Internationalism and Humanism

The Olympic Movement
Sisir K Majumdar

The Olympic Movement is a pleasant dream. It is realized every four years. It is a global phenomenon.

‘‘It was the best of time’’—so wrote Charles Dickens (1812-1870) about Paris after the French Revolution of 1789 in his classic—‘‘The Tale of Two Cities’’ (1859). In his 200th birth anniversary (1812-2012), it was the best of time for London–2012 during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was the third Olympic held in London—first in 1908–Second in 1948 just after the Second World War, when Europe was literally devastated, London included. Every country displays its best during the Olympic—there cannot be any comparison. All are spectacular, vibrant and illuminating. It is always a gallant display—not only of sports and athletics but of also of culture, humanistic hospitality, discipline and decor. London was no exception. London–2012 was vibrant with life, vigour and universal spirit of humanism.

The Olympic flag is the prototype of the flag presented by Baron Coubert in 1914. The flag is flown freely in the stadium and its surroundings along with the flags of the nations taking part. The flag has a white background and in the centre there are five interlaced rings—blue, yellow, black, green and red. The blue ring is on the left next to the pole. These rings represent the five continents joined together in the Olympic Movement.

The Olympic motto is ‘‘Citius–Altius–Fortius’’ (‘‘Faster–Higher–Stronger’’). Modern Olympic originates from the Greek word–‘Olympikos’ meaning celestial, magnificent, condescending, superior–games named in honour of Zeus of Olympus–the ruler of all Greek mythological gods. Now the modern quadrennial international athletic meeting.

Nothing in this world is a paragon of perfections nor a den of falliabilities. The Olympic Movement is no exception. It has a few black spots.

It was in Berlin Olympic in 1936, where racism polluted the spirit. It happened when American black (African-American) James Jesse Owens (1913-1980) won 4 gold medals to the dusgust of Nazi racists. The Nazi Dictator (Der Fuhrer) Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)—the ‘demon genius’ was reported to have walked out of the stadium in disgust and anger. Then the Second World War (1939-1945) and there was no Olympic Games till 1948 when it was held in London.

Tragedy struck the games in Munich, 1972 when Arab Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village and killed two and seized nine Israeli athletes as hostages for the release of 200 Arab prisoners in Israel; all nine, five of their captor and a West German policeman were slain when rescue attempt failed.
In 1976 Montreal Olympiad objection to New Zealand’s participation because of its rugby affiliation with apartheid South Africa led to withdrawal of more than 400 athletes.

The games of the XXII Olympic in Moscow in 1980, were marred by the lack of participation by some 60 eligible nations in protest against the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Preparations for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic were complicated by environmental, jurisdictional and security problems. Former Soviet Union and a number of its allies boycotted the Olympics. Politics dominated. Tit for Tat. It was the Soviet reply to the boycott of 1980 Olympics by USA and its allies

London–2012 Olympics
The Olympic opening and closing ceremonies portrayed agrarian Britain, the Britain of the Industrial Revolution and the welfare state imaginatively. But modern Britain was portrayed through not any spectacular achievement of any sort but by popular tolerance, cross cultural flavour, sportsmanship and immense hospitality. Both Olympic and Paralympic were well-volunteered, well-managed and well-organised. It was really the peak of British management skill and expertise.

The author attended both the London-2012 Olympic (July 27-August 12) and the Paralympic (August 29-September 9). First time in life to attempt the Olympics, it was an unique experience.

The Root
The Olympic games evolved from the Ancient Greek Games, held at Olympia, which go back at least to the 8th Century BC. Olympia is in West Peloponnese on the Alpheus—it was traditional home of Greek gods. It was the greatest Panhellenic Greek festival with athletic, literary and musical competitions held at Olympus every four years. It was first held in 776 BC.

Initially, men of Hellenic origin were eligible to participate—later Romans were also admitted. Women were not allowed because athletes were all naked. It was last held in 394 AD. They were banned in 393 AD by the Christian Emperor Theodosius-I (346-395 AD) probably because of their pagan practices. However, Olympic movement was and still is totally secular—religion of any sort has no role to play.

Modern Olympic
The Modern Olympic Movement was revived in 1896 by French educator Pierre de Fredi, Baron de Coubertin (1863-1937) and first one was held in Athens in 1896—then on every four years in different parts of the world. The original committee in 1894 consisted of 14 members and Coubertin. The games are governed by the International Olympic Committee.

Separate Winter Olympic started in 1924 and from 1994 Winter and Summer Olympics are held 2 years apart.

Coubertin could be called the Father of Modern Olympics. He first proposed the modern Olympic Games in 1892 at a meeting of Athletic Sports Union, a French group he had helped organise. Two years later, at an International Athletic Congress in Paris, the delegates voted unanimously, to hold a revived Olympic competition in Athens—Capital of Greece, in 1896. Coubertin was the first president (1896-1925) of the International Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Village was first introduced at Los Angeles in 1932. The games were first held in Asia in 1964 at Tokyo, Japan.

Paralympic Games
‘‘Para’’ is a Greek word meaning ‘beside’ / ‘alongside’. Paralympics are the parallel games to the traditional Olympics and illustrate how the two movements exist side by side.

Sports for athletes with an impairment existed for more than 100 years and first sports clubs for the deaf were already in existence in Berlin in 1988. The initial purpose of Paralympics was to rehabilitate war veterans and civilians injured during the war in the sports world.

In 1944, Dr Ludwig Guttmann (a German immigrant Jew)—a neurologist opened a spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, at the request of the Government. First it was a recreational sport during rehabilitation and then gradually turn into a competitive sport.

London Olympics opened on July 29, 1948. Dr Guttmann organised the first competition of wheel-chair athletes, which he named ‘Stoke Mandeville Games’. These games involved 16 injured Servicemen and women who took part in archery. In 1952, Dutch Servicemen joined the movement and the International Stoke Mandeville Games founded.

First Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960–400 athletes from 23 countries participated—since then held in every 4 years along with Olympics at the same venue.

First Paralympic Winter Games were held in 1976 at Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. These games are now the second biggest sporting event in the world.

Since the Summer Games of Seoul South Korea in 1988 and Winter Games in Albertville, France in 1992, the games take place in the same cities and venues as the Olympics due to an agreement between the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee.

In 1960, under the aegis of World Federation of ex-servicemen—the international working group on sports for the disabled was set up to study the problems of sports for persons with disability. This created in 1964, the International Sports Organisation for the Disabled (IOSD).

In London 2012, 164 countries with 4020 Paralympians participated. The former scientist Stepen Hawking  (1942–) disabled with motor neurone disease was the star attraction in the opening ceremony of Paralympics. He is the symbol of ability of the disabled.

On September 22, 1989, International Paralympic Committee was founded as a non-profit organisation in Dusseldorf, Germany to act as the global governing body of the Paralympic movement. There are different wings: amputate atheles formed in Toronto in 1976, athletes with cerebral palsy included in Amhem in 1980, International Blind Sports Federation formed in 1978.

It is the responsibility of every national government to explore the sporting and athletic talent among the people, to train them properly and adequately and to maintain them. They are national assets. USA, China, Great Britain, Russia and a few other countries are doing a very good job in this regard. India—the second most populous country in the world (1.3 billion people) is a dismal failure.

The spirit
Olympics are the festival of the athletics, by the athletes, for the athletes. But at the end people in general enjoy the whole show. The five interlaced circles represent five continents.

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 33, February 24-Mar 2, 2013

Your Comment if any