Olympic Games and the outlook for their future
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 26 September 1980 (11th Sitting) (see Doc. 4585, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 September 1980 (11th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Noting with regret that the Olympic Games are moving further and further away from the ancient ideal which it was sought to revive at the close of the last century ;
2. Noting that they no longer comply strictly with their purpose, namely participation in competitive sport for the honour and the physical and moral development of the individual ;
3. Deploring the fact that they have also, indeed mainly, become a political and commercial competition between major states and large cities, and that economic, industrial, financial, nationalist and ideological interests interfere with their competitive spirit ;
4. Deploring the impossibility, given the immense investments required for providing the facilities and organisation connected with an Olympiad, for medium-sized and small countries to take their turn in organising the Games ;
5. Deploring the fact that, instead of contributing towards peace, the Games are a source of discord in international relations ;
6. Recalling that the Games were in ancient times the occasion of a sacred truce, that no athlete from a nation at war could participate, and that warring cities were obliged to lay down their arms, at least temporarily, if they wished their champions to be allowed to compete ;
7. Hopeful that this aspect of the Olympic spirit too can be restored, and that encouragement will be given to any arrangements making it possible throughout the duration of the Games for hostilities between nations or peoples engaged in armed conflict to be broken off ;
8. Bearing in mind that in antiquity the Games were always held in the same place, at a site specially dedicated to that effect ;
9. Recalling the proposals made by the Government of the Republic of Greece in 1976, and repeated in 1980, for the permanent establishment of the Games in Greece ;
10. Recalling the resolution on sport in society adopted by the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Sport in London in 1978 ;
11. Welcoming the interest shown by the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, which has recently indicated its intention of supporting this resolution ;
12. Having taken note of the report by its Committee on Culture and Education (
Doc. 4585), which includes reference to studies and talks conducted in Greece,
13. Requests :
a that all competent public authorities, international and national organisations and bodies unite their efforts to prevent the Olympic Games from being dominated by politics and tainted by sheer scale, commercialisation, professionalism or any other kind of abuse threatening their survival ;
b that, in order to achieve this, the summer Olympic Games should henceforth be regularly and definitively held on the same site, namely in the neighbourhood of Olympia where they originated ;
c that this place, to be known as "Nea Olympia", should be granted the appropriate international status and placed under the authority of the International Olympic Committee ;
d that the Greek Government and the International Olympic Committee define the international status of Nea Olympia ;
e that arrangements be made to enable the facilities of Nea Olympia to be financed by an international fund ;
f that Nea Olympia may become a place where nations are brought closer together, and sports and cultural activities permanently organised, in particular by the construction of treasuries for art and athletes' hostels ;
g that the organisation and running of Olympic competition may conform as closely as possible to the idea of individual fulfilment, international fraternity and the promotion of peace, which is their raison d'être ;
h that the winter Olympic Games be organised according to the same principles ;
i that the governments of member states provide the International Olympic Committee with all possible support and all necessary assistance as a contribution towards the achievement of these aims.
