Olympism Essay

1004 Words3 Pages

Over the last 30 years, a paradigm shift has occurred between the International Olympic Committee 's original philosophy and the relationship with its global stakeholders. The IOC, fundamentally rooted in the Olympic philosophy of life, now seems primarily concerned with its own growing commercial prospects. The core ideals of Olympism are that of culture exchange, universal love of sport, championing human rights and enacting social reformations throughout the the global community (Olympic Charter 13). However, due to past financial deficits for Olympic hosts, the IOC shifted their focus to commercialization in order to secure funding for the Games (Pruess 6). Since 1984, the IOC has entirely changed the ways it delivers the Games, in the …show more content…

The concentration on commercialization and finding new revenue streams erodes this core Olympic principle, as it begets focusing on the subset of the world population with the most purchasing power. Specifically, the Western population with high disposable time and income: “Global sport can serve the role as a unifier of nations, building social capital and inter-cultural understanding of liberation and democracy. However, the present structure of global sport can be seen as a promotion of the consumer-dominated phase of western capitalism” (McGuire 64).The IOC’s heightened focus on commercialization has come to directly contradict Olympic principle number two: “the goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind” (Olympic Charter 13). This excerpt is a criticism of the IOC’s recent Celebrating Humanity …show more content…

The IOC placing increasing value on corporate sponsorship, profitability, and brand management naturally opposes the true purpose of Olympism: a platform for social reform. These competing interpretations of Olympism in the modern day have created tension between the original ideal and its practical realization by the IOC (Girginov 2). The need for commercial financing to sustain the Games should not overrule the foundation the Olympic ideal is built upon, that of Olympism (Papanikolaou 4). It appears the social reform function lined out in the Olympic Charter has taken a backseat to the IOC’s bottom

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