Olympic Spirit
Introduction
The "Olympic Charter" points out that the Olympic spirit is the spirit of mutual understanding, friendship, unity and fair competition.
The Olympic spirit plays a very important guiding role in the Olympic movement.
First of all, the Olympic spirit emphasizes tolerance and understanding of cultural differences. The Olympic Movement is an international movement, and it inevitably faces various differences among cultures in the world and various problems caused by them. Athletes, coaches, sports officials and spectators from all over the world have different skin colors, wear different clothes, speak different languages, have different lifestyles, perform different religious rituals, and express their joy in different ways of behavior. Anger, sorrow and joy. These racial and cultural differences are often reinforced by conflicts in political systems, economic systems and ideologies between countries. In a certain sense, the quadrennial Olympic Games concentrates all the sports culture in the world into a narrow space and time, so the differences between different cultures are particularly eye-catching. Differences are contradictions, and contradictions may lead to conflicts. The Olympic spirit emphasizes mutual understanding, friendship and unity, which is to form a spiritual atmosphere. In this atmosphere, people can get rid of the prejudices brought by their respective cultures. In the display of different cultures, what they see is not contradictions and conflicts, but a cultural picture of human society in full bloom, making cultural differences a Promote people to communicate with each other, rather than closing barriers; make conflicts a driving force for mutual learning, rather than an inducement to look down on each other. Only in this kind of atmosphere can people break their narrow horizons, recognize and understand things beyond their own nation with the broad mind of a world citizen, realize that all nations have magical imagination and great creativity, and learn to Respect other nations, view others and yourself in a more objective and fair manner, humbly absorb the excellent elements of other cultures, and constantly enrich yourself, so that the international exchanges advocated by the Olympic Movement can truly be realized.
Secondly, the Olympic spirit emphasizes fairness and justice in competitive sports. The Olympic Movement takes competitive sports as its main activity content, and the most essential characteristics of competitive sports are competition and confrontation. In direct and fierce physical confrontations and competitions, athletes' bodies, psychology and morals are well exercised and cultivated, and the audience also gets sensory entertainment and subtle education. However, the basic premise of the educational function and cultural entertainment function of competitive sports is fair competition. Only on the basis of fair competition can competition be meaningful, athletes from all countries can maintain and strengthen the relationship of unity and friendship, and the Olympic Movement can achieve its sacred goal. As the late famous American black track and field athlete Jesse Owens said, "In sports, people learn not only competition, but also respect for others, life ethics, how to spend their lives, and how to treat their own kind. ".
Contents of "Olympic Spirit"
"Olympic Spirit" was a speech delivered by Coubertin in April 1919 in Lausanne, Switzerland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the resumption of the Olympic movement. It is the foundation of the Olympic movement. Important documents, Coubertin used poetic language to explain the connotation and value of the Olympic spirit.
After briefly reviewing five years of history, Coubertin explained the differences between the Olympic spirit and the purely competitive spirit. He believes that the pure competitive spirit can only bring the athletes a sense of psychological contentment, while the Olympic spirit will bring people a sense of beauty and honor. This is exactly the spirit that Coubertin admired in his heart. In "Ode to Sports", he also sang enthusiastically, praising sports as the embodiment of beauty, art, justice, bravery, honor, fun, vitality, progress and peace.
Coubertin was an educator, and his educational thoughts were the core of his sports thoughts. In his speech, he explained "the reason for ringing the bell of reopening the Olympic era": based on the desire to reform education. He is dissatisfied with the current situation that "young people are often bound by old and complicated teaching methods, stupid and harsh preaching, and clumsy and superficial philosophy." Comprehensive, balanced and coordinated development. Coubertin once inspected and studied the ruins of the ancient Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and believed that "the ancient Greeks organized competitions not only to exercise physical fitness and show a cheap spectacle, but also to educate people." It can be said that the fundamental purpose of Coubertin's revival of the Olympic Games was to educate young people through sports competition. Therefore, he was determined to "combine the Anglo-Saxon sports utilitarianism with the noble and strong concepts passed down from ancient Greece to create a new Olympic era." era".
How to turn the Olympic spirit into reality? Coubert put forward an important concept: "public" participation, even "citizens with the lowest status" should be able to "enjoy" this spirit . Coubertin's famous saying "It is more important to participate than to win" (also translated as "It is important to participate rather than to win") also emphasizes the essence of this Olympic thought. In another speech, he once pointed out: "Gentlemen, please remember this sonorous saying. This argument can be extended to many fields. What is important in life is not victory but battle."
The purpose of spreading these maxims is to create stronger human beings - thus making human beings more rigorous, prudent, brave and noble. ’’ It can be seen that Coubertin had a very broad mind in advocating and reviving the Olympic movement. It was based on the continuous self-improvement of all mankind as a starting point, and it was by no means calling on people to simply fight for laurels and gold medals.
So, what is the connotation of the Olympic spirit? In paragraph 5, Coubertin gave a detailed explanation. He believes that the Olympic spirit is one of the forces for mankind to absorb ancient traditions and build the future. This power is reflected in: although it is "not enough to ensure social peace", it can still promote peace; although it "cannot distribute production and consumption more balancedly for human beings" "the right to obtain material necessities", but it can still promote fairness; although "it cannot provide young people with free opportunities to receive intellectual training", it can still promote education. Peace, fairness, and education are, in his opinion, the complete and democratic Olympic spirit.
The connotation of the Olympic spirit
Since the Olympic Games emerged in the sacred Olympus as a healthy and upward sports competition more than 2,000 years ago, it has become a symbol of devotion to the ancient Greeks. A precious spiritual-cultural wealth of mankind. Today, the connotation of the Olympic Movement has gone far beyond the scope of sports competition. It has become a cultural event and civilizational heritage for all mankind. Its rich connotation and its importance to human life are increasing day by day. Regarding the connotation of the Olympic spirit, I would like to emphasize the following aspects:
The Olympics is a competitive spirit. The Olympic spirit is a spirit of self-challenge of "faster, stronger, higher". It is also the spirit of fair, just, equal and free sports competition. The spirit of self-challenge and fair competition contained in the Olympics constitute the cornerstone of contemporary human self-improvement and social interaction.
The Olympics is an attitude towards life. The Olympic spirit emphasizes that people can have a healthy body, an optimistic spirit, and a love and pursuit of a better life through self-exercise and self-participation. This optimistic and positive attitude towards life gives us complete confidence and a powerful motivation to overcome all challenges.
The Olympics is a philosophy of life. The Olympic Charter points out that "Olympism is a philosophy of life that balances and improves various qualities of body, mind and spirit." The Olympics integrates sports with culture and education, allowing people to The perfect harmony between body and soul, spirit and quality enables human potential and virtue to be fully developed. It is by far the best and most complete philosophy of life for mankind.
The Olympics is a modern ethics of harmony, freedom, health and positivity. The lifestyle that Olympism seeks to establish is based on the joy experienced in struggle, the educational value of good examples and a fundamental respect for general ethics. The ethical values ??in the Olympic spirit are the greatest respect and advocacy for human potential and free creation, human civilization and excellent order, and are the inheritance and development of all excellent human moral values ??and ethical norms. It guides people to pursue the most optimized ethical concept of survival and development. This ethical concept is the guarantee for the harmonious coexistence of human beings and the environment, and the coordinated development of individuals and society.
The Olympic Movement is a unique heritage of human civilization. The lively and exciting competitions, the training of young volunteers, the construction of sports venues, the conception of urban planning, the brilliant artistic performances, and the global coverage of event broadcasts and viewing have become valuable Olympic heritage. In the era of globalization, the Olympic Movement has become a grand event for civilizations and cultures of all countries to jointly create spiritual creations.
Today, the Olympics has become a common desire, a common expectation, and a common wish for all mankind. It continues to enrich with the passage of time, constantly adding new connotations, and becoming a precious spiritual and cultural heritage that mankind continues to innovate and grow.
Athletes’ deeds
Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao’s performance at the Winter Olympics
Xinhuanet News Agence France-Presse commented on the Winter Olympics Pairs Figure Skating Pairs Skating on the 14th game, I think the ice rink staged a touching scene. Although the gold medal was won by a Russian athlete, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao performed amazingly well in the free skating event, winning applause from the audience and rewriting history.
It is reported that Russian pairs skating stars Totemyanina and Malinin won the figure skating pairs championship at this Winter Olympics, continuing Russia (the former Soviet Union) since 1964. Brooke's dominance in pairs skating since the Winter Olympics. However, a pair of young Chinese players Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao stole the limelight of this game. They accidentally fell to the ground while doing the opening jump at the Palavela Stadium, but they continued to compete with their strong perseverance and won the championship for the first time. China won its first silver medal in pairs skating. Chinese pairs skating stars Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were bronze medalists in this event at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. In this competition, they were 2.82 points behind the second place and won the bronze medal again. Another Chinese pair, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, finished fourth.
It is reported that although Totmianina and Malinin won the 12th Winter Olympics pairs skating championship for Russia (the former Soviet Union), China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao were in the free skating event. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao performed amazingly well and won applause from the audience. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao came on the stage after Tottemianina and Malinin completed the game moves flawlessly.
In order to rewrite history, this pair of Chinese athletes started their entire set of moves with a difficult quadruple jump to the accompaniment of the music "Descendants of the Dragon". However, during the jump, a Chinese player made a mistake. The 20-year-old Zhang Dan did not spin enough times in the air and fell to the ice, causing a severe sprain of his right knee, which made the entire audience hold their breath. After the game was suspended for 3 minutes, they bravely continued the game amidst the warm applause of the audience and won a silver medal. After the game, Zhang Dan said: "You can't imagine how painful it is. This is challenging the limits of human beings." Zhang Hao said they didn't know what to do at the time. He explained: "Our brains were blank. We didn't know where to start and continue the game. But after the coach gave us guidance, we gradually began to calm down." Totmianina reminded future Russian players : The crown of pairs skating should not be easily handed over to Chinese skaters whose level continues to improve.