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pearance as either professionals or amateurs. On the basis of the present
operative regulations of the International Olympic Committee (1962),
"An Amateur is considered to be the person who competes or who has
competed in Games, or events without material gains of whatsoever
kind". A professional is the person "who a) has no basic work which
assures him a livelihood in the present or the future, b) receives or has
received compensation for his participation in Games, and c) does not
comply with the regulations of his sport federation. These regulations
proceed into details for specific problems. They are confined principally
to what concerns the behaviour of the competitors but deals very
slightly with the question of the people who deal with sports, whereas
in substance it is to these people that the maintenance of the regulations
is entrusted, as also the upbringing of youth in Olympic ideology, the
outlook of public opinion and the creation of a suitable atmosphere for
their reception and acceptance.
Between the two extremes of the true amateur and of the professional
athlete there are many intermediary types, whom we must describe
in short. We must first, however, stress the fact that the real
amateur is that person who participates in the competitive movement
from love and because he is certain that he will benefit both bodily and
spiritually as also even the person who is interested in his social advancement,
for his establishment in a profession or trade, or finally for the
person who does not look to athletics for social establishment. Professional
is the person who translates his bodily strength or prowess into material
advantages, who performs in front of the public at a spectacle
and is awarded a remuneration or a percentage of the takings of the
"athletic" show. I consider that both occasions are honest placings
so long as they form different characterisations in sport. There are, however,
various intermediary positions between the two basic categories,
which the letters of the regulations is unable to cover. As regards the
athletes, it is known that according to prevailing custom and usage,
internationally accepted, privileges are conceded with the excuse of
providing the best possible preparatory training for the great Games.
These privileges start with the granting of sports cloths and the incidental
expenses of transport and reach the provision of special and selected
diets, accommodation, training centre, long term detachment from occupational
work, special attachment in military service, the finding of
suitable occupation in order to facilitate training, and up to the provision
of special maintenance bursaries for the assurance of the special
conditions of strict training. These privileges might be characterised
in part as moral awards granted to diligent and devoted athletes, yet
they constitute an absolute criterion of a professional angle when they
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