INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

value of good example and respect for universal fundamental
ethical principles (p. 7).
Secondly, in Fundamental Principle 6, the more social aims of
Olympism are detailed,
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building
a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport
practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the
Olympic spirit, requires mutual understanding with a spirit of
friendship, solidarity and fair play (p. 7).
Thus, appropriately practiced sport can be used as a tool to
facilitate the development of personal excellence (or arête in Greek).
This captures the essence of the applied Olympic idea – begun by the
Ancient Greeks and passed on to Coubertin by the nineteenth-century
English educator Matthew Arnold - that we can develop character
through sport. The sound bite message from the current IOC
President, Jacques Rogge, is still very similar. Speaking about the
recent signing of a partnership between the IOC and UNAIDS to
engage the sport community in the fight against AIDS, Rogge
commented that,
The world of sport is not separate from the rest of the world.
Sport breaks down barriers, promotes self-esteem, and can
teach life skills and healthy behaviour (IOC, 2004).
The positive side of sport
There is much anecdotal evidence of this educational rationale for
sport participation in modern society. Some of our most famous
political and humanitarian icons have spoken of how they have
personally benefited from sport at some point in their lives. For
example, one of Coubertin’s role models, the former American
President Theodore Roosevelt, wrote an athletic autobiography for the
1913 Olympic Congress held in Lausanne. This described how,
though sport (in particular by riding and boxing), he had developed
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