Overview

How to be innovative and spread throughout the world the values of Olympism? How can young Olympic ambassadors contribute to build a better world? What is the heritage - impact and literacy – of the Olympic games and the Paralympic games? How can other games such as the Sapatic Games influence the whole society?

We will analyze the impact of these universal games through the scope of the 17 sustainable development goals, with a special focus on the Olympic values and the UNESCO Charter on quality Sport, Physical Education and Physical Activity, all of them linked to human development, peace, ethics, education, and inclusion.

“Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.” (Olympic value 1)

“The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play.” (Olympic value 4)

Heritage and legacy of the Games

The analysis of the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has been the subject of growing interest since the 2000s, particularly in scientific research. (Collinet & Schut 2020, Legg & Steadward 2011, Rocha & al. 2021). It refers to the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic games with some differences linked to media coverage, social, ethical issues (Brittain & al. 2013).  The notion of legacy is much broader than the impact and refers to both tangible and intangible dimensions. It includes personal, social, environmental, educational, inclusive issues.

Many research and assessment tools have been developed to measure the heritage of the games but most of these tools have a focus on the positive ones, linked to the values of Olympism.  There is nevertheless research led by NGOs, international bodies that showed possible negative effects on local populations, economy, environment. Much research has analyzed the legacy of mega events, and especially the Olympic and Paralympic games. The “Policy” on positive legacy of the game is what is expected. The social and cultural heritage of the games need to be evaluated (Lecocq 2022). The social impact is defined as all the consequences of an organization's activities for its external stakeholders (beneficiaries, users, customers), whether direct or indirect, and for its internal stakeholders (employees, volunteers), as well as for society in general.

Most scientific literature has focused on the economic impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and their urban planning aspects such as for Paris 2024: developing new sport arenas, transportation opportunities, education programs, with a special attention to inclusive issues and adapted activities. The social legacy has received more recent attention (Cashman 2006, Minnaert 2012, Lecocq 2022, Boursier 2018).

The four objectives of the Olympic Legacy Strategy concern:

1: embed legacy through the Olympic Games lifecycle

2: document, analyze and communicate the legacy of the Olympic Games

3: encourage Olympic legacy celebration

4: build strategic partnerships

To anticipate and contribute efficiently to the legacy of the games, some key words could be understood in a new way: the term “participation” could be switched to “participaCtion”; innovation could become “innovaCtion” and the focus on globalization understood as “Glocalization” (UNESCO UFIT program). This means understanding the heritage of the games globally with actions at a national and local level.

The original values of Olympism as expressed in the Olympic Charter are to “encourage effort”, preserve human dignity and develop harmony”: excellence - friendship and fair play - respect and ethics. The dissemination of the Olympic values to education and society is considered of utmost importance by the International Olympic Committee, The International Paralympic Committee, and the International Olympic Academy. These values are shared and echoed around the world by many organizations involved in sport, physical education and beyond. (Rocha & al. 2021).

Putting all strengths, skills and perspectives "together" is essential for the dissemination and realization of these objectives. This is where the young Olympic ambassadors can play a major role. All humanist project linked to the values of Olympism and the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) must be prepared, anticipated, co-constructed and evaluated (Reid 2012, Rocha & al. 2021).

The SDGs provide a global framework for countries and organizations to contribute to the creation of a “better world”. The Olympic Movement’s actions and missions are closely aligned with many SDGs in the fields of health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, peace, justice, empowerment, and partnerships.

The core missions of the Olympic Movement are to favor not only the celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games but more over foster the role of the athletes to promote Olympic values in society, with a focus on young people. Olympism365 is the IOC’s strategy aimed at strengthening the role of sport as an important enabler for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): ensure that everyone can practice sport, quality physical education and physical activity all year-long; improve societal recognition of the values and impact of quality, safe, accessible, and sustainable community sports organizations’ programs; increase the collaboration between the sports movement, the health and social development sector, and businesses.  

The young Olympic ambassadors have been selected not only for their excellence in sport but also for their soft skills, with in perspective their commitment to change the world, motivate everyone to be physically active, engage in sport, share the Olympic values, and contribute to the SDGs. The athletes can and must prepare their future (Kiuppis and Stambulova, 2020), follow and/or lead trainings. The young Olympic ambassadors can spread the Olympic values with a strong impact on youth and communities where they live in their sport arena and beyond (Koenigstorfer and Preuss, 2018). They can be innovators as well in terms of communication, leadership, education, empowerment of youth and communities.

The mirror of the Sapatic Games

The Sapatic Games have been implemented in 2014 to offer to children with cancer the opportunity to « compete » and share adapted games. They are organized every 2 years. SAPATIC© is the acronym proposed by a child with cancer: Health (“Santé” in French) through APA with TICE (synchronous Visio conference). It is an inter-hospital sport event for these children, allowing them to compete and share adapted sports games, either face-to-face within their hospital, and remotely between hospitals or even at home. For some of them, these games are the culmination - or highlight - of a journey of adapted physical activities, while for others it's an opportunity to discover physical activity in a fun, shared context, and to continue afterwards to be physically active.

The objectives and values of the Sapatic Games are education, inclusion, health, and fairness. Facing challenges in the face of illness is part of their daily lives, and taking on other challenges on a sporting level is just as "extra-ordinary" as it is motivating. Equity and accessibility are key concepts, allowing all Sapathletes to participate according to their abilities, to enjoy the games, which echoes the values of the Olympic spirit, where the full participation of each one is worth more than a medal. The Sapathletes can participate in an adapted competitive sporting event, combat isolation, have fun and share the games with others from different hospitals, regions, cultures through TICE and truly live the Olympic spirit: “everyone has the right to engage in sports, participate with respect, fair play”. These values are very important for the Sapathletes. They compete as any other sporty child, they envoy to participate... and win of course. To fully participate, the children need to train: the SAPATIC games are not a « one shot » event but a tool and opportunity to implement, develop APA programs in the health protocol of these children all year long during the treatment and afterwards as well. The aim of the organization of the global Sapatic games in 2024 is to include APA programs throughout the world.

Organizing the SAPATIC World Games in 2024 is a challenge: it means not only considering local particularities, but also languages and time zones to enable sharing between Sapathletes.

The main partners who recognize the impact of the Sapatic games on education, well-being, inclusion, self-esteem are IFAPA, ICSSPE, The UNESCO Chair on APA and the International Committee Pierre de Coubertin.  

Impact and legacy of the Sapatic Games

The Sapatic Games have a tremendous impact not only on the children but also their families, the medical staff, and the APA professionals (Boursier 2019). Another heritage concerns the pedagogical approaches and programs and their evaluation (Boursier and Herbinet 2017). The term HERITAGE can be understood as an acronym: Humankind, Equality, Respect, Integrity, Training, Accessibility, Globalization, Environment.  The 2024 Sapatic world games will follow all these perspectives linked to the values of Olympism and the SDGs

The maxim of the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with a disability “Nothing about us without us « applies to the legacy of the games: nothing is possible without all of us: young Olympic ambassadors, Sapathletes, IOA, IOC, IPC and all partners and stakeholders.

References

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Boursier C, (2018) De l’intervention empirique à la recherche en sciences de l’activité physique adaptée, in Activité Physique Adaptée : un parcours identitaire, coll. Partages, eds. INSHEA & revue EPS, Suresnes

Boursier C, Herbinet A (2017) V@si: e-APA as a tool to enhance prevention and health care for patients with chronic diseases, ISAPA June 12-17, 2017, Daegu, Korea

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