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THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT AND ITS
INFLUENCE ON AFRICAN CULTURE :
IDENTITY, CULTURAL MINORITIES,
TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS, RACISM
by Marius Theodule Francisco (BEN)
I Initial questions
When I agreed to develop this subject, which was suggested to me for this 33rd
Session of the International Olympic Academy, I asked myself a number of questions.
The first has to do with the concept of the Olympic spirit. What strict content
should we give it ? It is a concept about which much is said and written but which
cannot easily be contained in a complete definition. Other researchers have undertaken
this difficult task. I will restrict myself to the analysis of our distinguished
colleague, Professor Fernand Landry, in his lecture to the 28th Session of the IOA
in 1988. The definition of Olympism, he says, "remains vague, difficult and to all
intents and purposes inexistent". This conclusion comes from research into the
writings of the father of modern Olympism, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and the
work of his worthy successors. Pierre de Coubertin himself considered Olympism
as a state of mind, born out of a double cult : of the effort toward self-transcendence
and of Eurythmia, which glorifies the taste of measure. To move beyond
one's self, whilst recognizing one's own measure, this is the paradox through
which man must reach fulfilment.
As the President of the International Olympic Committee, H.E. Juan Antonio
Samaranch, has also said, "Olympism is a state. A state of balance between the
body and the mind, spirit and matter, impulse and conscience, a state of grace in
the search for self-transcendence. It is difficult to give a strict definition. Is this a
shortcoming ? I do not think so, since it allows everyone, everywhere, to embrace
it without any difficulty or resistance, whatever one's country, time, race or beliefs".
The second question has to do with the contents of African culture. Gifted
thinkers have already helped confirm the existence and scientific status of African
culture. The work of Father Henri Grégoire, "On Negro Literature", has finally put
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