INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

The Olympic movement particularly emphasizes ethical aspects to
ensure a human high-performance sport system and a human
development of young high-performance athletes. Within the
framework of the Olympic idea, pedagogical aims like self-awareness,
integrated and harmonic education, conscious commitment to ethical
principles, mutual respect and tolerance, and the promotion of
emancipatory thoughts are often mentioned. LENK (1964) also draws
attention to the important values of the Olympic Games.
As early as 1984, the sport educationalist Eckhard MEINBERG
formulated a set of principles for a humane high-performance sport for
children and youth in the wake of a public debate on the participation
of children and teenagers in high-performance sports. Several sport
organizations in Germany published catalogues (for example German
Sports Association – DSB 1986, 1997) of ethical principles. The
principles formulated by MEINBERG are of such a broad-based
character that these principles can also be taken as outlining an ethical
standard. According to MEINBERG, an optimum approach to training
children and teenagers in high-performance sport depends on the
following ethical principles:
1. Using another person as an end in themselves rather than a
means to an end,
2. the principle of respect,
3. the principle of equality,
4. the principle of solidarity,
5. the principle of fairness,
6. the principle of suitability for children/teenagers,
7. the principle of reasonableness,
8. the principle of helping,
9. the principle of trust,
10. the principle of participation,
11. the principle of responsibility,
12. the principle of achievement - making no fetish of achievement,
13. a body ethic suitable for children/teenagers- not exploiting the
body.
This paper investigates which status Olympic values have for
teenage high-performance athletes and how far these values are taught
by their coaches. In addition, the paper intends to show whether the
athletes think that their coaches observe MEINBERG’s 13 ethical
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