Olympism and multiculturalism: a golden combination? International Olympic Academy Olympic Studies Name: Lea van Breukelen Module:
1.4 Philosophy
Professor:
J. Parry
Olympism and multiculturalism: a golden combination? In the 19th century, when De Coubertin took the initiative for the revival of the Olympic Games he was very clear that the Games must be universal. However the first members of the International Olympic Committee, that was formed in 1894 in Paris, were mostly European. So it can be said that the cultural origin1 of the International Olympic Committee is European. Today there are 204 National Olympic Committees all over the world. It seems that the Olympic Games are universal. But what about the IOC, the Olympic Movement and the Olympic values. Are the Olympic values universal or are they simply Western constructs foisted upon the world? What about the future of Olympism, can Olympism and multiculturalism be a golden combination? To begin we first have to define universalism and Olympism. The Olympic Games are broadcasted all over the world and the Olympic values can be universal en spread through the world because of globalization. According to McGrew2 globalization is a historical process involving a fundamental shift or transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across regions and continents. Modern sport started in the 19th century in Great Britain and the United States of America3. Professional sports were organized in industrial towns and amateur spectator sports were introduced on universities. Britain was a global power and typical sports from Britain like cricket and football were adopted in many countries. Around 1900, countries started to use the Olympic Games to show their power to the rest of the world. Two decades later professional and university sports became really popular and were supported by the working class and middle class spectators. With the imperial hegemony of the USA, after World War II, the American sports, like basketball and volleyball, extended throughout the world. In the second half of the 20th century, sport was spread in Asia, South America, West Europe, East Russia, Australia and some African countries4. The problem is that sport has not been spread in “Thirld World” countries like India and African countries. Sport is overall connected with leisure, however in poor countries sport provides health, leisure and physical education. In the sixties sports were influenced by television and sponsors, but it wasn’t about making profits. This changed in the 1980’s when sport managers implemented globalized strategies to generate profits. Sport became a part of the globalized world.
1 He, Z. Universal Olympic values in a multicultural world. Symposium:‘Rethinking culture’.
2 Chatzigianni, E. Introduction to International Organizations, Governance & Sport. Olympia 2011 handout. 3 Wright, G. Sport and globalization. New Political Economy (1999) 4 Giatsis, S. Vassilis Ziakas, V. Zygouri, C. & Giatsi, A. Sport and the Olympic Games in the global post-‐ Cold war era (1989 – nowadays). International Society of Olympic Historians.
According to Wright5 globalization in sport seems to be the overall flow of all that concern sport: industry, commercialization in big multinational places communications and flowing from the local to foreign and visa versa. Sport is an important factor for the life of people from all over the world. To explain the Olympic values it is important to identify Olympism and the Olympic Movement. According to the Olympic Chapter of the International Olympic Committee, Olympism is a philosophy6: Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. The Olympic Movement: The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The Olympic Values, are based on the visions of the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin. He saw sport as an example of democratic behavior7. Sport was capable of being a model for the development of democratic principles and democratic citizen awareness. De Coubertin was inspired by the British education system and in 1883 he went to England to take a closer look to the British educational system and British physical education. He visited a large number of public schools and Roman Catholic schools in England and Ireland, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. With all this information he wanted to propose changes in the French educational system. In 1890 De Coubertin travels to England, to see the Wenlock Games, organized by William Penny Brookes. De Coubertin and Brookes talked about the organization of the National Games in England and to organize International Games in Athens. In 1892 De Coubertin
5 Wright, G. Sport and globalization. Olympic Review XXVI-‐29(1999), pp. 18-‐19.
6 International Olympic Committee. Olympic Chapter. International Olympic Committee. (2011). 7 Georgiadis, K. The Revival Of The Olympic Games In Modern Times. Ekdotike Athenon. (2003).
voiced his idea for the first time in public of bringing back the Olympic Games. His traveling and experience had led him to the idea to internationalize sport. De Coubertin wanted to create an international movement that combined sport with education and positioned as a model for peace and respect. This model was created according to the following Olympic values of Pierre de Coubertin8: 1. Religious commitment 2. Harmony of body and mind 3. Elitism and equality of chances 4. Citius – Altius – Fortius 5. Sportmanship – equality 6. Peace 7. Internationalism – Patriotism 8. Unity of different sports 9. Amateurism 10. A modern and ancient ingredients synthesis Most of these values are still relevant today for the International Olympic Committee, who are charged with the promotion of the Olympic values. The IOC recently placed the values in a modern concept of three values9: respect, friendship and excellence. Respect stands for fair play, the fight against doping or other unethical behavior. One of the goals of the Olympic Games is to inspire people to make friends and to look further than their racial, gender, cultural or religious differences. Excellence is a behavior and a state of mind for a healthy combination of a strong body, will and mind. It is about making personal progress instead of just winning. According to Parry10 the Olympic values are the main values of liberalism. Liberalism11 is a political ideology whose central theme is a commitment to the individual and to the construction of the society in which individuals can satisfy their interests or achieve fulfillment. The core values of liberalism are individualism, rationalism, freedom, justice and toleration. The liberal
8 Georgiadis, K. Pierre De Coubertin’s Brookes relations. PowerPoint Olympia (2011)
th
9 Salaheldeen, H, M. Olympic Values and Multiculturalism. International Olympic Academy, 17 International seminar on Olympic studies for postgraduate students. (2009). 10 Parry, J. The ethical and political values of the Olympic Movement. International Chair of Olympic Studies (2009). 11 Heywood, A. Political ideologies – summaries
belief that human beings are, first and foremost, individuals, endowed with reason, implies that each individual should enjoy the maximum possible freedom consistent with a like freedom for all. Liberalism has been the most powerful ideology in the Western political tradition. So is it fair of the International Olympic Committee to spread this Olympic philosophy all over the world or can Olympism be seen as multicultural? According to Heywood12 multiculturalism is not the same as cultural diversity. It is an approach to deal with the challenges of cultural diversity and to bringing about the advancement of marginalized or disadvantaged groups. Multiculturalism is not a political or social phenomenon but rather a cultural phenomenon, that operates through stereotypes and values that structure how people see themselves and are seen by others. The key ideas of liberalism like universal citizenship and equality for all members of the society don’t go far enough. The central theme of multiculturalism is a positive endorsement of cultural difference by allowing groups to assert themselves by reclaiming an authentic sense of cultural identity. According to Rawl13 there is a difference between concepts and conceptions. So the concept of Olympism will have different interpretations and expressions in time and place, history and geography. In this regard, multiculturalism is a fundamental concept of Olympism. Multiculturalism and Olympism The concept of multiculturalism is highly respected in Olympism. The Olympic charter says that “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement”. The opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympic Games demonstrate multiculturalism in Olympism. Because every country participates in the parade under their national flag. Salaheldeen14 says that the reality of Olympic Games shows that there is much more than playing a game, the vital component of multicultural aspect and awareness is included. The Games give cultural understanding and tolerance time to grow and then help create a more globally united society.
12 Heywood, A. Multiculturalism, identity and diversity. 13 Parry, J. The ethical and political values of the Olympic Movement. International Chair of Olympic Studies (2009). th 14 Salaheldeen, H, M. Olympic Values and Multiculturalism. International Olympic Academy, 17 International seminar on Olympic studies for postgraduate students. (2009).
The Olympic Summer Games of 2008 in Beijing were the most watched Games in Olympic history. This Games were available across the world, with broadcasts in 22015 territories with a potential television audience of 4.3 billion people. Zhenliang He16 states that the universality of Olympic Movement reached, geographically speaking, an extremely high level. But this doesn’t automatically mean that the cultural plurality of this movement is real and that there is compatibility between cultures. Universality requires cultural plurality, which can only be reached when all cultures receive the same respect. During the 2000 Forum there was a call for the IOC to avoid cultural homogenization. The IOC 2000 Commission recommended: “for the Olympic Movement, to emphasize universality should never mean standardized modernization or cultural homogenization, and less still promoting solely European or Western ideals”. Zhenliang He argues that this increase of awareness is progressive and the Olympic Movement will act as a universal forum and a link between different cultures. He says that this sensible policy establishes the Olympic Movements’s multiculturalism and makes it more appealing and more cohesive. Multiculturalism constitutes the richness and even the strength itself of the Olympic Movement. Western domination? Eichburg states that the IOC is still a domination of Western and European members. Today there are 112 IOC members and 204 National Olympic Committees. So this means that 126 NOC’s have no seat in the IOC17. Some countries have more than one member while other countries have none. But it must be argued that there are five Olympic Councils; Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, Pan American Sports Organization, Olympic Council of Asia, European Olympic Committees and Oceania National Olympic Committees. Together they represent 204 National Olympic Committees from all over the world. The IOC selects sports for the Games, the sports have to be popular and universal. However, the program of the Olympic Games is still dominated by Western sports, although the originated Asian sports judo and taekwondo are included in the program. The current Olympic program and the criteria of the IOC seems like a contradiction. When the IOC would adapt more regional sports in the Olympic program this might help to spread the Olympic values in this multicultural world. Nanayakkara18 argues that this kind of multicultural aspects will produce more opportunities and encourage different nations to participate in the Olympic Games.
15 International Olympic Committee. IOC Marketing Report – Beijing. (2008).
16 He, Z. Universal Olympic values in a multicultural world. Symposium:‘Rethinking culture’. th 17 Tallberg, P. The Olympic Games, contribution to the democratization process. International Olympic Academy, 50 Session for Young Participants. (2010). 18 Nanayakkar, S. Olympism: A Western Liberal Idea That Ought Not to Be Imposed on Other Cultures.
Olympism in the future Leo Hsu19 says that some of the ideas of Olympism can still improve for a more universal Olympism in the future. He argues that: •
The IOC memberships should be chosen more reasonably and widely.
•
The site of the Olympic Games should be considered widely. The Olympic Summer Games were almost all held in Europe and America. But it must be mentioned that the Olympic Games of 2016 will take place in South–America for the first time.
•
The IOC should consider more non-‐western sport in the Olympic Games. Traditional sports from different cultures can be introduced.
Conclusion Sport and in general the Olympic Games are one of the great movements to fight against discrimination and equality for all. The program of the Olympic Games is dominated by originated Western sports. But athletes from all over the world can compete. As the greatest sport competition in the world, the Olympic Games spreads the values of multiculturalism like respect and friendship to create a more peaceful world. The Games bring athletes and fans from all over the world together, regardless their religion, gender, cultural background or political view. This tremendous quality of bringing people together is definitely gold. But the Olympic Movement might have to consider some changes in the future in order to continue this amazing quality. The first step is there by hosting the Olympic Summer Games of 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When there will also be some traditional regional sports on the Olympic program, Olympism and multiculturalism are a true golden combination.
19 Hsu, L. Olympism: A Dead Ideal and a Western Product? Fifth International Symposium for Olympic Research. (2000).
References Chatzigianni, E. Introduction to International Organizations, Governance & Sport. Handout Olympia (2011). Giatsis, S. Vassilis Ziakas, V. Zygouri, C. & Giatsi, A. Sport and the Olympic Games in the global post-‐ Cold war era (1989 – nowadays). International Society of Olympic Historians. Georgiadis, K. The Revival Of The Olympic Games In Modern Times. Ekdotike Athenon. (2003). Georgiadis, K. Pierre De Coubertin’s Brookes relations. PowerPoint Olympia. (2011). He, Z. Universal Olympic values in a multicultural world. Symposium:‘Rethinking culture’. Heywood, A. Political ideologies – summaries Heywood, A. Multiculturalism, identity and diversity. He, Z. Universal Olympic values in a multicultural world. Symposium:‘Rethinking culture’. Hsu, L. Olympism: A Dead Ideal and a Western Product? Fifth International Symposium for Olympic Research. (2000). International Olympic Committee. IOC Marketing Report – Beijing. (2008). International Olympic Committee. Olympic Chapter. International Olympic Committee. (2011). Nanayakkar, S. Olympism: A Western Liberal Idea That Ought Not to Be Imposed on Other Cultures. Parry, J. The ethical and political values of the Olympic Movement. International Chair of Olympic Studies (2009). Salaheldeen, H, M. Olympic Values and Multiculturalism. International Olympic Academy, 17th International seminar on Olympic studies for postgraduate students. (2009). Salaheldeen, H, M. Olympic Values and Multiculturalism. International Olympic Academy, 17th International seminar on Olympic studies for postgraduate students. (2009). Tallberg, P. The Olympic Games, contribution to the democratization process. International Olympic Academy, 50th Session for Young Participants. (2010). Wright, G. Sport and globalization. New Political Economy. (1999). Wright, G. Sport and globalization. Olympic Review XXVI-‐29(1999), pp. 18-‐19.