Olympic World Research Articles

Attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disabilities: Comparison between Special Olympic partners and non-partners during the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023

ABSTRACT Background Despite progress in implementing the rights outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, individuals with intellectual disability encounter challenges in participating in daily life autonomously. Exclusion and stereotypes persist, impacting education, employment, and social participation. Inclusive sports programs, particularly the Special Olympics Unified Sports® program, aim to enhance social inclusion for these persons. Method This quantitative cross-sectional study compares attitudes across three groups: Unified Sports® partners, volunteers, and general population. Attitudes were measured using the Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disability Questionnaire. Results Results reveal that both Unified Sports® partners and volunteers exhibit more positive attitudes compared to the general population. More frequent contact with individuals with intellectual disability is associated with more positive attitudes. Conclusion While limitations exist, this study provides insights into the relationship between inclusive sports programs and attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disability, laying the groundwork for further research and practical applications.

Podiatric conditions observed in Special Olympics athletes: Contrasting data from a USA versus an international population

Persons with intellectual disabilities frequently have podiatric conditions. Findings from the 2018 United States Summer games (USA) venues are compared to those from athletes screened at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Data from Fit Feet screenings from 2445 United Arab Emirates (UAE) participants were compared to 1244 US participants. A sampling of results that reflect significant differences in findings between the USA cohort and Abu Dhabi cohort include ankle joint range of motion, excessive abduction, hallux abducto valgus and pes planus. The overall shoe to foot mismatch was found to be 52.2%. A professional referral was recommended 27.7% of the time in the USA data and 28.5% in the Abu Dhabi data. An urgent referral was requested 5.1% of the time for the USA data and 3.7% of the time in the Abu Dhabi data. Special Olympics athletes experience a greater prevalence of identifiable podiatric conditions as compared to the general population. Several of the conditions investigated in this study differed significantly between the international Special Olympics cohort and the USA cohort. Assessment of the feet of Special Olympics athletes can help to better appreciate the podiatric conditions in a population of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The variance identified between populations of Special Olympics athletes may be a reflection on the lack of standardization of conditions that are assessed for as well as the disparate characteristics of the clinical volunteers. Future Fit Feet events may wish to consider significant improvements in objectivity and standardization as it pertains to the conditions that are evaluated for in the Fit Feet exam.

Lost Multipolarity: the Genesis of the Olympic World Order

In the second half of the 20th century, the alliance between the International Olympic Committee and Soviet sports led to the modern monopoly of the Olympic Games and the IOC’s hegemony over the sports world order. The expulsion of Russia as the legal successor of the USSR from the existing system calls into question the terms of that unspoken deal.

On-field physical activity of Special Olympics athletes and Unified Partners during the 2022 Special Olympics World Unified Cup.

Special Olympics is a sport organisation spearheading efforts to increase physical activity accessibility through inclusive sport. The Unified Sports® initiative brings together Special Olympics athletes (with intellectual disabilities) and Unified partners (without a disability) in sport training and competition on the same team. The study aims to objectively evaluate differences in on-field physical activity levels between athletes and partners during the 2022 Special Olympics World Unified Cup, an international soccer (i.e., football) competition. Participants were Special Olympics athletes (n=96; 44 females, 52 males) and Unified partners (n=70; 34 females and 36 males) competing in the women's and men's tournaments. On-field actigraph accelerometry measured physical activity from 166 players, over 29 matches, and totalling 493 player-matches. In the women's tournament, nearly identical estimates of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels (MVPA) were observed between athletes and partners (P=.409). However, a significant group difference was observed within a specific physical activity intensity category as partners accrued more minutes of very vigorous physical activity than athletes (P<.001). In the men's tournament, no significant differences were also observed between athletes and partners for minutes of MVPA (P=.341), but athletes engaged in significantly more vigorous physical activity (P<.001), and partners had more minutes of very vigorous physical activity (P<.001). The results suggest that on-field physical activity levels were similar between players with and without intellectual disabilities during Unified Sports competition.

Building Social Capital through Safety and Security: A Focus on Sports Events for Persons with Disabilities

Putnam’s definition of Social Capital incorporates trust, cooperation, norms of civic engagement, and supportive networks. This study aims to explore the extent of the contribution of safety and security of Special Olympics World sports events in promoting a culture of trust, responsibility, and collective well-being relating to social capital. Through active collaboration with local communities, law enforcement agencies, emergency services, and volunteer networks, the sport event organizers can effectively leverage local resources, specialized knowledge, and community support to enhance the overall quality and safety of the event. These collaborations enhance the effectiveness of safety and security measures, facilitate seamless emergency response, and foster a sense of shared responsibility among all stakeholders to ensure the well-being of participants, spectators, and the host community. By nurturing social capital, the events can enhance safety measures, encourage active participation, and build resilience within the community, ultimately creating a secure environment for athletes, spectators, and all involved. In conclusion, we could consider the safety and security of Special Olympics World sports events to play a crucial role in building social capital.

Year-round longitudinal health surveillance in UK Olympic Summer Sport Athletes 2016–2019

ObjectivesTo identify the priority injury and illness types across UK summer Olympic World Class Programme sports to inform development, implementation and evaluation of associated injury risk mitigation and management initiatives.MethodsFour...

How Do We Learn Skilled Movements?

All athletes were novices at one point in their lives, even Olympic gold medalists and world champions. They committed years of practice to become competitive and even longer to become elite performers. This transformation from novice to expert requires motor learning, which is the process of acquiring and refining motor (movement) skills. Inspired by the observation that motor skills evolve from being effortful to effortless, psychologists have divided motor learning into three separate stages: the cognitive stage, in which we gather information about the actions needed to perform a skill; the associative stage, in which we refine our movements; and the autonomous stage, in which our movements become smooth and automatic. Here, we will explore how a fictional young athlete, Amy, progresses through these three stages and uses different parts of her brain to make the transition from novice to expert.

The Olympic World Feed Project: Searching, acquiring and preserving the international television signal of the Olympic Games from 1956 to 1988

This paper describes the project carried out by the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) to locate, acquire and preserve all official televised coverage (ie the international television signal) of the Olympic Games broadcast between 1956 and 1988. After providing a general overview of the audiovisual archives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which are managed and overseen by the OFCH, and outlining the OFCH’s mission and challenges in this respect, the paper discusses how the television broadcasting of the Olympic Games has evolved and the impact of these developments on the race to repatriate and preserve this content. The paper goes on to discuss the Olympic World Feed Project, describing the planning that went into recovering more than 3,000 hours of content missing from the IOC’s archives, as well as the various steps involved and the numerous challenges faced along the way. In particular, the paper provides a case study of the acquisition of the international television signal produced during the XIV Olympic Winter Games — Sarajevo 1984.

Fundamentals of physical and technical training for qualified athletes specializing in race walking at the first and second stages of long- term improvement

Based on the generally accepted methodology of the training process for an athlete who specializes in race walking, where the main exercise is a competitive one, namely race walking, which is performed in different zones of intensity, the improvement of technical skills should be carried out first of all along with the development of the special physical fitness. And this is one of the most important directions in the optimization of the training process for qualified race walkers, mainly at the second stage of long-term training.&#x0D; The process of teaching the technique and its further improvement should take into account the relevant rules even at the initial stages of long term training, that means at the first stage. The performance rates dynamics of race walkers in the 20 km walk at the Olympic Games, World Championships and Championships of Ukraine during the period of 1991-2021 was analyzed. It was determined that the performance of race walkers in the 20 km walk improved by 7-10%. Ukrainian athletes, who performed at the Olympics and World Championships, took places in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th dozen of participants. The main direction in the process of the physical preparedness and technical skills formation is not only the improvement in strength, speed, agility and endurance, but the participation of the best race walkers at the championships of Ukraine is also necessary. Such participation is mandatory for showing the qualification standards, which make it possible to participate at the top athletics forums of the year. In the process of training race walkers in the 20 km walk, it is necessary to apply the training programs, including those exercises, which are adequate in terms of kinematic and dynamic characteristics to the competitive exercise and exceed physical abilities of race walkers. This should be applied for both men and women.

Peculiarities of formation of physical preparedness of athletes in athletics

In the training of all-round track and field athletes there are basically two ways to achieve high athletic performance. The first one is the improvement and development of those basic skills, to which the athlete is more predisposed (to speed, strength, etc.).&#x0D; The essence of the second one lies in the fact that it is aimed at equal improvement of all physical abilities for mastering the events included in decathlon and heptathlon (sprint events, jump events, speed-strength events and endurance events).&#x0D; The athletic performance rates of Ukrainian all-rounders, participating at these competitions, are 400-800 points behind. The best place of the Ukrainian athlete Olexiy Kasyanov at the World Championship 2009 was third with 8470 points, and the worst 23rd place was taken by Fedir Laukhin (7652 points) at the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney (Australia). The irregular participation of Ukrainian all-round athletes in the main sports forums (Olympic Games and world championships) shows that the system of training decathletes in our country does not meet the expected standards.&#x0D; It is possible to distinguish many reasons for such performances. In recent years they are associated with the fact that the leaders of decathletes traditionally don’t participate in the championships of Ukraine. So, all other athletes have no possibilities to compete with the strongest in this particular sport and to show their highest results. And this happens along with the absence of highly qualified coaches and conditions for the educational and training process.

DOPİNQ MADDƏLƏRİNDƏN İSTİFADƏ ZAMANI YARANAN PROBLEMLƏR VƏ HƏLL YOLLARI

Doping is now a global problem that follows international sporting events worldwide. International sports federations, led by the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency have for the past half century attempted to stop the spread of this problem, with little effect. It was expected that, with educational programs, testing, and supportive medical treatment, this substance-abusing behavior would decrease. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. In fact, new, more powerful and undetectable doping techniques and substances are now abused by professional athletes, while sophisticated networks of distribution have developed. Professional athletes are often the role models of adolescent and young adult populations, who often mimic their behaviors, including the abuse of drugs. This review of doping within international sports is to inform the international psychiatric community and addiction treatment professionals of the historical basis of doping in sport and its spread to vulnerable athletic and non-athletic populations. Keywords: doping, harmful aspects, existing problems, control of doping, ethics of sports

The Mediating Effect of eWom on Emirati Motivational Factors and the Intention to Volunteer: the Case of The Abu Dhabi Special Olympics World Games 2019

The main purpose of this study is to examine motivational factors that affect voluntary intentions among Emirati citizens in the U.A.E. Good citizenship, expression of values, community concern, and personal development have been previously found as motivational antecedents for volunteers. The relationship of these variables with volunteering intention for the 2019 Special Olympics World Games was examined and a conceptual model created. Model fitness was tested using LISREL structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that community concern and personal development have positive relationships with the intention to volunteer for the games. Mediation analysis demonstrates that eWOM is suppressing the effect of community concern on voluntary intention.

Satisfaction with life in Special Olympic athletes: the role of autonomy support and basic need fulfilment

Aims: Athletes in the general population report higher satisfaction of basic needs when coaches are providing an autonomy supportive sport climate (ASSC). Our study aims at investigating whether ASSC is associated with satisfaction with life in athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) and whether this association is mediated by basic need satisfaction. Method: During the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017, 168 athletes with ID (M = 33.86 years; SD = 10.47) completed questionnaires measuring ASSC, basic need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and satisfaction with life. Multiple linear regression analyses and mediation analyses were performed. The mediation model was controlled for the potential impact of participating in team vs. individual sports. Additionally, gender effects were explored. Results: ASSC was significantly associated with satisfaction with life (β = .38, p < .001). This association was mediated by competence (indirect effect: ab1 = .15; CI [.05; .32]) but not by autonomy or relatedness. No effects were found related to participating in team vs. individual sports or gender. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that an ASSC is associated with athletes perceiving themselves as more competent and reporting more satisfaction with life.

Manufacturing the Image of a Country through Sport: Granma’s Press Coverage of Cuba’s Performance from the 1976 Montreal Olympics to the 2016 Rio Olympics

Since Cuba’s revolution in 1959, the country has found itself among the Olympic medal world leaders in terms of medals won against population size. Given the growing importance of the relationship between politics, major sporting events, and the media, this research uses predominantly qualitative methodology to analyze Cuban newspaper Granma’s coverage of the sporting successes of Cuba between the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics. The longitudinal study of this 40-year period reveals that, in addition to its extensive coverage of the island’s ‘star’ sports – baseball, boxing, athletics, and volleyball – the news publication has systematically and effectively used sporting achievements as a way of putting the country on the map and lending it political legitimacy, both locally and worldwide. The epic language that has dominated Granma’s narrative has served to extol the successes of government policies, making the country a guiding light for the whole of Latin America. Thanks to the constant presence of winning athletes, who have filled the pages with their highly politically charged and emotive declarations, the narrative adopted by the publication has also acted as the mouthpiece for the key values and ideas of the revolution.

Special characteristics of technical actions, performed by qualified athletes, specializing in 110 m hurdles

The modern high-performance sport is characterized by high sports results, which are shown by athletes at international forums (Olympic Games, World and European Championships). One of the track-and-field athletics events, that can be called unique, is hurdling. The typical characteristics of hurdling include high speed, agility, coordination ability and strength capabilities required to overcome the hurdle.&#x0D; The emergence and development of hurdling began in the second half of the 19th century. The first rules were published in 1864, and the height of the hurdles as well as the distance between them have remained unchanged up to this day. In 1898, in Chicago (USA), A. Kreinzlen set a record in 120 yards hurdles, using a new at that time technique of overcoming hurdles. It was this technique that formed the basis of the modern one and still remains relevant for coaches and athletes [16, p. 29–32, 12, p. 175– 184].&#x0D; The technical actions of an athlete can be divided into such components as start, starting run-up and distance running.&#x0D; These main components are relevant for both men and women [16, p. 35–37].&#x0D; The increase of performance rates in hurdling directly depends on learning to overcome obstacles and maintaining the maximum speed along a distance after overcoming, which is the main problem of studying and applying the research results in the training process. Among the main characteristics of hurdlers’ technical actions are the preparation and overcoming of a hurdle (both the first and the following ones along a distance) without losing the possible maximum speed. This means that an athlete must have a highly developed ability to quickly change the elements of technique at a high speed with the help of already developed or genetically determined agility [2, p.199-217].&#x0D; The analysis of athletes’ performances at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships during 1992 – 2019 showed that nobody among the Ukrainian hurdlers won a prize at these competitions (Table 1).

Dekada srpskog vaterpola

Water polo was originally developed in the British Isles. The colloquial term "aquatic football" was quickly adopted in many countries and their sport systems. With the adoption of the first rules (1929) the development of technique and tactics was intensified, and the philosophy of the game itself deepened. An important development factor was the founding and the work of the International Swimming Federation (FINA, 1908) and its water polo board (1929), as well as the affirmation through the Olympic Games program (Paris, 1900), European (Budapest 1926) and World Championships (Belgrade 1973). Water polo appeared in Serbia at the beginning of the last century, when the students from Sombor who studied in Budapest "transferred" the essence and the appeal of this game to Serbia. The students - the players of Sombor sports society won the first Kingdom of Yugoslavia National Championship in water polo held in Bled (1921). The primacy was quickly obtained by the teams from the sea coast, primarily the "WPC Jug" from Dubrovnik, and from the 1960s also the teams from the continental part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily Partizan and Mladost. The water polo organization played a significant role in the development of water polo in the SFRY and ensured the conditions for the development of "the Yugoslav school of water polo". The successes of the national team and the clubs during the period of the SFRY, continue in today's Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia. The national independence of the Republic of Serbia (2006) did not affect the national team's results. The teams of the Serbian Water Polo Federation, from 2006 to 2016 have accomplished extraordinary sports results, and today, at the end of 2020, the Serbian senior national team is ranked first on the FINA's list of national teams. This paper addresses the golden decade of Serbian water polo (2006-2016). It aims at analysing the factors considered to have influenced the development of the water polo game, primarily, the players - their talent and hard work, coaches, the efficient national organization, sports officials, science and scientific methods… all of them who together encourage the improvement and development of the water polo game through individual contribution - the Serbian players' ethos.

Izvori i održivost ciklusa vrhunskog sportskog plivanja u Srbiji

The subject of this paper concerns the nature of individual changes and the origin of organizational ones that have led to the progress and breakthrough results of competitive swimming in Serbia. Serbia's first swimming medals were won at the Olympic Games (OG), World Championships (WCh), and European Championships (ECh) in the senior and junior categories for both men and women, and the world and European records were set during the analyzed period (2000-2016). The Serbian male and female swimmers also marked the period concerned with winning the title of Serbia's best athletes in both senior and junior categories (2008 and 2009, 2010). Descriptive, structural, functional, and causal analysis of the facts related to this period of development of competitive swimming in the Republic of Serbia, as the method applied in this paper, led to the conclusion that the talent of an athlete, top coaches, in addition to new training practice, science, technology, innovation (NIT), SOFT programs, and the involvement of meso and macro levels of sports organization represent the factors relevant to the progress in individual performance as well as to the intensive growth of competitive swimming in the examined period. The limited capacities of competitive swimming have been determined in terms of the sustainability of the top competition results achieved. In this paper, the international and national cultural narrative of the men's 100m butterfly final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics (Čavić vs Phelps) was elaborated.

Analysis and characteristics of results, achieved by short-distance runners (100-200m) at the major competitive events in 1992-2019

Ukrainian short-distance runners’ performances (men and women) at the Olympic Games and World Championships during the period of 1992 – 2019 have been analyzed. The dynamics of their results in 100-200m running was identified as well as the reasons for going behind world’s leading runners. Peculiarities of performing fairly precise movements at high speeds, specific character of showing speed in a sprint race and phases of acceleration and deceleration were characterized. This should be taken into consideration in the process of choosing major training exercises, improving speed abilities of athletes. The results of the Ukrainian sprinters show that the methodological component of the development of the speed quality used by the coaching staff was in the leading positions in Europe and in the world. The current level of training of Ukrainian short-distance runners leaves much to be desired for various reasons, one of which, in our opinion, is the main one - an increase in the unjustified intensification of short-distance runners training in the initial stages of the multi-year training process. This approach led to a decrease in normative results in sprint racing, as well as to the lack of purposeful methodological support and system of realization of accumulated knowledge on development and improvement of one of the basic physical abilities - quality of speed. At the present stage, this problem is a major one and requires a comprehensive study and training of the coaching staff to develop a better organization of the training process in sprint racing. These characteristics of sprint running give us the opportunity, on the one hand, to correctly evaluate the prospective indicators of the sprinter body (total body length, legs, their ratio, type of nervous system, etc.), and on the other - with high accuracy of adequacy to select the main training tools and methods of their application. that will improve the quality of speed and, as a consequence, increase the speed of running.

Mega events and the restoration of urban land

One of the most productive uses of ephemeral events like the Olympics, Expos and FIFA World Cup is to use them to produce a better city. These events often require considerable changes in land use and investments in infrastructure that need to serve not only the event but also future needs as well. One valuable urban application is to reuse polluted or aging industrial land and turn it into a city asset. Brownfield development as part of mega events can lead to reclamation of beaches and waterfronts, and the use of industrial land for commercial and residential use. Examples drawn from recent mega events illustrate how careful planning can leave an event legacy of improved land use and quality of life.

How is table tennis in China successful?

The Chinese Table Tennis Team, founded in 1952, has won 230 gold medals in the world’s three major competitions (the Olympic Games, World Championships, and World Cup) and has made world-renowned achievements over the last 60 years. This paper explains the reasons for the success of Chinese table tennis from the perspectives of society, training and competition, as well as scientific research: (1) Due to historical reasons, China has chosen to focus on the development of the sport table tennis. Furthermore, table tennis has made important contributions to the development of Chinese society (for example, ping-pong diplomacy), which has given table tennis a special social status in China. (2) China has established an effective three-level training system, league system and coach system, and, through long-term training and competitions, the country has developed an effective method of technical and tactical training and preparation for world competitions. (3) With the assistance of scientific research, Chinese table tennis coaches and players can master the basic rules of table tennis, which is one of the important reasons for the success of Chinese table tennis.