Scheduled for Sociocultural II Free Communications, Saturday, April 16, 2005, 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM, Convention Center: E271b


The Importance of Olympic Education to Promote the Ideals of Olympism (Sociocultural)

Meliha Atalay, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

Today it is an irrefutable fact that for the general public idea of Olympism and the Olympic Movement is only seen as a large sports event held every four years, while “everyday Olympism” appears to be completely unknown to the public at large. Various organizations make praiseworthy efforts to popularize and promote Olympism. But more often too theoretical for the man in the street to understand that “Olympism” is something very much more than an international sports meeting (Collard and Lekarska, 1986). Olympism uses sport to promote the balanced development of people as an essential step in building a peaceful society that places a high on human dignity (New Zealand Olympic Committee, 2000). The purpose of the study was to determine the meaning of Olympism in our times and importance of Olympic Education in order to promote the Olympism. The method applied in this study was qualitative in nature. The participants were 9 international educators in “Xth International Olympic Academy: Olympic Studies Session” which was 40 days in May-June 2002 in Olympia Greece. The data were collected by phenomenological interviewing and document analysis methods, by the researcher who was a participant in the session. Partially-structured interview (open-ended questions) was used as interview techniques with using flexibility principles. The data were coded and analyzed to determine themes which could reveal deeper meaning and key themes. The opinions, thoughts and recommendations of the educators about Olympism and Olympic Education were analyzed and compared to reveal the similarities and differences. As a result; educators indicated that Olympism was a vague term and difficult to define. Commercialization and doping were the most dangerous issues for Olympism in the future. Furthermore some new aspects like environment and internationalism were included in the general principals of Olympism. The educators stated that Olympic Education should be considered for all levels of education as Olympism was unknown to the public at large and also should focus on sports family like athletes, coaches, teachers and administrators. It was also stated that peace movement and global aspects of Olympism should be included in the Olympic Education programs and those programs should be supported by the government. As a conclusion; this study may help Olympism to be considered as an important tool to help children understand the importance of peace and fair play. Therefore it should be involved in to the educational programs and global education.
Keyword(s): international issues, multiculturalism/cultural diversity, olympic related

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