INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY REPORT ON THE FORTY FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SESSION FOR YOUNG PARTICIPANTS 23 MAY – 6 JUNE 2004 ΑNCIENT OLYMPIA Published and edited jointly by the International Olympic Academy and the International Olympic Committee 52, Dimitrios Vikelas Avenue, 152 33, Halandri - Athens, GREECE 2005 Scientific Supervisor: Dr Konstantinos GEORGIADIS, I.O.A. Dean INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY FORTY FOURTH SESSION SPECIAL SUBJECT: OLYMPIC GAMES: CULTURAL AND ETHICAL PARAMETERS 23 MAY – 6 JUNE 2004 ΑNCIENT OLYMPIA EPHORIA OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY President Nikos FILARETOS (I.O.C.Member) 1st Vice-President Lambis NIKOLAOU (I.O.C.Member) Dean Kostantinos GEORGIADIS Members Dimitris DIATHESSOPOULOS Stelios AGELOUDIS Leonidas VAROUXIS Konstantinos KARTALIS Emmanuel KATSIADAKIS Fani PALLI-PETRALIA Andreas FOURAS Honorary President Juan Antonio SAMARANCH Honorary Vice-President Nikolaos YALOURIS THE HELLENIC OLYMPIC COMMITTEE President Lambis NIKOLAOU (IOC Member) 1st Vice-President Spyros ZANNIAS 2nd Vice-President Freddy SERPIERIS Secretary General Dimitris DIATHESSOPOULOS Treasurer Athanassios BELIGRATIS Deputy Secretary General Athanassios PRAGALOS Deputy Treasurer Andreas ARVANITIS Member ex-officio Nikos FILARETOS (I.O.C. Member) 7 Members Stelios AGELOUDIS Georgios VASSILAKOPOULOS Ioannis VASSILIADIS Pyrros DIMAS Dimitris DIMITROPOULOS Ilias DIAMANDIS Theodoros THEODORIDIS Pavlos KANELLAKIS Emmanouel KATSIADAKIS Emmanuel KOLIMBADIS Georgios LISSARIDIS Thomas MEDESSIDIS Panayotis MITSIOPOULOS Fani PALLI-PETRALIA Ioannis PANTELIDIS Ioannis PAPADOYANNAKIS Paraskevi PATOULIDOU Konstantinos PAVLOYANNIS Ioannis SGOUROS Vassilis SEVASTIS Christos SMYRLIS-LIAKATAS Georgios TSOGAS Andreas FOURAS Georgios HALKIDIS Theodoros HAMAKOS Theodoros CHRONOPOULOS 8 IOC COMMISSION FOR CULTURE AND OLYMPIC EDUCATION Chairman Zhenliang HE (CHN) Vice Chairman: Nikos FILARETOS (GRE) Members: Vittorio ADORNI (ITA) Fernando F. Lima BELLO (POR) Valeriy BORZOV (UKR) Helen BROWNLEE (AUS) Charmaine CROOKS (CAN) Iván DIBOS (PER) Conrado DURÁNTEZ (ESP) Kostas GEORGIADIS (GRE) Nat INDRAPANA (THA) Karl LENNARTZ (GER) Marc MAES (BEL) Alicia MASONI de MOREA (ARG) Samih MOUDALLAL (SYR) Norbert MÜLLER (GER) Roque-Napoléon MUÑOZ-PEÑA (DOM) Carol MUSHETT (USA) Mohamed MZALI (TUN) Lambis V. NIKOLAOU (GRE) Francis Were NYANGWESO (UGA) 9 Robert PARIENTE (FRA) Sam RAMSAMY (RSA) Thomas P. ROSANDICH (USA) Mounir SABET (EGY) Henri SÉRANDOUR (FRA) Klaus SCHORMANN (GER) Ching-Kuo WU (TPE) 10 “WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY AGAIN, AS IS TRADITIONAL, ON THE PNYX HILL, NEAR THE ACROPOLIS, IN THIS CITY OF ATHENS, WHICH HAS SEEN THE REBIRTH OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES AND WHICH, IN LESS THAN THREE MONTHS, WILL PLAY HOST TO THE YOUNG ATHLETES OF THE WHOLE WORLD … THIS RETURN TO THE ROOTS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES WILL BE UN UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT FOR THE PEOPLE OF GREECE AND THE WORLD SPORTS MOVEMENT” Quotation from the message of the IOC President, Dr Jacques ROGGE at the Opening Ceremony of the 44th International Session for Young Participants of the International Olympic Academy. Ancient Olympia, 24 May 2004 The Hill of Pnyx during the Opening Ceremony of the Session. The Acropolis and the flags. The Hill of Pnyx during the Opening Ceremony Session. Acropolis and flags. PROLOGUE The 44th International Session for Young Participants was held at the IOA premises in Ancient Olympia on the special subject: "Olympic Games: Cultural and Ethical Parameters". There were 143 participants (72 women and 71 men) from 81 countries, 10 lecturers (2 women and 8 men), 9 guests (6 women and 3 men) and 22 coordinators (13 women and 9 men) who attended the Session. The average age of the participants was 30 years old. The official Opening Ceremony of the Session was held in the afternoon of 24th May 2005 at the Hill of the Pnyx, in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Democracy, Mr Konstantinos Stefanopoulos and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Jacques Rogge, who addressed the officials as well as the participants. The President of the International Olympic Academy, Dr Nikos Filaretos, the Deputy Minister of Culture responsible for Sports, Mr George Orfanos, the Mayor of Athens, Mrs Dora Bakoyannis and, on behalf of the lecturers, Professor Jim Parry, addressed the officials and the participants. The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and Member of the IOC Executive Committee, Mr Lambis Nikolaou, declared the works of the Session opened. At the opening ceremony of the 44th International Session, the International Olympic Academy honoured the Honorary President for Life of the IOC H.E. Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, with the award “OLYMPIA”, the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games “ATHENS 2004” through the President Mrs Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki and the city of Athens through its Mayor Mrs Dora Bakoyiannis with the award “ATHENS” and finally Mrs Voula Patoulidou, the only Greek woman athlete who has ever won a gold medal in the Olympic Games of Barcelona 1992 at 100 meters hurdles with the award “DELPHI”. The IOC awarded the “Olympic Order” to Mr. Ioannis Papadoyannakis for his contribution to the Olympic Movement. As always, the participants visited the archaeological sites in Athens, in Delphi and in Olympia. In his address and introductory speech during the Opening Ceremony of the works of the Session in Ancient Olympia, the IOA President Dr Nikos 13 Filaretos presented the educational aspects of Olympism. The Vice-Prefect of Elis, Mr Haralambos Kafiras, and the Mayor of Ancient Olympia, Mr Yannis Skoularikis, honoured the ceremony with their presence and addressed the participants. After the ceremony, a laying of wreaths took place at the stele of Pierre de Coubertin, renovator of the Modern Olympic Games and at the commemorative monument of Ioannis Ketseas and Carl Diem, pioneers of the International Olympic Academy. The works of the Session started with the lecture of the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Mr Philip Craven, who presented the social and ethical aspects of the Paralympic Games and continued with the lecture of the President of Special Olympics in Greece, Mrs Gianna Despotopoulou, on the social and ethical parameters of the World Games of the Special Olympics. The President of the National Olympic Committee of Uruguay and IOC member, Dr Julio César Maglione, presented in his lecture the cultural parameters of the Olympic Games while Professor Jim Parry elaborated on the ethical dimensions of the Olympic Movement. The Managing Director of the "Athens 2004" Organising Committee, Mr Yannis Spanoudakis gave a lecture on the cultural and ethical dimension of volunteerism in the Olympic Games of Athens 2004. The General Director of the International Olympic Truce Centre, Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis and the Vice-President of the International Truce Centre and leader of the Opposition in Greece, Mr George Papandreou presented the importance of the Olympic Truce within the International Community. The Assistant Professor, Dr Cesar Torres talked on the ethical aspects of the Olympic Games. Finally, Dr Kostas Kartalis, Professor at the University of Athens and former Secretary General to the Ministry of Culture for the Olympic Games gave his lecture on the various effects of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games on the city and the organizing country. Mr Filbert Bayi from Tanzania, Olympic silver medallist in 3000 m. steeplechase in the Olympic Games of Moscow in 1980, former 1500 m. and mile world record holder and Secretary General of the Tanzania Olympic Committee as well as Dr Stephanie Cook from Great Britain, Olympic gold medallist in Modern Pentathlon in the Olympic Games of Sydney 2000 presented their Olympic Experiences. 14 The President of the International Committee for the Mediterranean Games, Mr Amar Addadi (Algeria), and the Ambassador of Korea, Mr Hae Moon Chung were among the nine guests of the IOA who took part in the works of the Session. The activities of the Academy during the Session, that aimed at the creation of a friendly relationship among participants with different cultures through artistic activities (Literature and Poetry Workshop), sports activities (basketball, track, football, volleyball, table-tennis, tennis, swimming) and social activities (sketches, games, traditional dances), were once more very successful. Moreover, an Internet workshop for beginners took place during the Session under the guidance of the group discussion coordinators. For the fifth consecutive time, the Session was broadcasted through the Internet. Hundreds of young people from various parts of the world had the opportunity to watch it, make comments and ask questions to the lecturers directly, in collaboration with the Internet workshop coordinator. In this way, the vision of the IOA for education on Olympic subjects and the initiation of the participants into the Olympic Ideal at a universal level was realised. A lot of past participants in IOA Sessions from various parts of the world continue watching the works of the Sessions through the Internet. The conclusions worked out by the discussion groups were, once more, particularly remarkable. The participants analyzed the meaning of Olympism, Olympic Education, Olympic Truce, the social role of athletes as well as the cultural and ethical parameters of the Olympic Games. The conclusions were sent to all IOC Members and to the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education. An issue that we should consider in the future is that although there are 202 National