004 saw visitors return to Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland at a good pace, the International Olympic Committee(IOC) said on Wednesday.

Twenty percent more people had visited the museum in 2004, saidan IOC press release on Wednesday.

"We are again reaching the 200,000 entry ticket mark. Flagshipexhibitions and interesting projects should allow us to maintain this upward trend,"IOC said.

Organized in the framework of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens in August, the exhibitions, storytelling guided tours, workshops, talks, demonstrations, theater, dance and two world premieres, one an outdoor concert, succeeded in attracting many people throughout the year, it said.

Among the visitors in 2004 were celebrities. The museum received such figures as Larisa Latynina, the Ukrainian gymnast with 18 Olympic medals; Deng Yaping, the Chinese table tennis virtuoso; Swiss cyclist Robert Dill-Bundi, Olympic champion at theMoscow Games in 1980; Leroy Burrell, who set a world 100m record at the Athletissima event in 1994; and Manuela Di Centa, the Olympic cross country skiing champion.

"The biggest star was undisputedly Brazilian Pele, who came for a press conference and the preview of an exhibition entitled 100 Years of Planet Football last November," IOC said."The kindness, spontaneity and charisma of this great gentleman of football attracted many journalists and fans of all ages,"the press release said.

In future, the Olympic Museum will organize large temporary exhibitions every two years. From May 2005, the International Yearof Sport, celebrated by the UN, will allow the institution to focus on the cultural roots of sport across the world. In parallel,an events program will get underway with many activities planned.