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Address
By Mr Cyrille BOULONGNE (FRA)
On behalf of the co-ordinators
We are today holding the Closing Ceremony of this 40 th IOA Session for Young
Participants.
President Filaretos and Dean Georgiadis, permit me first of all, on behalf of all
the discussion group coordinators, to express to you our sincerest thanks for your
welcome here at Olympia.
During the last few weeks, we have been able to appreciate the extraordinary
richness and complexity of the values of Olympism. Indeed, their capacity for
renewal is equalled only by that of the culture and society, which forged them.
It would be naïve, however, to think that the core values have been fully
attained. Ongoing problems like boycotts, restrictions on the participation of
individuals or nations, deadly violence and moral difficulties can still provoke
criticism.
The core values are thus the subject of qualified revisions. Thus Guttman 1
affirms that "the Olympic Games are not what Pierre de Coubertin intended them
to be. They will never be simply an occasion for athletes to compete in friendly
rivalry, for spectators to admire extraordinary physical performances and for
everyone involved to feel himself or herself a part of the family of man. But the
Olympic Games are not the opposite, either. They are not simply occasions
forsexism, racism, religious fanaticism, ideological display, nationalism,
commercialisation and instrumentalisation of the body. Every four years, as the
Olympic Games more nearly approach or more tragically disappoint our ideals,
they provide us with a dramatic indication of who we are. Perhaps that is the best
argument for their continuation."
In the modern world, the Games and the Olympic Movement highlight the
positive possibilities for transcending our human nature, but also the negative
possibilities of degeneration.
The Games and the Olympic Movement are thus imperfect instruments held and
used by imperfect men and women, who are striving for an ideal of perfection.
1 A. Guttmann, The Modern Games: A Sociopsychological Interpretation,
Champaign (Illinois), Human Kinetics Publishers, 1988, p. 443.
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