I will begin my search on the questions that will be the subject of this lecture with a story.

Melankomas from Caria, according to ancient philosopher Dio Chrysostom (Dio Chrysostom, Discourses) was a famous boxer in Antiquity. He was famous because of his beauty, modesty and training. He exercised hard, persistently and systematically for many hours each day. He was so well built that he could not go unnoticed. He could make his opponents surrender without hitting them and because of his skills they were in any case unable to touch him. Dio Chrysostom writes that he had “a wretched end” because he was so ambitious that, as he was dying, he asked his childhood friend how many days were left before the end of the Games.

Why does Dio Chrysostom depict such a famous athlete as unfortunate and ambitious? I will try to answer this question at the end of the presentation.

In this lecture, the questions that arise from the paper’s title are the following: What do we mean exactly when we refer to “educational value” and what is the deeper meaning of the concept of Olympism? We shall also discuss the educational process through which the principles of Olympism can be enhanced and create positive life attitudes in young people. Moreover, we shall try to depict the deeper meaning of Olympic education.

Values are attributed to things or events according to the importance they have or may take in our conscious world, impression, imagination or feeling.

The importance we attach is essentially the meaning that an event may have or take in our life. So, when we refer to the educational value of Olympism, we should first examine what is the special meaning that the educational process has or may take in our life with a view to teaching the principles of Olympism and what is its moral energy that gives a specific meaning to the teaching process.

Olympism as a concept is defined by three other concepts: sport, education and culture (cf. Olympic Charter 2013). The existence of sport in society can be traditionally justified by its role in education and its contribution to men’s health. With the revival of the Olympic Games, the humanitarian dimension and mission were added to the other two justifications (Loland, 2007, p. 78; Parry, 2005). This last dimension is mainly expressed through the ideas and texts of Pierre de Coubertin (Georgiadis, 2003).

The urge to reform felt by a young person who wants to change the educational process in his country, will make him consider the idea of drawing up a code of educational values mostly based on the noble idea of the Olympic Games.

The Neo-Olympism of Pierre de Coubertin had its spiritual roots in liberalism (Parry, 2006), neoclassicism, the peace movement (International Peace Bureau 1891) and was, of course, influenced by the establishment of international institutions and movements like the Red Cross (1863), the Esperanto Movement (1887), the Universal Exhibitions (1851), the excavations of archaeological sites in Southern Europe and, mainly, by those in Olympia (Georgiadis, 2003; Tzachrista, 2013).

Coubertin’s eclectic “Olympism” had “pedagogy” as its core and as the foundation of ancient Greek philosophy (Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch), Muscular Christianity and democratic internationalism.

These ideological hues are integrated in education as teachings that arise from European humanism and the movements for greater social justice and community life (Nissiotis, 1986, p. 59).

Olympism as a philosophy is a deeper conception and practical implementation of universal principles. The Olympic values are conceived as the “crystallization of human effort” (Nissiotis, 1985, p. 50) and as the “common aspirations of the human race” (ibid., p. 58) which create common principles and unite people, races and nations. Sport can create common values. The values that underpin humanist education define the Olympic idea.

According to McNamee (2006, p. 180), when we link sport with the ethical culture of young people, we refer in fact to the development of young people’s virtues with respect to Olympism and, more particularly, to Olympic education. The practice of Olympic values is mainly concerned with the development of man’s personality.

Coubertin believed that the ancient Greek gymnasium, more than any other institution, was the base that promoted ancient Greek civilization (Pierre de Coubertin 1863–1937, p. 270). The ancient gymnasium was the educational workshop that blended the efforts that would allow us to move from theory to action. “Sport plants in the body seeds of physio-psychological qualities” (ibid., p. 273).

He emphasized the need for harmonious development of psychosomatic and intellectual skills (Coubertin, p. 68), stressing that all people who take part in sports activities are not all virtuous and noting that: “Surely never has a more direct bridge been built from one side of the river to the other, than from sport to ethics” (ibid., p. 167).

He also noted that “it is up to the athlete to know, to govern and to conquer himself” ( ibid., p. 186), adding “it is up to the educator to draw them out, to extend them to the whole personality” (ibid., p. 86).

From Pindar to Coubertin, the concept of sport contest and victory is linked with the principles and values that shape and cultivate human existence. Coubertin does not create a new philosophical field with the term NeoOlympism. He brings together the historic, pedagogical, cultural and aesthetic parameters of the idea (DaCosta, 2006, p. 161). DaCosta maintains that Olympism failed to become what Coubertin advertised during 1894–1937, i.e. a philosophy of life (ibid., p. 162).

Olympism is gradually defined through research and philosophical dialogue among the young people and researchers during the sessions of the International Olympic Academy.

The value-based search for the principles of Olympism created a new trend, which is expressed in the texts of Nissiotis and Lenk, where the Olympic athlete is presented as a symbol of kalokagathia and virtuous wholeness.

In this way, the image of the “Olympian” athlete as a model and his role in the development of society are outlined (Nissiotis, 1979; Lenk, 1983).

Both Nissiotis and Lenk emphasize the role of competition and victory within the educational process.

The main reason for which we attach “value” to victory according to Reid (2002, pp. 3–5) is its relation to virtues.

To acquire virtues you must cultivate principles and values. In the past we had presented in four columns the individual, social, cultural and universal principles which are linked with Olympism, according to the participants’ views in the Sessions.

Their common constituent element is sport, competition and victory. The close connection with principles through sport and the educational process aims at self-realization, self-knowledge and personal uplifting (ibid.). Through this educational process young people perceive the values of community and life.

Olympic medalists are the athletes who stand out for their virtues and the harmonious function of logic, nature and man’s emotional state.

Plato and Aristotle consider justice, bravery, prudence and wisdom as fundamental virtues. According to Plato, they are all expressed by prudence. Prudence, according to the style and ethos of the Classical period, means adhering to measure, the eurhythmia of life, and balance.

Even today, the dialogue on whether sport can become a vehicle for ethical and social education, through Olympic Education, still continues. The dialogue is based on the educational values, which originate from: a) the pedagogical approach to the educational value of sport as expressed by the ancient Greek philosophers, b) the enrichment and universalization of the pedagogical principles of Olympism as expressed by Coubertin, mainly through pedagogy, social peace, internationalism and truce, and c) the contemporary sociocultural educational approach to Olympism, which is linked with the Olympic Games (Naul, 2010, pp. 122–125).

Olympic education is a dynamic process with sport as its core subject. It is an educational process in order for the youth to know and experience the

Olympic principles and values through sporting and cultural activities, with a view to contributing to the balanced and harmonious development of their psychosomatic virtues.

The educational model, which has been developed in relation to the above, is mainly based on education in: a) motor skills, b) inter-social skills, c) moral behavior and d) Olympic knowledge (ibid., p. 127).

a) The idea of the contest through which young people express their will to stand out following the rules of fair play whilst building their physical and motor abilities and skills.

b) The idea of social peace and social progress is the core element for the development of youth’s inter-social skills. Models are the constant for young people’s life-long learning.

c) The idea of truce as a multicultural educational process and moral life attitude. The perception of rules and the acceptance of values as a base for communal coexistence.

d) The idea of celebrating the culture of civilizations as a means of acquiring Olympic knowledge and understanding the Olympic Movement’s ideals.

Closing remarks

Let me go back to our story which I presented without comments. Melankomas died unhappy according to Dion because he did not do anything else than develop his physical abilities and skills. This obsession with exercise made him look for his next opponent when he was very old, just before he died.

The practice of sport alone does not create virtuous citizens. In education, discussion and research focus more on principles and less or not at all on virtues.

Olympic education created the conditions that allowed the values and principles of sport and Olympism to be discussed, apart from the school curriculum, in other after-school activities. The debate on Olympic education showed that the educational process should take into consideration the wholeness of human existence and Olympism as a shared inspiration of human nature underpinned by intellectual roots in order to conceive reality and the world as wholeness (Nissiotis, 1985).

The concept of virtue is still missing from the Olympic Charter. Moreover, it is not really the objective of sports educational programs and it is not widely known or understood by educators, coaches and sports officials.

This effort can be supported through “Olympic pedagogy”. We mean by scientific theory on the philosophy, content, methods, implementation and evaluation of Olympic education programs, aimed at the molding of virtuous citizens.

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GEORGIADIS Konstantinos, "The educational value of Olympism", in: K. Georgiadis(ed.), Olympic values: Respect for diversity, 54th International Session for Young Participants (Ancient Olympia, 15-29/6/2014), International Olympic Academy, Athens, 2015, pp.190-196.

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