INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

expressed in the fundamentals principles of the Olympic Charter:
“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, which
requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity
and fair play.” The inconsistency of the educational aspect of
Olympism can be easily recognised; it has not been and is still not the
main focus of the IOC. The same can be said to apply to the NOCs,
which while having the promotion of NOAs as one of its major roles
as clearly stated in the Olympic Charter, are mostly not fulfilling this
objective.
The actions taken within the IOC through the years in order to
promote Olympic Education have been reviewed. These measures
have been few in number and not as widely supported as they should
be, especially given their importance. Nevertheless, the policies
adopted by the IOC in terms of Olympic Education have been
generally effective and successful. Therefore, it can be assumed that
the IOC has in its hands the power to improve greatly the current
situation regarding Olympic Education. Nevertheless, for that purpose
it will obviously need the help and collaboration of the other parties
involved (e.g. mainly the NOCs but also the IOA and the IOC
Commission for Culture and Olympic Education)
It can also be noticed that while the IOC is a huge, professional
and wealthy structure, the NOAs, which are its official educational
branches in each country, face a far different situation.
In addition, currently 81 NOCs have not created an Olympic
Education institution, and out of the 121 NOAs already formed many
are not very active.
It can be concluded that the situation of Olympic Education in
general and that of the NOAs in particular does not meet the goal of
excellence towards which the IOC should strive.
Recommendations
An analysis of a challenging situation cannot resolve anything if it
is not followed by adequate actions. Some of the problems related in
this study have been recognised for many years by the different parties
involved in Olympic education. However, very little action has been
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