the olympic games of the european union
DESCRIPTION
a full legal and sociologival analysis of the olympic games of 2004TRANSCRIPT
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1
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List of Key Abbreviations ............................................................................................ 10
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 12
The Hosting of the Games, the regulations and the institutions .............................. 12
The importance of sporting events for the international procedures ....................... 12
Sporting Games and the theory of the Games ......................................................... 14
The Game with its rules-tests of legal pluralism ..................................................... 14
CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................ 15
The historical and ideological background of the Olympic Games ......................... 15
The human body, the international society and the fair play of history .............. 15
The relation between the body and the city ......................................................... 22
The historical evolution of the Olympic Games; ................................................. 24
The body from the classic antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment ...................... 24
The adoration of the human body in the palaistras .............................................. 24
The Games during the period of Homer .................................................................. 25
The Games of the Classical era ................................................................................ 25
The Pan-Hellenic Games ......................................................................................... 26
City-state and sport .................................................................................................. 26
War and Sport .......................................................................................................... 26
From the Roman Empire to Theodosius .................................................................. 27
Sport during the Medieval Age ................................................................................ 27
Sport from the Renaissance until the Age of Enlightenment ................................... 27
Sport and liberalism ................................................................................................. 28
The contemporary exercising body .......................................................................... 29
The Para-Olympic Games and the handicapped body ............................................. 31
The constructed body of the athlete ......................................................................... 32
Is there an ideal body? ............................................................................................. 32
Chapter 2 ...................................................................................................................... 33
From the Olympic Games of the Antiquity until the Modern Olympic Games. ..... 33
The Modern Olympic Games................................................................................... 33
From the First Modern Olympic Games of Athens to the Olympic games of Europe
.................................................................................................................................. 33
The first Olympic Games ......................................................................................... 33
The Games of Barcelona .......................................................................................... 35
Security in the Barcelona Games ................................................................................. 37
EU law ......................................................................................................................... 39
The Games and the city................................................................................................ 39
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The innovative Olympic Games of 1896 and 2004 ................................................. 40
An overview ................................................................................................................. 41
Athens: the first European Host City in the European Territory ............................. 42
The Greek sprinters scandal ..................................................................................... 43
The Vodafone scandal.............................................................................................. 44
The Siemens scandal ................................................................................................ 44
The Cassandras which were denied ......................................................................... 44
In 2008 the world athletic society is hosted to Beijing. The importance of the Asian
continent and the human rights crisis....................................................................... 46
The London 2012 Olympics .................................................................................... 47
The challenge of the first European Olympic Games .............................................. 48
Chapter 3 ...................................................................................................................... 52
The Olympic Movement Rules: Autonomy and Pluralism...................................... 52
The legislative framework of sport and its relation to the Olympic organization54
Sport as a means of expression of the freedom of association ................................ 54
The end of amateur sport and the role of the IOC ............................................... 55
The interest of modern states in sport .................................................................. 55
The particular attributes of the Olympic organization An autonomous legislative framework for the Olympic Games .................................................... 56
The legal status of the Olympic organization and the legislative framework of
sport...................................................................................................................... 56
The freedom to contract and the relation between the associative nature of sport
and the Olympic organization .............................................................................. 58
A state regulatory framework for sport .................................................................... 60
The international constitutional framework of sports .................................................. 60
The positions of the Council of Europe about Sport and their contribution to the
forming of a European perception about sports ........................................................... 61
Violence and misbehavior at sport events ................................................................... 62
Violence and Sport in International Treaties-The Council of Europe position ....... 63
Sporting Rules, Olympic Games and International Law ......................................... 65
The Role of NATO ...................................................................................................... 66
The international agreements against doping .......................................................... 67
WADA and UNESCO against doping ..................................................................... 67
The legislative delineation of the principles of the Olympic Charter and consequences
thereof. The concept of the Sporting Spirit, of sports traditions and of the Olympic
Ideal and fair play ........................................................................................................ 67
Fair play in the Code of Sports Ethics of the Council of Europe ................................ 69
The integration of the ethical rules of sport in national laws ....................................... 70
The rule of law and the fair play .................................................................................. 73
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Chapter 4 ...................................................................................................................... 76
The rules of the Olympic Movement and the state rules ............................................. 76
The regulatory framework of the Olympics ............................................................. 76
The Olympic Movement .......................................................................................... 76
Olympism ................................................................................................................. 78
The Olympic Charter ............................................................................................... 79
The Olympic Games ................................................................................................ 80
The International Olympic Committee (IOC).......................................................... 81
The International Federations (IFs) ......................................................................... 82
The National Olympic Committees (NOCs)............................................................ 83
The Host City Contract and Olympic Games-the penetration of the Olympic
Movement Rules in the national legal orders .......................................................... 84
The connection of the rules of the Olympic Movement with the Host City and
hence with the legal order of the country that hosts the Olympic Games ........... 85
The Host City Contract and the Olympic Charter ....................................................... 86
Dispute Resolution-Establishment of a separate court ............................................ 90
The Court of Arbitration for Sports ( C. A. S. ) ....................................................... 91
History...................................................................................................................... 91
ICAS ........................................................................................................................ 91
Composition and formation- arbitration agreement- competency- decisions .......... 92
ad hoc section (ADH) .............................................................................................. 95
CAS and ECHR ....................................................................................................... 96
Obligatory submission-standard clauses-human rights ........................................... 97
The competitive relation between the Olympic movement rules and the
national/state ones and the institutional balancing of each Olympic organization .. 98
Chapter 5 .................................................................................................................... 100
Human Rights and Olympic Games .......................................................................... 100
The protection of the human rights as a major objective of the Olympic Games ..... 103
The Amendment of the Chinese Constitution in 2004- 3 years after the amendment
of the Greek one ..................................................................................................... 104
The competitive relationship among the Olympic Movement rules and the state
rules and the institutional balancing of each Olympic Organization ..................... 106
Olympic Charter and Human Rights ...................................................................... 108
The Olympic Movement Rules and the Constitution ................................................ 109
Is sport a human right? ........................................................................................... 109
The protection of the environment ......................................................................... 110
Sustainable development according to the Olympic Charter and the Host City
Contract ...................................................................................................................... 111
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Olympic Charter and tolerance .............................................................................. 113
The Games of a city, a contact, an ideology .......................................................... 114
Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Provisions in Sports Treaties ........................ 116
Chapter 6 .................................................................................................................... 117
Olympic Truce ....................................................................................................... 117
General ................................................................................................................... 117
1.The ancient truce ................................................................................................. 118
1.1. The foundation of the truce ......................................................................... 118
1.2Procedure of declaration-heralds ...................................................................... 118
1.3.Content of the truce .......................................................................................... 119
1.4.Violation of the truce-sanctions ....................................................................... 120
1.5.The importance of the truce ............................................................................. 121
2. The Olympic Truce in the modern era ............................................................... 121
2.1. Ideological background ................................................................................... 121
2.2.The revival, the Olympic Truce Foundation, the UN contribution and the EU
attitude.................................................................................................................... 124
2.3. The Olympic truce in effect ............................................................................ 128
2.4.Potential avenues of a more effective revival .................................................. 128
2.5 Conclusion ........................................ ! .
Chapter 7 .................................................................................................................... 132
DOPING ............................................................................................................ 132
1. General ........................................................................................................... 132
2.The International respond ............................................................................... 133
3.DOPING AND EUROPEAN UNION............................................................ 135
Doping and European Convention of Human Rights ........................................ 140
The Meca-Medina Judgement............................................................................ 142
More about the proportionality: Is doping really proportionate?....................... 144
1) unfair advantage ............................................................................................ 144
2) protection of athletes health ......................................................................... 145
3) The image of sport ......................................................................................... 145
Final Remarks .................................................................................................... 146
Chapter 8 .................................................................................................................... 148
Community law and sport .......................................................................................... 148
European law and Olympic Games............................................................................ 151
The Community Law involvement in sport and Olympic Games ............................. 152
The prevalence of the Community law over the regulations of the sporting
institutions .......................................................................................................... 155
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The effect of the Bosman judgment in the Olympic movement rules ............... 158
The relation between the EC law and the Olympic movement rules ......................... 162
ADDENDUM ............................................................................................................ 164
Sport: a defined Community term with international references ............................... 165
Sport and EC law ....................................................................................................... 166
The Community interest in sport and the formation of a European participial
democracy .............................................................................................................. 167
The evolution of the community provisions on sport ................................................ 168
The gradual entrance of sport in the EC Treaty ......................................................... 169
The declarations of Amsterdam and Nice .................................................................. 169
The Constitutional Treaty Draft ................................................................................. 170
The European Forum on Sport ................................................................................... 183
The European Parliament and its positions about sport in Europe .................... 183
The regulation of sport by the EC law: prevalence of the EC law and self-
identity/specificity of sport .................................................................................... 184
The White Paper on sport .......................................................................................... 185
The European Approach to sport ............................................................................... 185
Towards a formation of European perception on sport. ........................................ 187
EC law and 2004 Olympic Games ............................................................................. 188
The influence of the case law of the European Court of Justice on the rules of the
Olympic Movement ................................................................................................... 191
The rationalization of sports rules in the framework of Community law .................. 191
The rationalization of the sports phenomenon in the framework of the Council of
Europe ........................................................................................................................ 192
The limits to the autonomy of the Olympic organization .......................................... 193
Towards a global Olympic Organization of rules and Institutions ............................ 194
Chapter 9 .................................................................................................................... 196
Special EU law Issues ................................................................................................ 196
Sport, Freedom of movement, mutual recognition and right of establishment ......... 196
Sport and Competition Policy .................................................................................... 197
Freedom of the athletes establishment...................................................................... 201
Freedom of movement of goods and sport ................................................................ 202
EC law, Mass Media and Sport.................................................................................. 203
Competition-Public Contracts and Olympics Games ................................................ 204
Greece-supply of automatic weather stations ............................................................ 205
Cameras and the protection of personal data .................... !
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The tickets selling matter and the competition rules ................................................. 206
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Sport and Education ................................................................................................... 208
Sport and equal opportunities .................................................................................... 209
Sport and Employment policy ................................................................................... 210
Sport and External Relations ..................................................................................... 210
Sport and Internal Market .......................................................................................... 211
Sport, Justice and Home affairs policy ...................................................................... 211
Sport and New technologies ...................................................................................... 212
Sport and social politic............................................................................................... 213
Sport and Youth ......................................................................................................... 214
Chapter 10 .................................................................................................................. 215
Athens: the first European Host City in the European Territory ........................... 215
THE BID PROCESS.......................................................................................... 215
The legislative regulation of sport in the Greek legal order .............................. 217
The Host City Contract of Athens and the Olympic Charter ..................................... 218
The influence of the rules of the Olympic Movement on the legislation of the host
country ....................................................................................................................... 221
The Olympic Charter and the Greek legislation ........................................................ 221
The dialectic relation between the Olympic Charter and the legal order of the Host
City The legal nature of the Olympic Charter ........................................................ 222
The consequences of the effect of the rules of the Olympic Charter for the Host City
Contract and its relation with the legislation of the host country .............................. 226
Law 2598/1998 Organization of the Olympic Games Athens 2004 .................... 228
Law 2730/1999 Planning, complete development and carrying-out of the Olympic Works and other provisions (Government Gazette 130 A) ..................................... 232
Law 2819/2000 Creation of the Olympic Village 2004 SA, protection of the Olympic symbols and indicia and other provisions................................................................. 234
Law 2833/2000 Issues of Preparation of the Olympic Games of 2004 and other provisions.................................................................................................................. 236
The law 3254/2004 about Olympic and Paraolympic Games matters and the law
3342/2005 about the sustainable development and the social utilization of the
Olympic Departments. .................................................................................... 238
The security of the Games ..................................................................................... 238
General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 239
Chapter 11 .................................................................................................................. 242
The Olympic Games of 2012: London, the second European experiment ................ 242
Bidding process and governmental support ............................................................... 242
The London Olympic Games and Para-Olympic games Act 2006 ........................ 243
THE OLYMPIC DELIVERY AUTHORITY ....................................................... 244
General Competence .............................................................................................. 244
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Planning ................................................................................................................. 245
Security .................................................................................................................. 246
Transfer scemes ..................................................................................................... 247
Dissolution ............................................................................................................. 247
TRANSPORT ............................................................................................................ 247
ADVERTISING-TRADING ................................................................................. 249
Sale of Tickets........................................................................................................ 253
Olympic symbol protection and fight against ambush marketing ..................... 254
Greater London Olympic Authority....................................................................... 258
Regional Development Agencies ........................................................................... 260
Extent and application............................................................................................ 260
Sustainability.............................................................................................................. 261
Volunteering ...................................................................................................... 264
Chapter 12 .......................................................................................................... 268
SPECIAL ISSUES-OLYMPICS, IP PROTECTION AND BROADCASTING
RIGHTS ............................................................................................................. 268
PROTECTION OF THE OLYMPIC INSIGNIA-AMBUSH MARKETING .. 268
GENERAL ......................................................................................................... 268
The commercialization of the Games and the early violations. ................................. 268
The Nairobi Treaty ............................................................................................. 271
AMBUSH MARKETING ..................................................................................... 272
General ................................................................................................................... 272
Sponsorship ................................................................................................................ 273
Ambushing strategies and examples .................................................................. 276
RESPONSES TO AMBUSH MARKETING .................................................... 279
Special legislation introduced by the hosting states .......................................... 281
Ambush marketing legislation and freedom of expression ................................ 289
Non-judicial protection against ambsuh marketing ........................................... 290
Olympics and Broadcasting .................... ! .
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The Olympic Games of the European Union
Trova Eleni
Skouris Panagiotis
Alexandrakis Evagelos
2010
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List of Key Abbreviations
ANOC
ASOIF
AIOWF
ARISF
Association of National Olympic Committees
Association of Summer Olympic International Federations
Association of International Winter Sports Federations)
Association of the IOC Recognized International Sports Federations
CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport
COE Council of Europe
ECRI European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
EOC European Olympic Committees
FAI Football Association of Ireland (Dublin)
FFA Football Federation of Australia
FIBA Fdration Internationale de Basketball Association
FIFA Fdration Internationale de Football Association
FILA Fdration Internationale de Luttes Associes
FINA Fdration Internationale de Natation
IAAF International Association of Athletics Federations
IASL International Association of Sports Law
IFA Irish Football Association (Belfast)
IOC International Olympic Committee
IRB International Rugby Board
ISDC International Standard for Doping Control
NGOs Non Governmental Organizations
NOCs National Olympic Committees
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
TAS Tribunal Arbitral du Sport
UEFA Union des Associations Europennes de Football
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
WADA World Anti-Doping Agency
WHO World Health Organization
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Introduction
The Hosting of the Games, the regulations and the institutions
The regulatory framework of sport and especially the one of the Olympic Games is
of great interest because of its autonomy and its particularity in terms of the various
regulatory frameworks of the states and the international organizations. The constant
interchange of the hosting cities of mega events leads to the revival of the
consideration regarding this issue and simultaneously triggers some skepticism
towards the legal pluralism. This skepticism acquires a special importance, taking
into consideration the existence of the Community Law.
The transition of the sporting events in various states and cities is closely linked with
the history of sports. The sporting mobility allows, in this way, the admission of each
sporting event, the regulation which accompanies it, and the institutional framework
which each organization requires. In contrast to the Ancient Olympics which were
necessarily connected with the Ancient Olympia, the modern Olympic Games follow
the achievements of modern sport which combines the spectacle with the message of
the organization which is linked with the respective city. Having originated from the
medieval age, the events replace the huge conflicts and the political disagreements
and simultaneously lead to an institutional combination that only mobility can
provide.
For this reason, the sporting events have acquired an increasingly economic interest.
Also, institutionally they allow a regulatory composition that many international
organizations would be envious of. It has to be pointed out from the very beginning
that the Community law never lost its interest for the sporting events even though
initially sport did not fall within the interest of the community legislator.
However, between the Olympiads of Athens in 2004 and the upcoming one of
London in 2012, Community law acquires a special field of coexistence and dialogue
with the regulatory framework of the Olympic Games.
The hosting of the Games, the regulations and the institutions attracts our interest.
We owe an initial explanation of the term hosting or philoxenia. Term of the
classic antiquity, it was adopted by the Olympic movement via the host city in
order to make the city and not the state the basic scene of the Olympic events.
Besides, this is the sporting tradition.
This opinion though does not take into account the role of the states as regulatory
actors, nor the role of a union of states, like the European Union. Therefore, the term
philoxenia-hosting poses the question: who is the friend and who is the stranger?
The importance of sporting events for the international procedures
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Olympic Games have been closely linked with the political and historical evolution
since the period when the Delphi Oracle consulted Ifitos, the king of Elis, in 776BC,
to organize sporting and cultural games in Olympia in order for the armed conflicts
to cease.
In the 20th
century, Olympic Games found themselves in the heart of history quite a
few times. They coexisted with wars, boycotts, terrorist attacks, and diplomatic
episodes. In 1920 the very first boycott was noted in the Adverb Olympic Games,
making the victory of the democratic states a depositary of the international policy
and the sport order. London, as a the host city of the 1948 Olympics expressed the
victory of the Antant Alliance, while the Elsinki 1952 Olympiad was considered to
be a symbolic choice which led to the return of USSR and of the other social
countries to the Olympic Movement. Cities-symbols and times of crisis prove that
the Olympics are something much more than a mere sporting event and further that
sport is something more than athletic performances of certain people.1
The year 2008 promotes, in no uncertain terms, the dynamic entrance of China in the
international affairs and its acceptance from the entire international society as a
leading state. The year 2012 is bringing Europe and fair play in the international
scene again. However, Athens was the first city which promoted the European
character of the Games, since the Olympiad of 2004 was the first one which took
place under the absolute application of community law. The Games of the 21st
century are not expected to have a different fate from the Games of the 20th
century.
Closely linked with the history of the world, they are facing the world society which
is dynamically evolving as well as the domestic and international legislations which
have to coexist with the regulations of the Olympic movement. The first Olympic
Games of the 21st century were the ones of Athens.
The Athens of 2004 seemed to be a chance not only for the restitution of the
symbolisms but also for the unification of the sporting movement with its ancient
Greek dimension. The main issue, though, among the symbolisms that Athens had to
promote was the contribution of the European Union to the spread of the ancient
Greek ideas as were accepted by the Enlightenment and promoted by the Olympic
Movement. Athens was charged with the duty to promote the first Olympic Games of
Europe with the consciousness of the balances that they were surrounded by. Out of
1 Roche M., Mega-Events and Modernity: Olympics and Expos in the Growth of Global
Culture, London: Routledge, 2000, Deutsch K.W. and R.L. Merritt, Effects of events on
national and international images, in H.C. Kelman (ed.): International behavior: a social-
psychological analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965, p. 130-187, Wong,
Glenn M. Essentials of sports law. Praeger, 2002, Wise, Aaron N. and Bruce S. Meyer..
International sports law and business. Kluwer Law International, 1997, Rosentraub Mark S.
Governing Sports in the Global Era: A Political Economy of Major League Baseball and Its
Stakeholders. Indiana journal of global legal studies. Indiana University: Bloomington, 2000,
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legal point of view, a deep study of the legal pluralism would be greatly benefited by
a study of this phenomenon.
Athens in 2004 hosted the relations of history, rules and opinions in a relatively
neutral and without political ambitions territory.2 Those Games cannot be really
characterized as Games of power, but mainly as Games of international conflicts and
symbolisms. Perhaps, Athens constituted a chance of particular importance for the
development of ideas in the body of Europe and in front of the eyes of billions of
tele-spectators. The IOC gave this opportunity to Athens and to Europe at difficult
times and during exceptionally sad historical conflicts in the area.
Sporting Games and the theory of the Games
The theory of Games includes both the sporting games and the historical games. In
these games the athlete is starring, as a body-symbol of the human being who
exceeds his personal and natural destine within the historical juncture.
The Game with its rules-tests of legal pluralism
A system of rules which interact among them shows the character of these relations.
The supranational unions, the states, sport, the unions, the people are all taking part
in this system and through the required overcome of the rules, their application and
effectiveness is tested.3
2 Analytically in http://olympicstudies.uab.es/athens2004/eng/home.htmll about the Games of
Athens according to the research of the Olympic Studies Center of Barcelona
3 Relatively, Heila Eir., Sport and political crisis, Kathimerini, Epta Hmeres 16/5/2004,
Wertz S.K., Talking a Good Game: Inquiries into the Principles of Sport , 1994, Texas:
Southern Methodist University Press, Caillois R., Man, Play, and Games , 1961, New York:
Free Press.
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CHAPTER 1
The historical and ideological background of the Olympic Games
The human body, the international society and the fair play of history
Coubertin mentions that sports and Olympic Games are expressions of the human
culture, spirit and body, the contrition and the consciousness. The desire and the
consciousness fight in an intense and cruel way; since they are both dominators and
they fight for the prevalence. However, what we should do is to succeed in having a
balance. This is why we did not want to offer a doubtful definition of Olympism but
preferred to reflect about the meaning that the human body can have. Olympism is a
collection of values, which beyond their natural existence are developing via the
participation in sport. This principle comprises the fundamental values of the modern
theory of sport and of the sport education on a human basis4.
Coubertin is also responsible for the following definition of Olympism: Olympism
includes all the principles which contribute to the development of the human species.
Therefore, the Coubertins olympism is addressing at everyone, regardless age, race,
occupation, nationality or religion. Its dominant element is that it gathers people of
good faith as long as they are serious in respect of their commitments towards
humanity. Even though it is tolerant towards difference, it allows differences to
emerge.
Coubertins Olympism presents the Promithian human being and the human being of
excesses. It creates the half-God within the origins of ancient Greek games and offers
belief in the excesses which in terms of sport as a score or performances, pass
through the post-natural and the social deviation to the everyday framework of a
sporting event.
The revival of the Olympics was the expression of a movement of ideals and a
perception of life which enhanced the human body and its achievements in a
prominent actor of history.5 In the centre of the theatre, Colosseum, the stadium, in
4 Gerber, E. W. and Morgan, W.J. (eds)) Sport and the Body: A Philosophical Symposium
(second edition) 1979, Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, Slusher, H.S., Man, Sport and
Existence: A Critical Analysis , 1967, Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, Spicker, S.F. (Ed.) The
Philosophy of the Body: Rejections of Cartesian Dualism , 1970, Chicago, Quadrangle
Books.
5Among others, Stewart Art, Desire and body in Ancient Greece, Alexandreia, 2003
Coubertin P., Almanach olympique pour 1918. Lausanne: [s.n.], Coubertin, P. (1918a):
Olympic letter V. Olympic pedagogy, in Mller, N. (ed.) 2000: Olympism: selected writings of Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne : IOC, p. 217, Coubertin, P. (1918b): Olympic letter IV. Olympism as a state of mind, in Mller, N. (ed.) 2000: Olympism: selected
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the centre of history, as an imitation of an important and fine art, the human body,
covered or nude, regained via the Olympic movement a decisive role for the
evolution of the world. As Platon has shown in Harmides6 the beauty of the body as a
value of utmost importance, relevant to the moral and the entire existence of the
human being, the Games enhanced the body to a value in the contemporary
civilization.
Romantism and voluntarism, the principle of progress and the socialistic ideology,
the critical attitude towards the religions are principles that highly affect the Olympic
charter.7 The Olympic Movement along with other contemporary movements would
contribute to the creation of another world.8 The Olympic Chapter was establishing
writings of Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne : IOC, p. 548, Coubertin P. (1920): Address delivered at Antwerp City Hall in August, 1920: sport is King, in Mller, N. (ed.) 2000: Olympism: selected writings of Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne : IOC, p. 222-226, Coubertin,
P. (1925): Speech given at the opening of the Olympic Congresses at the City Hall of Prague, May 1925, in Mller, N. (ed.) 2000: Olympism: selected writings of Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne : IOC, p. 555-556, Grupe,O., Studien zur pdagogischen Theorie der Leibeserziehung. Schorndorf : Hofmann, 1968, Grupe O., Grundlagen der Sportpdagogik: Krperlichkeit, Bewegung und Erfahrung im Sport. Schorndorf : Hofmann, Grupe O. (1985): Anthroplogische Grundfragen der Sportpdaogik, in Denk, H. and G. Hecker (eds.): Texte zur Sportpdagogik. Vol.2. Schorndorf: Hofmann, 1984, p. 35-61, Lenk H., Werte, Ziele, Wirklichkeit der modernen Olympischen Spiele. Schorndorf: Hofmann 2nd ed. 1972, Malter,
R. (1996): Eurythmie des Lebens als Ideal menschlicher Existenz. Bemerkungen zu Coubertins geschichtsphilosocher Anthropologie, in Mller, N. and M. Messing (eds.): Auf der Suche nach der Olympischen Idee. Kassel : Agon, p. 9-16, Meinberg E., Warum
Theorien sportlichen Handelns Anthropologie bentigen?, Sportwissenschaft, 17, p. 20-36, 1987, Meinberg E., Hauptprobleme der Sportpdagogik: eine Einfhrung. Darmstadt : Wiss.1991, Buchgesellschaft, Mller, N. (1975b): Die Olympische: idee Pierre de Coubertins und Carl Diems in ihrer Auswirkung auf die Internacional Olympische Akademie (Vol.I)
(Dissertation Graz). [S.l.] : [s.n.], Mller N. (ed.) (1986a): Pierre de Coubertin: textes choisis. Vol.I Revlation . Zurich : Weidmann, Mller, N. (ed.) (1986b): Pierre de Coubertin: textes choisis. Vol.II Olympisme . Zurich : Weidmann, Mller N., One hundred years of Olympic Congresses 1894-1994. Lausanne : IOC,1994, Muller N. and O. Schantz,
Bibliography: Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne : CIPC 1991, .
6 Plato, Charmides, Library of Ancient Greek writers, 50, Daidalos Zaharopoulos,
Introduction, Translation, Comments, N. Tenenes
7 During a period that the catalogue of the human rights was not obviously taking a
precedence in the national Constitutions and, even though France was hesitating to introduce
declarations within its constitution, the Olympic Movement began its life by declaring the
values and the rights that frame it, basing its existence on the freedom of will and the freedom
of contracts as well as on the principle of collectiveness and the respect of the collective
organs. The structure of the Olympic Charter is reminiscent of the structure of modern
constitutions. It comprises initially the fundamental principles, then its organizational
schemes and finally the judicial system. It regulates the total of the relations of individuals,
unions and athletes in the five continents, through their submission and commitment to the
Olympic Charter.
8 Among others, see the criticism to the positions of De Coubertin by the French sightseer
Charl Moras, in Athens 1896, The first Olympic Games, Okeanida 2000, p.15
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a movement quite similar to the contemporary movements of that era with ulterior
motive the social change.9 Therefore, the present time and history was not enough for
the development of the body, but the excess that was tried to be achieved through the
score and the games was about the whole human destine.
The theatre of the human body, the stadium lies in many cities of the world and
reminds its value.10
The temples of the absent Gods were replaced by the temples of
the present bodies. The city was from the beginning the central point of the Olympic
movement development.11
This was a two-fold meaning. On the one hand, it was not
the state structure that the Olympic Movement should deal with. On the other hand,
the city constituted not only an administrative unit but also a geographical and
infrastructural territory. The Olympic Movement acquired through the city a
geopolitical importance and an essential territorial dimension.
The Olympics have turned out to be the most impressive and spectacular public
cultural event in the modern society.12
The first modern Olympic Games of Athens
1896 attracted 311 athletes from 13 countries. The Sydney 2000 involved 10651
athletes from 199 countries and along with the ticket sales 6.7 million people. &
9 Giannakourou G, Trova E., Olympic Games and Law, Ant.N.Sakkoulas 2001, p.278
10
See about the relation between the body and the city in the antiquity Stewart A., p.40 and
bibliography
11
Cashman Richard, Impact of the games on Olympic Host Cities, http://olympicstudies.uab.es/lectures/web/lec.asp?id_llico=8, Cashman Richard; Anthony
Hughes, Staging the Olympics: the event and its impact. Sydney : UNSW Press. Lenskyj,
Helen Jefferson (1992): More than Games: community involvement in the Toronto bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics, in Robert Barney [et al.] (eds.): Proceedings: First International Symposium for Olympic Research. 1992, Ontario : University of Western
Ontario, p. 7887. Kidd, Bruce ,The Toronto Olympic Movement: towards a social contract for the Olympic Games, in Robert Barney [et al.] (eds. ): Proceedings: First International Symposium for Olympic Research, 1992, Ontario : University of Western Ontario, p. 6777.
12 Stephen-Essex, Brian-Chalkley, Urban Transformation from hosting the Olympic Games,
http://olympicstudies.uab.es/lectures/web/abo.asp?id_llico=11 , Andranovich, G., Burbank, M.J. and Heying, C.H. (2001) Olympic Cities: Lessons from Mega-Event Politics,
Journal of Urban Affairs, 23 (2), 113-131. McKay, M. and Plumb, C. (2001) Reaching
Beyond the Gold: The Impact of the Olympic Games on Real Estate Markets, Global Insights,
Issue 1, Chicago: Jones Lang LaSalle IP Inc., Suits, B. (1978) The Grasshopper; Games, Life
and Utopia , Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
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18
billion people watched the Games from television. (Sydney Marketing Review,
2001)
Given the world attention that this event requires, the host city cannot host the
Games without important changes of infrastructure and investments. The host cities
are obliged to offer modern sporting departments of high quality. Additionally,
further investments in tourism, transports, telecommunications, hotels, the
development of the environmental protection, are vital for a successful organization
for the athletes and the spectators. These wider investments contribute also to the
creation of a world point of view for the host-city, which encourages a prospect of
touristic promotion and constant development. The Olympics are something much
deeper than a sporting event: they constitute a vehicle of the cities development and a
decisive incentive for the essential change of the cities. Nevertheless, the Games
involve some dangers as well as opportunities in respect of the effective amendment
of the host centers.13
Cities have always been pivotal points for the development of sport and the
organization of the entire sporting movement was based on them.14
The only thing
that a city had to do was to create the superstructure of Olympism which would
include the federations and the clubs in its system that was envisaged.15
Pierre de
Coubertin promoted his revolution through the system and according to his rules.16
In
this way the posterior Olympic Games were also organized: based on the city, the
city which is not a location, nor a paleodomical-infrastructural web, nor geography.
For the Olympic Movement the city is perceived as geopolitical and post-natural.
The city, as a geopolitical choice, and occasionally every host city acquires a
particularly global role and focuses the action of its public authority on the
organization of a seemingly harmless sporting event.
The city and every host city as a post-natural choice is a kind of promotion of Edem,
a paradise, a fine place, a city with stadia and palestras where the human body is
subject to admiration. With a civil thought and far away from the organized gardens
13
Cashman R., Impact of the Games on Olympic Host Cities, Fundamental Olympic
Lessons, Olympic Studies Centre, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, 2003, Hiller H., Mega-Events, Urban Boosterism and Growth Strategies: An Analysis of the Objectives and
Legitimations of the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid, International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, 2000, 24 (2), 439-458
14
Among others Decker W., Sport in Greek antiquity, From the Minaons to the Olympics,
Introduction V.Filia, Papazises, Athens 2004, and analytical bibliography
15
Moragas, Miquel de; Christopher Kennett and Nuria Puig (eds.), : The Legacy of the
Olympic Games 1984-2002: International Symposium, Lausanne, 14th, 15th and 16th
November 2002. Lausanne : International Olympic Committee, 2003.
16
de Coubertin P., Une Olympie Moderne , in P. de Coubertin, J.-A Samaranch, Esprit
Olympique, L sprit du Temps, Paris, 1992, p. 25 ff.
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19
of agricultural origins (the one that is invoked by many religions), the Olympic
Movement placed the perfect place upon this world, with a concept of freedom and
tolerance, beyond nations and religions. In this way, every organization is nothing
but an attempt of accomplishing this vision within the territory of an already existing
city.
The Olympic Charter frankly depicts this conception and has already embodied
fundamental rules for the protection of the place and the environment in its
regulatory system.17
The IOC envisages the city of the Olympic Games, the host city,
as a city full of sporting arenas, environmentally clean and sustainable.18
The city
of the games is sustainable for the sports and the athletes sake.
The creation of a city with gymnasia and palestras was not self-evident in the modern
Europe where the belfry was dominating the infrastructural web of the city.19
The
ancient Greek perception of the nude Games and athlete obviously had no place in
the Christian democracy.20
The body is absent in Christian democracies and their
declarations, including the constitutional ones, and only some provisions like the ban
on any form of torture remind that the citizens have feelings and bodies. Beyond that,
the body is subject to the prohibitive provisions related to the fundamental
institutions of the society, according to the rules of interpretation.21
The organization
17
The constitutional principles of the IOC and the environmental protection (article 2,13 of
the Olympic Charter)
18
See also Dr. Josep Tarradellas Maci, Sport, Olympic Movement and Sustainable Development in Olympic Studies Center, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, in
http://olympicstudies.uab.es/eng/dossier_det.asp?id_do=5 .
19
enevolo L., The City in Europe, Ellinika Grammata, 1997 and bibliograpohy. For an analytical approach of these matters see da Costa, L., Toward a Theory of Environment and
Sport, in L. da Costa (ed), Environment and Sport. An international overview, Faculty of
Sports Sciences and Physical Education, University of Porto, Portugal, 1997, p. 41 ff.
20
After antiquity the questioning about the body and the existence mainly constituted a matter
that was dealt by the religion. See Akinatis T.,De ente et essentie Dodoni 1998
21
See the illuminating masterpiece about the role of the individual in the democracy in
Robertson G., Freedom, The Individual and the Law, Penguin Books, London 1989, but in
particular Dworkin R., Freedoms Law, The moral reading of the american constitution, Oxford University Press 1996 and the objections that it triggered mainly because of the
renown objection of Posner R. in Problematics of Moral and Legal Reasoning, Belknap
Press/Harvard University Press 1999 (analytical bibliography of the author in
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/posner-r/publications.html ). Also, see the absolutely
contemporary Posners Charges: What I Actually Said http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/faculty/dworkin/papers/posner.html Dworkin R. with
analytical bibliography
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20
of the Olympic Games by Athens in 2004 constitutes therefore a multiple challenge
since it intensifies the classical memories of the Olympic Movement in the body of a
European developing city.22
Every Olympic organization tests simultaneously the human beings and the states as ,
the institutions and the rules as players.23 The rules of the game, the fair play24 and
the instant character of every organization could make somebody perceive the city as
being a game, to test its rules, to exercise through its institutions and accomplish
good performances or fail. Consequently, the study of the rules leads to many aims25
:
22
Pyrgiotis G., The function of the city during the Games, Examples of previous
organizations, In Olympic Games and Environmen, Ant.N.Sakkoulas, p.37 ff., Zekos K., The
Olympics, The city of Athens and the transportation structures, in Olympic Games and
Environment, Ant.N.Sakkoulas 2002, p.97 ff.
23 For the theory of the games, among many others, von Neumann J., Morgenstern O.,
Theory of Games and Economic behavior, Princeton University Press, 1944, Kottarides K.,
Siourouni G., Dovotion to John Nash, Theory of Games, Euroasia, 2002, Huizinga J.,
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture , Suffolk: Paladin, 1970.
24
The principle of fair play, in our opinion, cannot be translated or found as a term in any
other language. It symbolizes, the British inspired structure and ideology of the Olympic
Movement. Being at the center of the Olympic Movement, the fair play principle passed from
Cambridge and Oxford to the whole universe in a boimatic way and without oration. For a
more attractive approach of the fair play principle see N.Kazantzakis, Travelling to England,
Itton, Athens 1964, E.Kazantzaki Publications, p.143.
The Olympic Chapter was follow by the Council of Europe by introducing a Treaty about the
fair play. The European Chapter on Sport has already been adopted at the level of ministers
committee on 14/9/1992 and has many similarities with the Olympic charter. At the same date
the Ministers Committee adopted the Code of Ethics-Fair Play- for sport. In this text there are
some definitions of some ethical terms including the one of fair play. The Council of Europe
has an intense activity in this field and recently in the 9th Session of Ministers of Sport-
Health and clean sport for the 3rd Millenium on 30/31-5-2000 in Bratislava, took a resolution with quite a wide scope. Analytically about the matter in
http://culture.coe.fr/sp/splist.html. For the moral rules of the Olympic movement see also
Samaranch J.A., Olympic ethics, in Olympic Review, XXVI- 22, August- September 1998
under the general matter of Fair Play. 25
At this point the reference to Beijing as an organizing city is indicatory regarding the rules
that it adopted in the action program. In particular it mentions the following:
The Olympic Charter and other IOC regulations will be strictly observed, the Host City Contract honored, related legislation consolidated, law enforcement ability and capability
further improved, and the citizens' legal awareness enhanced, so as to create a favourable
legal environment for the Olympic Games.
Consolidating the protection of the Olympic Symbol - the Regulation on the Protection of Olympic Symbol adopted by the State Council will be enforced and administrative and
legal proceedings will be taken to protect the Olympic Symbol and related rights. Legal
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21
firstly to the ascertainment of the pluralism of the rules which expresses the different
sources of authority; but also sources without the element of authority, such as the
rules of playing the game.26
The Olympic Games are a practice in the phenomenon of
rules, regulation and its pluralism in the world as well as a practice of the individual
and the athletes body in rules. This is a primary aim of the Olympic Movement
itself.
Further, the study of the rules is aiming at the ascertainment of the excessive
importance of fair play and the virtue of accepting the defeat and honoring the
defeated just like the winner; the virtue which values the game and not the result. In
the contemporary capitalism and definitely as the existing socialism accepts, the
acceptance of such opinions seems to be strange. Undoubtedly, fair play constitutes a
contribution of the Age of Enlightenment to the sporting phenomenon and to the
modern vocabulary and ideas.
This study also aims at the ascertainment that beyond the states and the forms of
authority emerging from times to times (religions, ideas etc.) the human body and its
vision can define the historical circumstances in a geopolitical level.
The human body, starring at the sporting events with a proportionate historical
dimension, defines the individual, the material existence, as an actor of history. The
vision through the mass media makes it simultaneously a vision which is promoted in
a global level and glorified as winner. The athletes body constitutes a historical
actor and archetype of the modern individual.27
actions will be taken against infringements, so as to create a clean market and favorable
environment to ensure the protection of the Olympic Symbol.
Improving the legality of government work - law education programs will be carried out in government departments, especially in the law enforcement organizations, to improve
government staff's initiative in legal administration and their knowledge of law and to raise
their law enforcement ability and service quality. Government work will be open to the public
supervision and information concerning major Olympic construction projects shall be made
public regularly; and administrative power restraint and responsibility binding mechanisms
shall be established to govern the exercise of powers and avoid Olympic-related corruption.
Enhancing law education - On the basis of "the Fourth Five-year Law Popularization Program", a law education campaign will be initiated, with a stress on the promotion of
intellectual property right protection, so as to help the people raise their law-abiding and legal
right safeguarding awareness. Our target is to establish a favorable environment for the
hosting of the Olympic Games. 26
Silance L., Les sports et le droit, Paris- Bruxelles, 1998.
27
Amnog others, Majer T., The politics as a theatre, Kastaniotis, Anastohasmos, 2000, and
analytical bibliography
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22
After the East Midlands and Athens as its border with Europe, Beijing and the
enhancement of Asia to a historical hosting location. A financial decision, a decision
to make a place the center of the world and its picture the international depiction of
history. The connection of the past of the ancient Olympism to the future offers
special interest to the marriage of the athletes apotheosis and the sports in Beijing,
the heart of Asia and the global economy. The addition of the claim for truce makes
the whole venture political.
Therefore, it is obvious that the reference of the body as being subject to the sport
and the history via the Olympics, acquires a dimension closely linked to the social
evolution and the participating democracy28
. The Athens Olympics, as the first
Olympics of The Unified Europe lead to a reflection about the contemporary
dimension of the claim and the role of the athlete as a body to the formation of the
role of the individual in the international community. Simultaneously they cause
deep skepticism to the development of the modern democracy, since sport is now a
weapon for the attainment of policy, authority and ideals.
The relation between the body and the city
The relation between the body and the city has been considered to be important since
antiquity when the citizen represented the city in Games through his body which was
appreciated by the city. The institution of Pritaneion expresses, among others, the
importance that the city attached to the bodies of its citizens. In Olympia, statutes
were erected for the athletes and in the basis of each one of those the name and the
city of origin of the respective athlete was mentioned.
Since the era of Diophoros from Cicely, the construction of buildings aiming at the
development of the body and its adoration, contributed highly to the glory of the city.
It is not accidental that inside the gymnasia not only water-basins were noticed but
also olive-places29
as well as libraries. It is not by chance either that the first
28 Best D., Expression in Movement and the Arts , London;1974, Lepus.
Best D., Philosophy and Human Movement , London; Allen and Unwin, 1978, Brohm J.-
M., Sport - A Prison of Measured Time , (second edition), 1978, translated by Fraser, I.,
Worcester: Pluto Press, Cantelon H. and Gruneau, R.S. (Eds.) (1982) Sport, Culture and the
Modern State , Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Gibson J.H., Performance Versus
Results: A Critique of Values in Contemporary Sport , Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1993, Gruneau R.S., Class, Sports, and Social Development , (second edition)
Illinois: Human Kinetics, 1999, Hoberman J., Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance
and the Dehumanization of Sport , New York: The Free Press.1992, Keating, J.W. (1978)
Competition and Playful Activities , Washington: University Press of America, Lenk H.
(1969) Social Philosophy of Athletics , Illinois: Stipes Publishing, Metheny E., Connotations
of Movement in Sport and Dance , Iowa: W C Brown, 1965, Metheny, E., Movement and
Meaning , New York: McGraw Hill 1968, Postow B.C. (Ed.), Women, Philosophy, and
Sport , New York: Scarecrow Press, 1983.
29 Where the athletes covered their body with olives
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23
philosophical faculties were placed in sporting areas: Plato as is well-known,
founded his philosophical school in Academy, Aristotle in Lykeio, The Kynics in
Kinosarges.30
Of course the Gymnasia were not found exclusively in Athens, but in
every single Greek city-state. In case a city had no gymnasium, it was perceived as
being uncivilized.31
The classic antiquity placed the athletes body in the framework
of the town. The role that sporting Games had in Ancient Greece was connected to
the political transformations that the Greek states met in antiquity. It could be argued
that the same was true for the individuals role who participated in Games.
30
Athens, since the era of Solon, had three big gymnasia: The Academy, the Lyckeio and the
Kynosarges.
31
Analytically, see Mouratides I., History of Physical Education with philosophical
elements, above. p.150 ff., and analytical bibliography, Decker W., Sport in the Greek
antiquity, From the Minoans to the Olympic Games, Papazises 2004
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24
The historical evolution of the Olympic Games;
The body from the classic antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment
The adoration of the human body in the palaistras
The importance that ancient Greeks attached to the body made them believe that a
city without palaistras was unworthy and uncivilized. Anaharsis, after having
returned to his homeland from his trip to Greece mentioned that in every single
Greek city there was a place called Gymnasium, where Greeks used to go every day
in order to exercise passionately.32
The adoration of the human body was not the
same in all the civilizations. The nude mans body was considered by the ancient
Greeks to be a symbol of beauty and spirit, an object of passion and inspiration and
was equalized to the Gods body. The athletic exercise, the music and the dance
constituted the essence of the classical Greek education. The ideal of the symmetric
development of body and soul led to the necessity for creation of organized places of
sporting exercise, the gymnasia.33
In the Gymnasium, through the exercise of body
and soul, the citizen of the classical antiquity was getting prepared for his entrance
to the city, that is, the institutions of the politician field and the principles of virtue.
As the ancient drama created scenes which led to catharsis, sport created the
desired simultaneous reality which could be created by the human beings. The
exercise and the care of the body definitely constituted a commodity of the same
importance as education and the development of the spirit.
The body, without the prejudice that the effects of some religions cause, constituted
the objective of the exercise and its hero. The body, as the prevalent aim of the
exercise, was not limited during the classical era to its biological aspect. It was
perceived as being the objective of art, thought and desire.
32 Analytical references and bibliography for this matter in Mouratides I., History of Physical
Education with elements of philosophy, Christodoulidou Publications, Thessaloniki, 2000,
p.147, Goldn M., Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, Cambridge, 1998, Landry, F. and
Orban, W.A.R. (Eds.) (1978) Philosophy, Theology and History of Sport and of Physical
Activity , Quebec: Symposia Specialists.
33 Gymnasium was unknown as an institution during the Homer and the first and middle
archaic period. The establishment of the first gymnasia goes back to the posterior archaic
period (beginnings of the 6th century). This creation coincided with the development of the
institution of the Pan-Hellenic Games (Pythia, Isthmia, Olympia) and the subsequent
spreading of the spirit throughout the Greek territory, Tzachou-Alexandri, O. The Gymnasium. An institution for Athletics and Education, in National Archeological Museum, Mind and Body. Athletic Contests in Ancient Greece, Athens, 1989, p. 31
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25
The Games during the period of Homer
During the Homer period, the competition in the sporting field seemed to be a
competitive performance which imitated the war preparation and practice.34
The
Homer heroes-athletes were mainly warriors. During this period, as was mentioned
the terms sportsman and sporty represented the necessary relation which should
exist among the terms competition, recognition and reward. The prevalence in
athletic events was linked to the brevity and the corporal dominance and
corresponded and referred to the semiology of the athlete-fighter that could defend
effectively his land territory. This perception was not accidental. It derived from the
numerous conflicts which tantalized the Greek world at that period.
The Games of the Classical era
During the classical era, the philosophy and simisiology of sporting Games was
changed. The military background was gradually limited to a more educational
perception of the Games. In the democratic cities-states, sport was associated with
education and the necessity for responsible citizens to be raised. The objective of the
education in Ancient Athens was the kalokagathia, that is, the creation of a citizen
of physical beauty, brave and bold.
The Olympic Games used to be the most ancient and the most important Games
among all the sport festivities in ancient Greece. They were the greatest religious
celebration among the ones devoted to Jeus. The temple of Olympia imposed its
importance to the entire ancient Greek world and the Olympics became soon the
symbol of pan-Hellenic unification.
The position and the holy character of Olympia were developing as the time went by.
From a mere place of adoration, they evolved to a holly ground, full of artistic
temples, (The temple of Jeus was the greatest one), statutes and buildings. New
events emerged in the Games and new buildings were erected for the athletes
assistance.
The Olympic Games were held every four years during the warm days of the
summer. During the five days of the Games, sacrifices were held. The greatest one
was the scarification of 100 cows in the temple of Jeus. Many athletic events were
held in the Stadium, The Hippodrome and in other places, in front of thousands of
spectators from all the cities of the known world so far. The winners were awarded
with an olive branch and enjoyed great honors in their homeland.
During the period of the Olympics, several events were held: stadium, wrestling,
pangration, equatics, pentathlon) The ones who participated in the Games followed
common rules and contracts, established for the best organization of the Games. All
34
Relatively see Mouratides I., History of Physical Education with elements of philosophy,
Christodoulidou Publications, Thessaloniki, 2000, p.147
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26
the cities were obliged to cease their conflicts during the organization of the Games.
All the Greek citizens were eligible to participate. There were certain rules about the
pre-training and the organization of the games.
The Pan-Hellenic Games
In a background of boom of Greek cities, as gymnasia of body and soul, the Olympic
Game turned to pan-Hellenic games. This reality is noticed approximately in 696BC.
Since 558BC the eligibility of participation in the Games was expanded to the
Greeks of the colonies and since the ages of Alexander the Great to the Hellenism of
East. The pan-Hellenic city at that time constituted the philosophical and cultural
basis of the Olympic ideology about the harmonic development of body and soul and
the noble competition. It is clear, therefore, that since the Games of antiquity both the
Games and their basic principles tried and finally achieved to expand to an
exceedingly bigger group of people, which did not decline this call.
City-state and sport
Since the 8th century the emergence of the first cities-states affected the spot
evolution as well. Various systems of sporting education were developed in each
city-state and included athletic exercises, musical education, writing and reading. As
long as there had been aristrocratical regimes, the education was aiming at the
promotion of young members of rich families. The objective of the education was to
help the young people develop their physical and mental skills and to reach
subsequently their harmony. The sporting exercise was accompanied by music. The
music, the dance and the sport were aiming at the achievement of the harmonic
balance between body and mind. Many sporting festivities used to be held in the 8th
century BC by the cities-states which were just founded at that period. These
festivities included many motives for competition, giving in this way the chance to
the habitats of cities-states to show in public their virtue, to compete in order to
excel. Gradually, the musical and athletic competitions evolved in organized local
celebrations on a regular basis. Such games were totally connected with the
adorations of Gods or the heroes and had a religious background. The wide content
of these games is definitely consistent with the belief at that time that human beings
should progress in all the fields and not focus on specific activities.
War and Sport
The athlete in the Olympics represented the city-state of his origin, which honored
him as a winner after the Games. The athletes victory was equalized to a city-states
victory. For this reason, the conflicts among cities-states ceased during the period of
the Games (Olympic Truce) and were replaced by the noble competition of their
athletes. This symbolism was indicative of the necessity of transferring the
competition of the cities-states to the field of political contest. Besides, for the same
reason the treaties signed by the cities-states were kept in the holy temple of Altis.
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27
From the Roman Empire to Theodosius
When the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius banned the palaistras and the gymnasia in
the Roman Empire territory, sport deviated a lot from the values and the originals of
the classic antiquity. The bread and spectacles of the Romans had filled the stadia
with deads and had made sport at that time a means of entire slavery to the emperor.
When Christianism prevailed, these originals were gradually surpassed. The danger
of paganism led the emperor Theodosius to this ban. The adoration of the body was
replaced by the categorization of the population in the Byzantine Empire and the
equalization of the color with the team in the Hippodrome, occasions well known by
the conflict between the Greens and the Venets at the Nikas riot.
Sport during the Medieval Age
Perhaps during this period, one could find the contemporary meaning of the jersey in
sports and the color of the teams. The feoudarchy left the heritage not only of the
representation of the Hippopts in the tyornois but also the spirit of chivalry. Certain
rules of chivalry had been necessary to avoid killing in the tournois, which during
that era were war practice or practice instead of war. The contemporary regulations
of the modern sport clubs originate for sure form the rules of chivalry of the west
medieval age. The relations between sport and the aristocratical activities have also
their origins in this period. It is, though, indicative that sport was about to replace-
probably for just a while- any kind of armed conflicts and wars. A pure military
activity is named sporting event and acquired regulations, which protect human life.
Sport was over the centuries turned into an expression of a class which was
exercising instead of working, as long as it was not facing difficulties in making ends
meet. The aristocratical element of amateur sport was totally altered by the boom of
the professional sport in the 20th
century, when sport promoted social heroes and
became a symbol of making the athlete a personality beyond social classes.
Sport from the Renaissance until the Age of Enlightenment
The Renaissance brought sport back to the education schedule and made it affect the
art and the science again. At least three centuries were required, though, for the body
to escape from the prison of the Church in Europe and for sport to acquire the
educational role that the Age of Enlightenment gave to him. Baron Pier de Coubertin,
who beyond his aristocratical background was also a lawyer, tried to make sport a
movement at the ends of the 19th
century, having been inspired by the ideals of the
ancient Greek Olympism. The human body through the contemporary sport returns
to the centre of attention and constitutes a subject of regulations, principles and
legislation. We will deal with the enquiry of the position of the body in the modern
world only as long as it is connected to the club that it represents and the city that the
latter belongs to. Of course, it is not accidental that the human body gradually returns
to the centre of art and science. Three more centuries, though, needed to elapse for
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28
the body to escape the impediments of the Church and for sport to gain the
educational role that the age of Enlightenment gave to it.
Fascination for great performances and deeds are common to most cultures and in
most historical settings. In Carter and Krger's Ritual and Record (1990), a series of
scholars illustrates how great athletic performances have been held as golden
standards of excellence in ancient, medieval, and Renaissance cultures. In the
development of modern competitive sport the last century, however, records have
become more important than ever.
The concept of record found its form in a particular historical, social and cultural
setting in last Century's England: the land of sport (Mandell 1976, Guttmann 1978).
A mathematical-empirical world-view based on the insights of modern natural
science was predominant, at least among the educated classes. Classic liberalism
emphasized the ideals of equal opportunity. All citizens ought to compete on equal
terms in the pursuit of happiness. Industrialism was in many ways a carrier of strong
ideals of quantifiable progress within standardized and rationalized frameworks.
This ethos influenced many areas of life. Common among most people was a strong
belief in the great idea of progress. Human kind entered a new era of physical,
social, cultural, and moral progress. This was the time of a flourishing international
peace movement, of the rise of international humanist organizations like the Red
Cross, of the visionary Esperanto movement, and the international Olympic
Movement (Hoberman 1995).
Within this vision, there was little room for approximate and non-precise tales of
great performances. The sport record can be seen as the modern, scientific version of
the traditional great deed. The British introduced new rule systems to secure equal
opportunity and exact measurements of performance. Standardization of sport arenas
and improvement of measurement technology enabled comparison of performances
over time. According to Mandell (1976), the first official sport records were written
down (recorded) during an athletic meet between the universities Cambridge and
Oxford in 1868.
Around the turn of the Century, due to improved communication systems in general
and to the establishment of the modern Olympic Movement in particular, competitive
sport became an international phenomenon. The quest for progress and new records
is perhaps most clearly articulated in the Olympic motto citius, altius, fortius. Sport
became the paradigmatic example of the Zeitgeist of the time, or, as Korsgaard
(1990) expresses it, the predominant ritual for the myth of progress.
Sport and liberalism
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29
Liberalism, as was developed by John Lock, comprised the idea of free market with a
free access of people who are remunerated proportionally to their performance and
their effort. Sport is the legitimate offspring of liberalism with the aim of the free
access of sportspersons who practise and are remunerated in relation to their
performance under equal circumstances. The liberal society is the society of
achievements. Just like sport is. Many philosophers consider that sport constitutes an
ideal example of the society of achievements, of the promithian society. Other
philosophers think that sport merely copies and promotes models of orthologism
from the sphere of labour. The high level sport undoubtedly promotes by many
means relative perceptions which are affected by the liberalism and in particular by
the idea of free competition and the remuneration in relation to the effort. Indeed,
recent researches about sport mention that this liberal legacy promotes its role as a
fine model for justice.
The contemporary exercising body
Even though there were some forms of sport before the classic antiquity but also
after it, it was only at the Age of Enlightenment when sport regained its classical
antiquity dimensions. Free from any kind of religious prejudice, sport acquired,
through the English educational system, the goal that was aiming at during the
classic antiquity as well: the adoration and the promotion of the human body and the
human being as a whole.
It would not be an exaggeration if one considered that John Lock is the father of
modern sport, who had totally clear positions for the objective of education and the
importance of the physical development for the creation of liberal citizens. We
should not though underestimate the contribution of Rousseau, who in Emile posed
relative thoughts. It would be more reasonable though to attribute to the Rousseaus
theory of the social contract, the contemporary relationship between modern sport
and modern states.
Coubertin conceived the meaning of the Olympic Movement and had a role of social
innovator. By his speech about the role of the human body at the end of the 19th
century and by reviving the Games, succeeded in enhancing the fundamental
principles of the Enlightenment, as were expressed in the Anglo-Saxon educational
system of that age as well as the theory of the social contract to a vision of change of
the human destine. Simultaneously, he tried to create the rules that are applied to the
body, rules that he insisted that they should not be a part of the state framework. As it
will be realized, this could not work in effect absolutely, since sport was subject to
intense state intervention throughout the 20th
century. Also, human body did not
bother the law so much. Only some moral dilemmas induced a legislative
intervention.
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Modern sport, being organized in private law unions, is equalized to its development
with the structure of these unions, which has a prominent global character. Clubs,
Unions, federations and international federations under the dominance of the IOC
constitute an institutional organization which starts from the local unit and extends to
the international dimension of the IOC, which embraces the five continents.
Modern sport is an international community and within its framework the human
body is considered to be an actor of history. The human body acts and produces
excesses (records), it acts at a certain moment and produces the scenical performance
of the world as a theatrical drama within the territory of the states or the state unions.
The importance of this position should be always kept in mind with the cause of the
approach of the sporting and Olympic phenomenon in the framework of the theory of
the games. Even though the amateur sport could be equalized to the leisure exercise,
it would be wrong to accept that the meaning of sport is exhausted in the approach of
games and the imitation of life.
The aristocratic background of sport did not prohibit its contemporary financial
dimension and the insolidation of huge financial interests around sport and Olympic
organizations. Besides, since quite early, sport gathered the intense interest of a wide
group of people-much bigger compared to politics for instance-interest which is still
rising. Indeed, the endearment to an athlete or a team is something that has been
never altered over the times, which can be anytime realized. The duration and the
intensity of the celebrations of a sporting victory are indicative. Even further, the
aristocratic background of sport and Olympism did prevent neither sport in general
nor the Olympic ideal from having a huge involvement in the evolution of
democracy in the modern world. Either via the political influence of the sporting
clubs or via the promotion of regulations and principles and through the interaction
of regulatory systems of legislations and the rules of the sporting movement, it can
be noticed that the modern sport has an intense political dimension. It is not random
from this point of view that sport and the Olympic movement we