INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

As hinted upon in the above quote related to the college
environment, the organisational culture is an important antecedent of
individual values and behaviour. The IOC as an organisation, during
the public scandal that overshadowed the bidding process for the 2002
Winter Games, has also shown that just because they espouse certain
ideals does not necessarily mean that they adhere to them by default.
Torres (2002) therefore comments that most importantly, for the
Movement to proceed, “The IOC has to regain - or probably -
establish - its relationship with the foundational philosophy of the
Olympic Movement”. In essence then, “the challenge is to bridge the
gap between ideality and reality” at both personal and
organisational/social levels.
The problem
Simply playing sport alone does not necessary engender Olympic
ends. Thus, the assumption that sport improves character does not
necessarily hold true. In fact, this central pillar, upon which the
Olympic idea rests, has never been rigorously tested nor developed in
relation to Olympic education.
Parry, in his 1998 paper on physical education as Olympic
education, defines the ethical ideals of Olympism in terms of a
philosophical anthropology. Using this specification, the Olympic
Ideal can be translated into, “a few simple phrases which capture the
essence of what an ideal human being ought to be and aspire to”.
However, although he argues that the practice of sport is one method
to bridge the gap, he concludes, “Of course, still to be worked out in
detail is an Olympic pedagogy, since we still stand in need of a
specification of ways in which the above considerations will impact
upon the actual content and procedures of the educational process”.
It is interesting that this research gap is not simply an oversight of
sport. In other areas of physical activity such as the adventure training
in the ‘Outward Bound’ industry, there has been a similar recent
understanding of the need for empirical evidence to link activity and
personal development. For example, Hopkins and Putnam (1993)
comment,
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