INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

• to promote sport as education by reinforcing the importance of
teamwork and cooperation in achieving common aims;
• to teach fair play and sportsmanship;
• to support cultural exchanges;
• to promote international tolerance and understanding;
• to encourage excellence, helping students to develop selfesteem
by becoming the best that they can be in whatever they
undertake.
According to the President of the National Olympic Academy of
Estonia (EOA) Professor Vahur Ööpik, the priorities of the EOA have
changed to some extent through its almost 15 years of existence. The
educational activities have become increasingly significant since the
mid-nineties of the last century. The most noticeable educational
initiative of the EOA is apparently the promotion of School Olympic
Games. For that reason the EOA launched a project „School
Olympic“. The aim of the EOA is to enhance the status of the School
Olympic Games from local initiative level to an all-Estonian
movement by attracting schools of all counties into the project. The
EOA is convinced that this would not only promote the practicing of
sport by young people but also contribute to the environment
necessary for the development of harmonious personalities in all
Estonian regions, as well as to the raising of young citizens’
generation with a healthy orientation of values. The overall scheme
for carrying out the project is the following: each year for a definite
date schools hand in their projects for School Olympic Games
according to the previously announced rules and the projects will then
be assessed by a panel of experts. One school’s project from each
county will be chosen for support. In order to get the support of the
EOA and certification after the School Olympic has been arranged the
program of the School Olympic must include the following
(http://www.eoa.org.ee):
• The plan of action and schedule of the Olympic week.
• The plan of action and schedule of the sports program.
I. Obligatory elements of the Olympic week are the following:
� selection of the School Olympic Committee;
� introduction of the ancient and modern Olympic Movement in
several subject lessons;
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