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Avery Brundage Speech. Opening Ceremony, 62Nd Session Avery Brundage Speech Opening Ceremony 62nd Session International Olympic Committee Tokyo, Japan, October 6th, 1964 advanced and huge sums have been spent Assembled here in Tokyo, 10,000 miles in the construction of new hotels and other from headquarters in Lausanne, for its 62nd private buildings. As a side benefit, citizens Session, the International Olympic Com- of Tokyo will enjoy living in a much more mittee can, without a doubt, reflect on its attractive and efficient city after the Games. accomplishments with no little pride. Not that its work is finished, far from it, but the Nor are the fine arts to be forgotten. The phenomenal progress that has been made Japanese are a sensitive people, they live in since the humble rebirth of the Olympic a country with many natural attractions and Games in 1896, and the position of the they are exposed continuously to the beauty Olympic Movement today, are assuredly of nature which they appreciate deeply. They worthy of acclaim. Nest Saturday, in the have developed their own schools of sculp- National Stadium in Meiji Olympic Park, ture, painting, architecture, music and liter- the Games of the XVIII Olympiad will open ature quite different from those of the West. before more than 85,000 spectators. When There will be many exhibitions and demonstr- 60,000 tickets for the opening ceremony were ations, theatrical performances and concerts placed on sale recently, there were more than which will be of great interest to foreign three and one-half million applications and visitors. it was necessary to hold a public drawing. television will bring the Games directly, not It is not only in facilities that new stan- only to 95,000,000 Japanese, for everyone dards are being set ; never before have the in the land of the Rising Sun will be watch- Games been adopted as their own personal ing, but also to countless millions in other project by all the people of a nation of countries by way of Satellite SYNCOM III. nearly 100,000,000. I have just returned from Matsue across the mountains on the Spanning all oceans, the Olympic Move- other side of this Island of Honshu. where ment has spread and the Games have tra- I participated in the dedication of a monu- velled from Greece, through Europe to Amer- ment to the late Baron S. Kishi, one of our ica, to the Antipodes, and now to the Orient, Japanese colleagues thirty years ago. They winning converts at every quadrennial stage are just as excited in that small town as and proving they belong to the entire world. they are in Tokyo itself and I am sure there In the meantime, 118 National Olympic is the same active interest in Sapporo on Committees have been recognized by the Hokkaido, in Beppu at the other end of the International Olympic Committee and are beautiful Inland Sea and in Nagasaki far eligible to participate. This means they have south on Kyushu. at least five National Federations, members of the International Amateur Sport Feder- The Japanese arc a proud people — they ations, and that they are ready and eager will not be happy unless they demonstrate to follow Olympic rules of fair play and good to all the world that they can stage the sportsmanship, not because they have to but Games as well or better than any other because they believe in them. National country. They may even be more eager Olympic Committees of such remote coun- because they realize more than others how tries as Tchad and outer Mongolia were much tragedy, sorrow and destruction would recognized at a recent meeting. have been avoided if the ancient Greek No finer facilities have ever been offered Olympic practice of stopping all wars had than those provided by our Japanese friends been followed in 1940 when the Games of under the leadership of President Daigoro the XII Olympiad had to be cancelled be- Yasukawa of the Organizing Committee. cause of world conditions. Moreover the Many beautiful structures of traditional Ja- Japanese have a naturel harmony with panese architectural design will be commun- Olympic objectives that makes them want ity assets for generations to come. Our to stage the Games on the highest level. colleague, Dr. Kyotaro Azuma, Governor of They know that in medieval Japan the mer- the great City of Tokyo, has estimated that chant or trader ranked far lower on the preparatory expenditures, private and pub- social scale than the Samurai, whose code lic, will probably exceed three billion dol- was based on the cardinal virtue of honour, lars. This is not for the Games, we hasten valued above life itself, and on fidelity, to add, but because of the Games. The pro- loyalty and justice. A people trained to gram&e of civic improvements of the Mun- admire the tenacity of the 47 Ronin and icipality for the next ten years has been the extreme discipline of Hara kiri and the 30 Kamikaze, they also value highly the disci- Baron de Coubertin and has led the Olympic pline of sport. Heirs of the Samurai, Japa- Movement to this lofty position can certainly nese sportsmen appreciate the philosophy of look upon its work with modest pride. the Olympic Movement and are worthy However, it is not yet generally understood bearers of the Olympic torch. that the revival of the Olympic Games is only the first phase of Coubertin’s programme. Certainly it takes something more than an The Games were to arouse the interest of ordinary sport festival to capture the active Governments, of educators, and of the pub- interest of every man, woman and child in lic in establishing national programmes of one of the most populous countries in the physical training and competitive amateur world and to warrant expenditures of over sport, which would assist in the tasks of three billion dollars. What is the reason ? eradicating social injustice, of combating the It is the same reason that led bomb shattered growing materialism of our times, and of London, world capital, even before the correcting features of expanding industrial- damage was repaired to undertake the Games ism and urban living that are destructive of the XIV Olympiad as its first major pro- to health and morals. In addition, by extend- ject after the close of the disastrous World ing the ancient Greek idea, which was strictly War. Already forty years before, London national, to all countries, they were to create had staged the Games and recognized their and develop international amity and good importance. Little Finland, one of the top will. Governments have become aware of Olympic nations, victim of two savage wars the Olympic Movement through the popul- and shocking backbreaking indemnities, felt arity of the Olympic Games, but the most the same way in 1952 and staged in Helsinki, difficult task remains — they must now be one of the finest sets of Games. In Australia, guided along proper paths and learn that the Melbourne Games of 1956 were considered the true objective is not the transitory glory the best investment they ever made. They of a few medals and broken records by a increased tourism, stimulated investment highly trained sports elite, but the develop- and business. both domestic and foreign, ment of a strong and healthy youth brought and literally brought Australia into the up on the highest principles of the amateur world. Rome, mother of Cities, in 1960, code. after seeking the Games for more than fifty years, considered the more than $100,000,000 Educators are gradually awakening to the which it spent, a small price to be capital educational values of amateur sport when of the World of Sport. The Olympic Games used properly and not for commercial pur- have become and are generally recognized poses and they must follow the lead of de Cou- as the greatest of all international events. bertin, who recognized the XIX Century Olympic cities are set apart with a certain revolution in academic theories, and aim prestige that can be gained no other way toward the ideal of the Golden Age of Peri- and that is why at times there have been as cles, the complete or ‘perfect’ man, mentally, many as seventeen submitting invitations physically and spiritually, emphasizing char- to stage the Games despite the trouble and acter more than knowledge. expense involved. The Olympic Movement is a 20th Century Just why has the Olympic Movement religion, a religion with universal appeal gained this important position ? It is be- which incorporates all the basic values of cause the Games are far more than merely other religions, a modern, exciting, virile, another sport festival. They are a social dynamic religion, attractive to Youth, and manifestation of the first order. In the we of the International Olympic Committee Olympic Village here in Tokyo, ready for are its disciples. Here is no injustice of caste, two weeks of strenuous competition in a score of race, of family, of wealth ; on the sports of different sports, are selected contestants field, everyone stands or falls on his own from every continent. Ignoring superficial merit. Amateurism. love of the achievement racial, religious and political differences, they rather than the reward, brings success in all are united in a desire for friendly compet- spheres. Physical training conserves health. ition, judged solely on merit. The tenets of The code of sportsmanship is that of the the Olympic Movement appeal because they Golden Rule. Friendly association on the include the basic aspirations of all men. fields of sport leads to mutual understanding Black and white, infidel and believer, radical and peace.
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