Twenty-Seventh Session 1St-16Th July 1987
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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY TWENTY-SEVENTH SESSION lst-16th JULY 1987 Published by the International Olympic Committee and the Hellenic Olympic Committee in collaboration with Dr. Otto Szymiczek, Dean of the International Olympic Academy INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY REPORT OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH SESSION lst-16th JULY 1987 ANCIENT OLYMPIA IOC COMMISSION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY President Mr. Nikos FILARETOS IOC Member in Greece Members Mrs. Flor ISAVA FONSECA IOC Member in Venezuela Mr. Roberto G. PEPER IOC Member in Argentina Mr. Wlodzimierz RECZEK IOC Member in Poland Mr. Giorgio de STEFANI IOC Member in Italy Mr. Ahmed D. TOUNY IOC Member in Egypt Mr. Mohamed ZERGUINI IOC Member in Algeria Mr. Francesco GNECCHI-RUSCONE Representative of the IF's President of the International Archery Federation Mr. Abdul-Muttaleb AHMAD Representative of the NOC's Miss Michelle FORD Representative of the Athletes Commission Olympic Champion (swimming) Professor Norbert MULLER Individual Member 7 EPHORIA (BOARD OF TRUSTEES) OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY President Mr. Nikos FILARETOS IOC Member in Greece Secretary General of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games First Vice-Président Mr. Ioannis PAPADOYANNAKIS Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Second Vice-Président Mr. Vassilis ROTIS Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Dean Dr. Otto SZYMICZEK President of the International Track and Field Coaches Association Silver Medal of the Olympic Order Members Mr. George VICHOS Secretary General of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Mr. Stavros LAGAS Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Mr. Athanassios TZARTZANOS Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Mr. Nikolaos YALOURIS Honorary General Inspector of Archaeology Mr. Jack KARYOTAKIS Director of the Museum of Modern Olympic Games 8 FOREWORD It is an old tradition with the International Olympic Academy to include in the annual activity reports, as part of the introduction, a general assess- ment of the IOA's work which provides information to the reader about the report's contents and highlights the main events in the year's activities. It should be pointed out, right from the start, that this past year has been a year of varied and constructive activities for the IOA, including a series of international meetings as well as visits of representatives from Greek and foreign universities and other organisations. A sad event that cast its shadow on the IOA's activities during 1987 was the absence of Nikos Nissiotis who had been the President of the IOA for 11 years. His unexpected death has affected everyone because Professor Nissiotis, a respected figure among scientific circles, was loved by all the members of the Olympic family. All participants at this year's sessions honoured the memory of Nikos Nissiotis and deplored his untimely loss. The Olympic Movement, however, is an ongoing process and the IOA, its international spiritual centre, cannot suspend its efforts for the teaching and propagation of Olympic Ideology. It therefore went on with its manifold activities, while trying to fill the gap created by the death of Professor Nissiotis whose memory will be with us forever. The new President of the IOA is Mr. Nikos Filaretos, IOC and HOC member, a prominent figure in banking, with an active contribution to the Olympic Idea as a member of the HOC. We are very proud of the fact that the IOA's facilities this year were more beautiful than ever, enhanced as they were by the luxuriant vegetation of the area and the carefully tended trees, flowers and hedges on its grounds. Foreign visitors who came to the IOA for the first time were impressed because this was perhaps their first contact with the true Olympic nature, in direct communion with God and its mystic grandeur ; our old friends, on the other hand, never failed to express their sincere admiration for the incom- parable beauty of this truly Olympic landscape. Perhaps this is the reason why, although the IOA welcomed a large number of officials, visitors, guests and participants, the atmosphere was always warm and friendly, with everybody feeling really at home. We believe that the Olympic landscape, the ancient sacred sites, the marble ruins with their century-old history, all promote sentiments of friendship, fraterni- sation and peace and make the IOA a place unique in the world where the Olympic Idea can develop and flourish. The IOA can pursue its significant work for the promotion of Olympism thanks to the patronage and moral support of the IOC, the recognition of Greek sporting authorities, the financial and many-sided assistance of the 9 HOC, the Olympic Solidarity grants to foreign NOCs and finally thanks to the dedicated and tireless efforts of its associates, lecturers and staff. This year, thanks to the special aid from Olympic Solidarity, a very large number of participants from 49 countries came to the 27th Session. The opening ceremony on the Pnyx, a very grand occasion, was held in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Science, Mrs. Melina Mercouri, who delivered a special address, the President of the IOC, Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was the main speaker, numerous Greek and foreign offi- cials, ambassadors, etc. as well as ten IOC members. Special mention should be made of the significant contribution of the lecturers at the IOA's Session. This year too, the old, veteran lecturers, filled with Olympic enthusiasm, and the new-comers who lectured at Olympia for the first time, all presented their subjects in a comprehensive manner. They willingly answered questions and took an active part in the working groups, with useful advice and information, helping young participants who had no previous experience of such work. The overall organisation and running of the working groups during the Sessions was supervised by Professor John Powell (CAN) and Mrs. Nadia Lekarska (BUL), both old and dear friends of the IOA. This year we were able to discuss many of the controversial issues of Olympism, since each working group at the 27th Session had been given a separate subject to study and discuss. I decided to try this new approach and the lecturers gladly adopted it. It turned out that in this way each subject could be considered without any rush, with sufficient time to allow all participants to take part in the discussion and that the final conclusions were thus enriched by the contribution of the seven groups. Lecturers and participants at the 27th Session were very pleased because, for the first time, the IOA had invited the ten IOC members who agreed to answer questions from the floor. In this way a warm contact could be established among the young participants and IOC members, while the national representatives were able to obtain information on matters related to their NOCs. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Raymond Gafner, Administrateur délégué of the IOC. The following IOC members were present and spoke at this interesting meeting: H. E. Major General Olufemi Adefope (NIG), Mrs. Flor Isava Fonseca (VEN), Mr. Wlodzimierz Reczek (POL), Mr. Roberto G. Peper (ARG), Mr. Raymond Gafner (SUI), Mr. Nikos Filaretos (GRE), H. E. Mr. Mohamed Zerguini (ALG), Professor René Essomba (CMR). In addition, the following IOC members presented successful lectures at this Session: Mr. Un Yong Kim (KOR), Vice-Président of the Organising Committee of the Seoul Games, Mr. Pál Schmitt (HUN) and Mr. N. Filaretos (GRE), President of the IOA. Lectures were also delivered by Olympic champions Michelle Ford (AUS), Lia Manoliu (ROM), and Vladislav Tretyak (URS), who are all members of the IOC's Sports Com- mission. Mr. Francesco Gnecchi-Ruscone (ITA), President of the Inter- national Archery Federation, attended the Session as the IF representa- tive. Among the other speakers, we should mention especially Mr. A. Lopez (ESP), Director of the IOC's Olympic Solidarity, because it was the first time 10 that the valuable work of this committee has been presented at an IOA session. The 2nd Session of Sport Journalists, held in Ancient Olympia from 17th-21 st June 1987, was a great success. It was attended by forty prominent journalists from twenty-six countries who found the proceedings so inter- esting and useful that they submitted a proposal to the competent IOC and IOA bodies to have such sessions for sport journalists on a regular basis. Mr. Jacques Marchand, President of the AIPS Committee for Training Courses and Education, was one of the speakers, together with the Dean of the IOA, Dr. Otto Szymiczek, Mr. Ilias Sporidis, member of the HOC and President of UEPS, and Mr. Athanassios Tzartzanos, member of the IOA's Ephoria. The 6th Special Session for NOC and IF members and staff was con- vened from 25th June-3rd July and was attended by 59 delegates from 41 National Olympic Committees and International Federations. It was a very successful session and among the lecturers we should note Mr. Ivan Dibos (PER), member of the IOC's Executive Board, Mr. Mbaye (SEN), Vice-Président of the International Tribunal, Mrs. Françoise Zweifel (SUI), Secretary General of the IOC, Mr. Raoul Mollet, President of the Belgian NOC, the old friend and collaborator of the IOA, Dr. John Powell and others. The session was attended by presidents, secretaries, directors and members of NOCs and IFs. The working groups considered the following four subjects during their discussions: Olympism and Youth, Olympic Edu- cation, The Role and Problems of NOCs, Relations and Cooperation between the IOC and NOCs. The main theme of the 27th Session was "Youth and the Future of Olympism" and the programme included lectures, short papers by young Olympic champions who had taken part in the Olympic Games and pre- sented their impressions. These presentations are always followed with con- siderable interest by the participants because the young speakers describe their impressions of the Olympic Games, as competitors, accompanying staff, judges, etc., under different angles; in this way, in addition to the purely competitive aspect, the sociability of the Games, the development of relations among young people from different countries, political systems, etc., can be highlighted.