Wu, who has been at the helm of AIBA since 2006, was given the award at the 56th Session for Young Participants at the International Olympic Academy (IOA), where he was one of the keynote speakers.

He was presented with the award by IOA President Isidoros Kouvelos.

Large groups of international students, athletes and those active in sports or their local National Olympic Committees were present at the two-week workshop, which is held on an annual basis.

“More than 30 years ago, my involvement in the inclusion of Chinese Taipei into the International Olympic Committee (IOC) impressed upon me what sports could achieve for peace, and I was thus inspired to contribute whatever I could in this course and made it my life-long mission when I was elected IOC Member in 1988,” said Wu.

During the event, Wu spoke to the attendees about the contribution Olympism has made to world peace and detailed his admiration for former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who passed away aged 89 in April 2010.

The AIBA President enjoyed a close relationship with Samaranch, with the Spaniard entrusting him with over 15,000 items of Olympic memorabilia, which are now housed across four museums established by Wu.

The 69-year-old joins a long list of recipients of the IOA’s Olympia Award, including Finnish sailor Peter Tallberg, a former member of the IOC and five-time Olympian who died last year.

South African IOC member Sam Ramsamy was given the honour in 2008, the same year as IOC President Thomas Bach was awarded with the Athina prize.

Others to have been chosen for the Olympia Award include Association of National Olympic Committees secretary general Gunilla Lindberg, who received the prize in 2007, while Samaranch himself was honoured in 2004.