INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

“Sport is the determined and habitual cult of intense muscular
exercise incited by a desire to progress and without fear of
risk”.
To Coubertin, the essence of sports is not immediately identical
with sport itself, and in his own words, he wrote:
“Sport is not natural to man. To be a sportsman does not mean
the same as to be an athlete. The athlete is someone who
pursues the ‘athlos’, namely the recompense after a struggle.
Sport and sportsmen do not interest me because they do not
reveal the essence of sport, and that is what man ought to
reveal.” (p.164)
ENHANCING OLYMPIC EDUCATION –
A MALAYSIAN MODEL
Like most educational settings, putting into practice the theories of
Olympic Education has present difficulties such as assessing
immediately the learning objectives and measuring the learning
outcomes of the individual, who has undergone Olympic Education.
Hence, reviving the Olympic Games was only part of Coubertin’s
objective to achieve his ideal to create a method of moral fulfilment
through education of the body and mind. The second and more
important was to build an institution that would be able to ensure the
continued survival of the Olympic movement itself. Today, the IOC
members seem only interested in the organisation of the Olympic
Games or play the roles of ‘invited guests’ at the Games.
Generally, the doctrines of Olympic Education have a defined role
to play in this globalization age. In my opinion, many of the
interpretations are valid and valuable ideas in molding the characters
and behaviour of the new generation of youth.
Who else then is responsible for the promotion of Olympic
Education? My answer is everyone – IOC, NOCs, NOAs, IFs, NSFs,
coaches, administrators, teachers, referees, officials, media, parents,
spectators and not forgetting the athletes themselves.
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