INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

that the NOA of Malaysia has embarked on the globalization of the
Olympic Education in Asia by extending invitations to member
NOCs/NOAs in Asia to attend our annual Olympic Academy Session
in Kuala Lumpur. We are proud to say that our Annual Academy
Sessions have achieved tremendous success – educating not only
young Malaysians but also youths from Asia in the true meaning of
Olympism. Since 2000, young participants from Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Brunei, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Korea, Lao, Mongolia,
Myanmar, Oman, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have
attended our annual session. This year at our 7 th NOA Session we
even had three participants from Iowa State, USA. Even though the
National Language of Malaysia is Malay, nevertheless language is
never a problem because all our sessions are conducted in English,
one of the Official languages of the IOC.
CONCLUSION
Even though Coubertin emphasized the internationalisation of the
Olympic movement, I am somewhat lost. The Olympic movement
originated in Europe, is by and large still being dominated by
Europeans, and its two official languages are English and French.
Currently, the IOC has only supported the spreading of Olympic
Education through some financial assistance. It is time that more
constructive strategies in promoting Olympic Education are being
implemented by IOC in collaboration with the IOA and NOAs.
The Road to Olympic Education in Asia has a long way to go and
one of our NOA’s objectives is to establish a CENTRE FOR
OLYMPIC STUDIES in Asia to further promote and spread the
Olympic Education on a regional basis. Truly, then, youths from all
over Asia can congregate yearly to share and practise the Olympic
ideas. These youths can play an important role as ambassadors to
internationalize the Olympic ideal and enhance friendship,
understanding, peace and fair play.
In Coubertin’s appeal to the Sporting Youth of all nations (17 th
April 1927), he says:
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