Introduction

We live in an age when moral values are being questioned, and world-views and ideologies are being shaped in accordance with specific interests. Ethics and principles are changing to suit prevailing social trends in each period and it is extremely difficult to form attitudes based on principles and values.

Instead, the attitudes created are based on policies formed in the name of progress, development and prosperity, which are considered as achievements.

Achievements in our age are considered to be scientific breakthroughs and technological developments, which indeed have resulted in enabling man to set foot on the moon.

Also, both scientific knowledge and technological development have created unprecedented progress, which has changed even the conditions of everyday life in a manner that humanity has never experienced before.

In the sectors of health, transport, communications and the production of goods there have been huge advances, living standards have improved greatly and brought people closer to one another.

Political, social and military events, wherever they may take place, instantly become known about all over the world.

Via the Internet, people exchange news, information and knowledge in a matter of minutes, no matter where they are, while by traveling they learn about other countries and their cultures.

Globalisation

Fast communication and transport, together with a recognition of human rights on an international level, has created a new, unprecedented and unique phenomenon called “GLOBALISATION”.

Globalisation is all about a way of thinking and the life of a person. Something happening in one part of the world has a direct influence on the rest of the world, as with economics and the problems of nations.

Another phenomenon we see which relates to globalisation is the movement of millions of people migrating to other countries.

They bring their own customs and habits to their new homelands, and with these changes a completely different scene is being created together with a completely new element between people and countries, something previously unseen for humanity.

Consequences

This new element is bound to have positive and negative consequences for the attitudes and behaviours of people.

Consequently, a significant number of serious problems has been created, influencing not only the practical application of moral values but also hampering their adoption.

Today there is “religious fundamentalism”, environmental pollution and its consequences for people’s health, neo-liberalism, contempt for institutions, breaches of human rights by advocates of power to the strong who, instead of striving for equality, strengthen the innate human inclination to look after oneself, something which in our age has become widespread in everyday life, politics and economics.

The power of money has evolved into a unique super-power, active on a global scale and taking decisions with no regard for states and societies.

The position of sport

The balance that should exist between the individual and society is being lost as a result. As a reflection of society, sport has been directly affected by modern trends, leading to all the short-comings appearing in the practice of sport.

In the face of all these characteristics of our age and the basic problems faced by mankind today, what solutions does the Olympic Movement propose?

The Olympic Movement

Is the Olympic Movement in a position to declare everywhere that its own way of life and philosophy and their implementation through the practice of competitive sport since it first appeared up to the present, without constituting a panacea, is nonetheless the most appropriate solution?

Is Olympism in a position to create human role models with sports men and women?

Can Olympians become role models through the Olympic education that they experience? And if so, what role should National Olympic Committees play in the shaping of these Olympian role models who will change society, and how will they do this?

The answer to the basic question of whether the Olympic Movement is in a position to improve the individual and society is: YES.

We may claim that we have our own philosophy and proposals for confronting all these problems challenging humanity today.

And, this is made clear in paragraph 2 of the Olympic Charter of 1999. Olympism as a theory and practice is linked to the individual and communal lives of people and is able to play an important role in the shaping of societies as an ideology and resource for those who believe in the new fulfillment of group, social and global dimensions of life.

The role of National Olympic Committees

In my view, the responsibility for achieving this aim belongs also with the National Olympic Committees, whose aim is to promote Olympism as an educational philosophy with wider social implications.

The NOCs have a responsibility to promote and develop, not only the physical but also the ethical virtues that constitute the basis of every sport.

They also have the sacred duty of educating young people, possibly through the Olympic Academies, in the principal virtues of sport including comradeship, respect for written and unwritten rules, respect for one’s opponent, participation in competitions for the improvement of each sport, for physical, mental and spiritual balance and for an understanding of the moral capabilities and spiritual structures constituting the Olympic spirit.

As a consequence, the National Olympic Committees and National Olympic Academies have to attempt in practice and through a variety of methods toperpetuate and convert the Olympic ideal into reality.

Models

The most practical, the surest and the most ideal way is through the creation of role models and their promotion as examples.

In an age of varying social realities, economic and cultural inequality have created negative models, which are widely accepted, especially among young people, and hence there is a need for organisations and institutions like the National Olympic Committees, whose constitutions place them under an obligation, but which also have a responsibility to their societies.

Their mission, as well as the reason for their existence, is to develop ideas, educational programmes and ways to create positive role models.

Athletes as models

Sport, together with the experience of Olympic philosophy, offers the best way forward. Undoubtedly, the most appropriate positive role models, provided of course that they are in a position to demonstrate this, are Olympic athletes, who must be correctly trained and promoted in society.

It is only logical that sport, as part of the social scene, is influenced by every contemporary social trend.

The direct receptors of this influence are actual sports men and women, whose position in the community gives them influence, not only on the community itself, but also on the future of modern sport and, above all, the future of society.

And this is because athletes are role models and drivers for all those values associated with sport.

All social phenomena constitute an integral part of the social framework in which they manifest themselves; that is to say, they are an integral part of life today.

The dilemma that arises with regard to the position of athletes in modern sport is deeply rooted in the social environment in which we live, and especially in the system of social values that presently exists.

That is to say, the status of athletes is a function of the significance that society attaches to sport.

It is therefore to society that the NOC education must be addressed. Only in a social agreement with and an acceptance of the value of sport by the community can the appropriately trained, athlete role models have a reason for existing and a field of action.

Today we live in an industrial society which prizes the acquisition of material goods far more than previous societies and can be characterised as a society producing, consuming and striving for material goods.

Negative trends

We must however recognise that the spread of materialism has also influenced sport, with the direct recipients being the real protagonists of sport, that is, the sports men and women who now rate the material above the spiritual gains.

A second element is the emphasis placed upon results and a neglect of the process. In the sports world, the value of the material is manifest in the emphasis placed on the results of competitions, the victory or defeat, while the process of the game is neglected. This demonstrates the estrangement of sport from its values, since its educational and cultural value is to be found mainly in the process of the contest and not in the result.

This attitude towards sport has inevitably reduced the educational and cultural functions of athletes, clearly leading to their public fall from grace.

Owing to the materialism of social values and the priority attached to results, neither modern society nor modern sport consider the appropriate and complete development of athletes, inclusive of moral and spiritual parameters, as the highest aims of sport. On the contrary, sports men and women are regarded simply as a means for achieving economic, political and other gains.

Given that skills in sport and physical supremacy are the most needed elements for these external gains, our industrial society attempts to focus attention only on these two factors, something inevitably leading to an unbalanced development of physical and intellectual abilities in athletes. This is the great danger for them and for society today.

This is the present reality in which Olympic athletes are called upon to be role models based on morality, respect, friendship and excellence.

That is, to be models of the basic values of Olympism, the experience of which creates the prerequisites for a better society.

However, is this feasible? Can Olympic athletes today meet such expectations?

Can the National Olympic Committees provide the means, the ways and the capability to suitably educate Olympic athletes in the knowledge that these people in the 21st century have shouldered responsibilities and obligations, disproportionate in many cases, to their capabilities?

The role of athletes

Athletes, and particularly “elite” athletes, have shouldered more social roles and of various types, than any other group in society. They and especially the champions in particular sports are called upon to be ideal social models, perfect in every respect.

– From the biological perspective, they are required to constantly challenge the limits of their human capabilities.

– From the intellectual perspective, they are required to demonstrate a high level of intelligence and judgement as well as chivalry, both inside and outside the sports arena. And to be, in other words, intellectual role models.

– From the ethical perspective, they are required to constitute a benchmark of respect for the fundamental ethical rules of society and to operate in accordance with social principles. To be, in other words, ethical models.

Despite this, it is abundantly clear that their role as perfect individuals is not enough for modern society, which assigns yet more roles to them. It requires them to be advertisers of products, diplomats in international relations, ambassadors for their nation’s image and even social reformers.

It is obvious that the social roles assigned to this specific social group are not only related to aspects of individual development but also to aspects of social life whose values conflict with one another in present orientations. The difficulty and complexity of all these roles demand that the athlete be a “Superman”.

Irony stems from the fact that while 21st century society assigns such unrealistic targets to athletes, sports legislation (where there is any), may give them only theoretical and perhaps moral recognition. Regarding the rest, in the majority of cases, it is not in a position to provide either the necessary means or the appropriate environment for their accomplishment.

Society demands that Olympic athletes should be “Supermen”, while in practice no one is interested in how this might be achieved.

Finally, there will have to be recognition of the fact that the social obligations of sports men and women in becoming role models create corresponding responsibilities for societies and State institutions to create the conditions for them to achieve the aims expected by society, through a definition of these roles using special provisions and procedures.

The ideal

At this point I will dare to draw a parallel or comparison with what used to take place in Ancient Greece and specifically the recognition that was given to Olympic champion-models.

As you know, in Ancient Greece, the States or Poleis not only recognised what Olympic champions had to offer to their societies, but also considered the athletes to be patrons of the Homeland. A patron, not in today’s sense of sponsor, but as a benefactor.

At the same time, they were recognised as role models because the designation of a citizen as an Olympic champion meant that he had achieved the ideal. And the ideal at that time was related to the idea of kalokagathia, which meant someone who was beautiful and good, manifesting excellence of mind, body and soul. The entire training for each young man had a unique purpose: the achievement of this aim.

They believed that for someone to be an Olympic champion, he had to approach the ideal. And the ideal, in that never-to-be-repeated and for us inaccessible era, was excellence, ethics and beauty.

– Indeed, what ideal do we believe in today?

– To be considered perfect, what ideal can a person achieve?

– Perhaps modern ideals of sport?

– But what ideals are we talking about?

– About sport that has become a vast business involving multinational companies?

– About the bribery of IOC “Immortals” and other prominent operators in sport?

– About the sporting spirit seen at the “Diamond League”, from which television relays to us the astronomical amounts paid in prize money?

– About the huge cheques paid to the various sports championships or competitions, distorting every meaning of sport on the altar of records and money?

– Perhaps about the sport of doping?

It is indeed depressing when we realise that, in this modern sports environment, sports men and women have been transformed into disposable human machines and are in addition being called upon to become role models.

In the midst of this concern, the NOCs are being called upon not only to contribute but also to shape their educational programmes in such a way as to create the conditions for turning Olympic athletes into positive role models, not simple models.

However, it is not possible for there to be specific, uniform and common educational programmes for all.

The role model, and especially the athlete role model, depends in each country on the culture, the interests of its citizens, their backgrounds, the economic and social situation, and also, as mentioned above, on that which the people who live in a specific country or region consider to be the “ideal”.

The formulation of the NOCs’ general role and its actions in every region of the world must be based on these existing and proven facts.

Sport – Olympic education

There is however a commonly recognised point: sport offers itself alongside formal Olympic education as a broader education through which we add qual ity to our lives. The main purpose of this broader education is the cultivation of the individual; his or her preparation for a social life in which the main requirement is for his or her humanisation: the mental, spiritual and physical fulfillment of the individual is its main purpose. Therefore, sport is at the service of education through Olympic education. And I mean education in general, not specific aspects of it.

Through sport and naturally Olympic education, social education is experienced in the sense of the acceptance of another’s behaviour, attitude and action; civic education in the sense of adherence to the rules, acceptance of roles and hierarchy; also education in democracy in the sense of noble competition, fair play and equal opportunity, and of course any type of education including physical education.

Therefore it is up to each NOC and NOA to select and implement programmes of Olympic education adapted to peoples’ cultures as well as to the common parameters that constitute the Olympic education based on the Olympic values and the legacies of Pierre de Coubertin, which in substance are based on the educational aspect of Olympism. For Coubertin, sports performance posed a problem for the relationship of mind and body; an educational and psychological problem of how to shape the will of a person, encouraging him to embrace the educational values that sport expresses.

For Coubertin, victory must be the product not simply of an individual’s physical condition, but of educational enhancement. Basically, Olympism is a multi-faceted educational system constituting the essence of Olympic education.

Olympic education is an educational process based on scientific principles and using well planned learning processes with the purpose of shaping or altering models of an individual’s behaviour to correspond with the timeless values of Olympism and their relations with society.

Fundamental characteristics as well as the aims of Olympic education, as summarised by Professor Müller, are based on the views of Pierre de Coubertin, according to which Olympic athletes must experience, apply, disseminate and consolidate through their example, their way of life and behaviour, in order for them to be considered as role models. They must also assimilate the basic parameters constituting the Olympic education that I refer to in brief as:

1. the idea of the harmonious development of the individual;

2. the need for a simultaneous exercise of body and mind;

3. the idea of perfecting the individual and achieving supremacy in sport, as against scientific and artistic supremacy;

4. spontaneous adherence in sporting activities to the principles of fair play, equality of opportunity and commitment to obligations;

5. the ideals of peace and understanding between peoples, imposing respect and familiarity with the cultural characteristics of other countries and continents and

6. persistence in the fundamental modern values of Olympism “respectfriendship-excellence”.

For the achievement of these goals, the adoption of two frameworks and actions is required. A theoretical framework, through which knowledge is promoted; and a practical framework through which abilities and skills (in sport, society, communications and research, etc.) are put into action, leading to the shaping of values, habits, attitudes and behaviours, such as fair play, the promotion of good health, cultural awareness, sensitivity to the environment and a critical stance regarding Olympic and social issues.

The philosophical theory of sport

However, for us to be able to meet our obligations as NOCs for the creation athletes as role models, and to contribute to the realisation of the basic reason for the NOCs’ existence and more generally that of the Olympic Movement –that is, for the improvement of the human factor, which in turn will contribute to the creation of a beneficial society– we must first and foremost re-think sport, not only from the practical or competitive angle, but also from the philosophical angle as an inclusive and educational process.

A process that can bring about social change, not only as in a simple utopia but as a real experience of dignity and rights that will be experienced by future generations of youngsters.

These are youngsters who today are attracted by any manner of model promoted in the media, who are used by profiteering organisations, or, even worse, used for propaganda purposes by advocates of political, religious or ideological bias.

Youngsters who all of us involved with Olympism are obliged and committed to help experience principles and values that will be useful to them in their social and professional lives, and above all principles and values that ensure friendship and respect and will consolidate the prospect of peace and democracy.

The Olympic ideology together with the Olympic education comprise perhaps one of the very few ways that young people can form a common perspective based on a balance of cultural theories, differing religious concepts, different social and economic levels and, most of all, different world views. Olympic education, as a fundamental element of the educational programmes of every NOC, should constitute the axis upon which its entire contribution is based.

Shaping – evaluation of athletes

The realisation of the potential of Olympians is certainly a powerful tool in the work of NOCs, provided of course that NOCs are aware of the role those athlete models can play in society.

However, we have to be honest. As regards the shaping of athletes role models, the NOCs can do very little.

Far more can be done by the NOCs with regard to the promotion and realisation of the role models’ potential in the community and particularly as examples for young people.

And they can do much more in providing opportunities for young people and society to get involved in sport, and much more in promoting the Olympic ideology.

Conclusion

I have the impression that the shaping of Olympian as role models is something that only sport can achieve.

The principles and values of Olympism and sport are not a matter of teaching or knowledge; neither can they be acquired through orders and wishful thinking. They are experienced through participation.

Coubertin never ceased to stress that athletes will only derive benefit from the educational experience of active participation when their accomplishments are based on rules of fair play and respect for equality of opportunity.

Especially for elite athletes, who, in order to get where they are, have been through all the stages of development and have experienced the broader Olympic education; their active participation in so many important competitive and international events creates the conditions for the implementation of friendship, respect and excellence among the many other positive experiences acquired, leading them into certain patterns of behaviour and a way of life that has made them, of themselves, role models.

It is at this point that the responsibility of the NOCs begins: That is, in realising the potential of the models.

I wish to thank you for your patience, and as you leave Ancient Olympia after your stay here, my wish is that you take back to the work-places, univer sities, schools and environments of your homelands the spirit of friendship, understanding, solidarity, equality and love reigning here now, and that you attempt to disseminate it so that all of us can together make the world a better place.

Now, you may ask me, “Will we make the world a better place?” The answer is YES. We can because we want to.

And as the great Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis said, “Whatever we have not managed to achieve is because we did not crave it, we did not want it enough”.

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Michaelides Dinos, "The Role of National Olympic Committes in the education of olympic athletes", in:K. Georgiadis (ed.), Challenges an Olympic Athlete faces as a Role Model, 58th International Session for Young Participants (Ancient Olympia,16-30/6/2018), International Olympic Academy, Athens, 2019, pp.143-155.

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