Olympic Movement Research Articles

“These People Never Give Up”: American Debates on the Return of the People’s Republic of China to the Olympic Movement

Abstract On January 1, 1979, the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exchanged diplomatic recognition. This action coincided with the withdrawal of American support for the Taiwan-based Republic of China (ROC) and provided the PRC ammunition in its attempts to rejoin the Olympic Movement. In opposition to his government’s policy, Julian K. Roosevelt, an American member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), pushed for a different outcome. He called upon the IOC to maintain the status quo and allow the Republic of China Olympic Committee (ROCOC) to continue using its name, flag, and anthem. Only ten months after the United States recognized the PRC, however, the IOC published the Nagoya Resolution, which forced the ROCOC to change its name and compete as Chinese Taipei. Roosevelt’s hopes were dashed. This incident, barely acknowledged in academic scholarship, highlights the symbiotic relationship between sport and politics and provides an interesting and useful case study in how an IOC member directly contradicted their government’s foreign policy.

Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean

Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean

Infection is One Thing, Mortality Another: The Olympic Movement In Extremis

Infection is One Thing, Mortality Another: The Olympic Movement <i>In Extremis</i>

A Moral Examination of the Therapeutic Use Exemption in Anti-Doping

Abstract Events surrounding the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro brought increased scrutiny on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) policy. Some critics even called for abolishing the TUE policy as a potential reform to improve anti-doping. This article describes the TUE policy outlined in the 2015 International Standards for Therapeutic Use Exemptions and then provides a moral argument for having TUEs based on medical rights. Next, the article discusses two types of criticisms of the TUE policy. The first, labeled “in practice” criticisms, proves to have no merit. The second, categorized as “in principle” criticisms, mostly fails to undermine the TUE policy. However, one branch of the “in principle” criticism, asserted by Dimeo and Møller, does raise doubts about the TUE policy’s use of the treatment-enhancement distinction. Ultimately, the article argues that the criteria for approving a TUE should drop objections to enhancement when faced with legitimate medical conditions that offer no alternative accepted therapies. The article suggests that the medical community’s ability to determine medical necessity and best practice guidelines provides sufficient criteria to prevent fraudulent TUE applications and thus should not rely on the treatment-enhancement distinction to deny TUE requests that conform to accepted medical practices. With such reforms, the article concludes that not only are critics wrong to call for an end to WADA’s TUE policy, but that such a TUE policy helps sports in the Olympic Movement achieve their highest ideals.

The Aspects of Ecological ENVIRONMENT in Host City of the Winter Olympic Games

Purpose: Environment protection is one of the major tasks of International Olympic Committee which is listed into Olympic Charter in 1996. As the concept of sustainable development was introduced into Olympic Games, the environment protection was the top issue which the host cities should be concerned. Winter Olym-pic Games is a sport events relying on natural environment particularly. Therefore, this paper explored the as-pects of winter Olympic Games on ecological environment in host cities. It will propose the references for 2022 winter Olympic Games to make winter Olympic Games and ecological environment sustainable. Method: This paper employs the systematic literature review to explore the relationship between winter Olympic Games and ecological environment. 15 articles was scanned and presented for extracting relevant information to analyze the aspects of ecological environment of host cities in winter Olympic Games. The in-formation of Year, the place of Winter Olympic Games, impact or not, positive or negative impact, the specific performance and effect on host cities were extracted to use. Results: Among the existing studies, it is believed that holding the Winter Olympics will have a certain im-pact on the ecological environment. There are negative and positive impacts both. The negative impact is main-ly caused by the site selection and the construction of the venues occupying the natural environment, which leads to a series of subsequent effects, and then affects people s lives, containing water pollution, land source, air pollution and soon. There is also positive impact which can improve the environment protection. Conclusion: First, the hosting of the Winter Olympic Games should take full account of the city s own eco-logical environment and urban environment. Second, the concept of sustainable development of the Olympic movement should be fully implemented. Third, relevant laws and regulations related to environmental protec-tion should be issued.

Спортивный досуг в системе ценностей советского человека (по материалам спортивного кино 1930-х - начала 1950-х гг.)

The study aims to show dynamics of changing ideas about the place that leisure sports could and should have occupied in a Soviet person’s value system in the Stalinist era, basing on the material of feature films about sports. The study is novel in that it is the first to carry out a comprehensive analysis of changes of value meaning of leisure sports promoted in the Soviet feature films about sports from 1936 to 1951. As a result of the study, it is proved that evolution of leisure sports importance in the USSR went from proclaiming labour achievements priority over leisure sports activities to recognising significance of demonstrating the Soviet State successes through their realisation in sports, which became particularly important on the eve of the USSR joining the world Olympic movement.

Legacy and sustainability in the Olympic Movement’s new norm era: when reforms are not enough

ABSTRACT In times when cities around the world are withdrawing from consideration to host the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has responded by enacting policy reforms. Entitled Olympic Agenda 2020: 20 + 20 Recommendations, we examine forty recommendations through the lens of critical policy analysis. Specifically, we use Strittmatter et al.’s framework of legitimation strategies in policy formulation and implementation to investigate the ways in which the use of sustainability and legacy terminology is employed in the process of legitimating the IOC today. Findings demonstrate two general legitimation strategies. One is the familiar framing of the Olympic Games in terms of sustainability and legacy with a new emphasis on the Games as an opportunity to integrate cities’ long-term planning needs into bidding and hosting the event. The second focus asserts the Olympic Movement’s global leadership role in sport in the context of sport itself being depicted as a leading social institution in making meaningful social change. In this paper, we detail these legitimation strategies and offer commentary related to the need for the IOC to use this policy reform process to move beyond rhetoric alone to embed meaningful and measurable accountability standards in the hosting process.

Olympic Charter Evolution Shaped by Urban Strategies and Stakeholder’s Governance: From Pierre de Coubertin to the Olympic Agenda 2020

The Olympic Charter is the binding document that rules the Olympic Movement which, among other things, has the role of managing the organization of the biggest and most complex sporting event in the world - the Olympic games. The multi-disciplinary nature of this event implies the involvement of diverse stakeholders, including hosts and respective communities that, besides having different interests, rely on each other to fulfil them. As the owner of the event, the International Olympic Committee has the role of managing these interests through the update and modification of the Olympic Charter. This paper explores the evolution of this document, taking special consideration of the influence that occurrences related with stakeholder’s governance and urban strategies of hosts had on its rules. A cross-referenced review between the historical events within these two fields of study is compared to a systematic review of the Charter’s evolution. The results include a timeline with eight periods identifying the progress of those relationships, showing that the Olympic Charter has had a more reactive than pro-active character: it was highly influenced by hosts and other internal and external governance issues that, together, were responsible for the addition of new rules.

Parenting Special Olympians: an agenda for ethnographic engagement

The role of parents has always been instrumental for their children’s initial engagement in sport. For athletes with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), the role of a parent gains added significance. In this paper we argue that because of the significance of parents we need to better understand the culture(s) surrounding the rearing of children and the role the Special Olympic movement (SO) can play in this process. This paper is a call for ethnographic accounts of parental culture(s) in and around SO. To support our claim for the use of ethnographic methods, we first briefly outline the qualitative literature regarding parenting children with IDD. This is followed by an exploration of literature on parents and the SO’s potential to facilitate inclusion. Ultimately, we outline our vision for an ethnographic research program to capture the many and varied overlooked voices and actions of parents in this distinctive cultural environment.

MAIN DIRECTIONS OF REGULATING SPORTS ACTIVITIES IN THE UN

The article outlines main directions of international legal regulation of physical culture and sport in the United Nations system at the present stage. The author analyzes the powers of the UN General Assembly and its subsidiary body — the Human Rights Council, the UN Security Council, and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN Secretariat. The author demonstrates how an unfavourable outcome of a football match can become a catalyst for aggravating an interstate dispute and its subsequent transfer to the International Court of Justice. The article describes the interaction between the Olympic movement and two of the UN specialized agencies — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization.

History of Mathematical Olympiads

Any Olympiad is one of the most significant forms of development of human cognitive activity. Mathematical Olympiads for schoolchildren have been held in our country for several decades. Such a «long life» of the Olympiad movement speaks of importance of this form. The article discusses the main stages of formation and development of mathematical Olympiads. A brief overview of emergence of the olympic movement in Russia and other countries is given. A special place is given to the experience of holding such Olympiads within the walls of Russian University of Transport, where mathematical Olympiads have been held since 2000. Therefore, the current year can be considered an anniversary year. The article presents some forms of work with schoolchildren that preceded the emergence of mathematical Olympiads within the University. The importance of such work, which is aimed at developing interest in engineering education and a deeper study of mathematics, is discussed.

The COVID-19 Pandemic, the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act, and the Dawn of a New Age of U.S. Olympic Reform

In the fall of 2020, Congress enacted the first substantive changes in the governance of the Olympic Sports system in over four decades. The new law, The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act, was passed in the wake of sexual abuse scandals that rocked certain sport governing bodies. In amending the 1978 Amateur Sports Act, the new law grants Congress the power to decertify the United States Olympic bodies, mandates greater athlete representation in governance, and increases funding to protect athletes through greater support of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Aside from the decertification power, the most significant provision of the new law is the establishment of a Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics to review the governance of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”) and make proposals for change. The Commission’s creation comes at a crucial time in U.S. Olympic governance. Due to the governance scandals, uncertain funding and the general national sports upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this article advocates for more significant changesto the Olympic structure that the commission should consider, such as direct or indirect government funding for the USOPC and the sport governing bodies in return for adherence to more stringent transparency and ethical rules. Ideas that the Commission could consider include mandatory disclosure of information such as sponsorship agreements as well as compensation and bonus limitations for those in key leadership positions, the appointment of an inspector-general, and greater athlete involvement in the U.S. Olympic movement. The article also proposes more statutory changes such as a limited antitrust exemption and the end of special trademark protections for the USOPC.

Raising the Bar: Increasing Protection for Athletes in the Olympic Movement from Sexual Harassment and Abuse

After the Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics scandal surfaced in 2016, the United States enacted a federal act titled “Protecting Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017.” This Act requires immediate mandatory reporting to the U.S. Center for SafeSport for any alleged child abuse of an amateur athlete who is a minor. An increasing amount of legislation is being passed to address sexual harassment and abuse in sports in the United States; however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which governs the Olympic Movement, is lacking in its sexual harassment and abuse policies. This article will address how the IOC’s sexual harassment and abuse policies are not as robust as they should be. The amount of attention that the Olympics receives worldwide gives the IOC a global platform to be a leader in taking a stance on sexual harassment and abuse policies.

REPRESENTATIONS OF FOREIGNERS AND JAPANESE NATIONAL IDENTITY AT THE 1964 OLYMPICS IN IDATEN

The 2020 Olympics are not Tokyo's first experience of hosting the Games. Previously, the city hosted the 1964 Olympics. This historical background generated nostalgia for the 1964 Olympics ahead of the 2020 Olympics. The 1964 Olympics are remembered for exposing Japanese society to various interactions with foreigners, which eventually provided the setting for expressions of Japanese national identity through comparisons between "us" (Japanese) and "them" (foreigners). In this sense, representations of foreigners, and their roles as essential elements of Japanese national identity discourse, have been the integral parts of 1964 Olympics nostalgia. Ahead of the 2020 Olympics, numerous popular culture forms depicting the 1964 Olympics were produced in Japan. One notable work was the television drama IDATEN Orimupikku Banashi (hereafter: IDATEN), broadcast by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) from January-December 2019. The drama depicted Japan's Olympic movement from the 1912 to 1964 Olympics and featured a wide variety of foreign characters. IDATEN's portrayal of the 1964 Olympics features not only foreign countries widely represented in Japanese popular culture, such as the US, but also less featured countries such as Indonesia and the Republic of the Congo. This article analyzes depictions of these three nations to examine critically the role of representations of foreigners in Japanese national identity discourse within the drama. It argues that as a drama produced ahead of the 2020 Olympics IDATEN signifies the aspirations of 21st century Japan rather than reflecting the actual situation during the 1964 Olympics, especially in how it portrays Japan through the country’s relations with other countries.

К ВОПРОСУ О ПРОДВИЖЕНИИ КУЛЬТУРНЫХ ЦЕННОСТЕЙ ОЛИМПИЗМА ПОСРЕДСТВОМ ГЛОБАЛЬНОЙ ИНТЕРНЕТ-СЕТИ

В статье рассматривается значимость интеграции спорта и культуры как одной из основополагающих концепций Олимпизма Пьера де Кубертена, направленной на гармоничное развитие личности. Проведен анализ состояния современных интернет-платформ и выявлена тенденция к цифровизации информации, в частности, связанной с Олимпийским движением. Определены проблемные аспекты в доступности ресурсов и информированности аудитории и предложены практические пути решения.

A carta de Raul do Rio Branco e a formação do campo olímpico brasileiro

Raul do Rio Branco’s letter to Brazilian sports leaders in 1914 was a fact of the utmost importance in the consolidation of the national Olympic movement, resulting, among other things, in the formation of the first Brazilian Olympic Committee. This document was delivered to sportsmen by post (letter) and reached the general public through the pages of Rio de Janeiro newspapers, the main means of mass communication at the time. The main purpose of this article is to propose an analysis of some features of the content of Rio Branco’s letter, interspersed with reflections acknowledging the importance of communication technologies for the development of sport.

Volunteering at the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games: More Than a Distant Memory?

In recent years, cities have shown an interest in using the hosting of sport mega-events as a leverageable resource in realizing long-term impacts for individual volunteers. However, previous research has provided limited evidence of the realization of anticipated impacts in the post-event period. This study focuses on the long-term impacts of Olympic and Youth Olympic volunteering in terms of memory, attitudes, and behaviors. Data were collected from a sample of 353 volunteers who have been involved with the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games, and the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. Results show that volunteers can easily access their Olympic and Youth Olympic memory, with vivid, emotional, and visual details, while the overall tone of their volunteer memory is positive over a long period. Volunteering at the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games can be understood as a positive life-changing event and participants have reported high scores on the attitudes in terms of the interest in the Olympic Movement. Findings reveal that the sharing of the memory by volunteers and the time perspective have been found to contribute significantly to broader impacts in terms of attitudes about the Olympic Movement and subsequent volunteer behaviors. Implications for sport mega-event volunteer management are discussed.

Gender and Sports Practice Are Related to the Perception of the Olympic Movement and Gender Equity in Sport

Background: The Olympic movement (OM) aims to preserve and promote the philosophy of Olympism and development of society through culture and sport, being gender equity in sport one of the main tasks of the OM since the late twentieth century. Objectives: Analyze the relationship between the levels of knowledge and perception about the OM on attitudes towards women's participation in sport in students of physical education and sport sciences. Methods: Cross-sectional research with correlational-descriptive scope was developed in which 35 subjects (17.1% female and 82.9% male; 21.1 ± 4.1 years) were part of the study. The Questionnaire on the Vision of Olympism and its Educational Repercussions and the Scale of Attitudes towards Women's Participation in Sport were applied. Comparison analyses were performed between sex, sports practice, and level of sports practice, as well as the relationship between the variables through nonparametric statistics considering a value of P &lt; 0.05 as statistical significance. Results: The level of knowledge about Olympism was 6.14 (± 2.5). Significant differences were observed in attitudes towards women's participation in sport according to gender, sport practice and level of practice. In addition, it should be noted that gender equity, social support, and access for women in sport are not perceived at high levels. Finally, no significant relationships were found between the factors of both questionnaires. Conclusions: The students participating in the study present low levels of knowledge about Olympism; furthermore, they show differences in attitudes towards women's participation in sport according to gender and level of sport practice, evidencing the positive impact of sport practice and immersion in academic aspects related to sport for the improvement of the gender equity perspective within sport.

A participação das mulheres olímpicas brasileiras nas modalidades esportivas de aventura até os jogos de 2012

From Maria Lenk's first participation in 1932 until the first gold and silver medals for women's beach volleyball in 1996, a long time has passed and many stories have been told. However, a great gap can be observed with regard to the 'adventure' sports modalities, and a long way is still to be taken so that this space can be filled and, who knows, crowned with a medal. The double challenges, referring to the difficulties faced both by gender issues and by prejudices against practitioners of the modalities considered as 'counterculture', were a great obstacle to their development. However, the current moment, when the 'adventure sport' has been gaining space both in the media and in the Olympic movement, is consequently causing many athletes practicing these modalities to start gaining this space as well, and especially voice through their practice. Of the 445 Brazilian women who participated in the Olympic Games up to the 2012 edition, only 25 of them were in any adventure sport, these being Slalon Canoeing, Mountain Bike and BMX Cycling, Rowing, Triathlon and Sailing (in the adapted windsurfing event , the current RS: X).

South Africa, Apartheid and the Olympic Games

South Africa was part of the Olympic Movement for more than two decades after apartheid had been officially introduced in 1948. In 1964 South Africa was excluded from the sporting event for the first time, and in 1970 it was formally expelled from the Olympic Movement. It had to wait until 1992 for its return when South Africa participated in the Olympic Games in Barcelona and won two medals. In the first part, this article describes South Africa’s development to exclusion and then back to its return by examining reasons for the late expulsion from, and re-entry to, the Olympic family. The next part looks at reactions of the governments and national sports federations (NFs) of Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to South Africa’s exclusion and its return against the backdrop of the Cold War. This paper further analyses the general attitudes of those actors towards apartheid (in sports). The conclusion points out the implications of South Africa’s sporting isolation and additional research gaps.