Olympic Spirit is an officially sanctioned programme of the International Olympic Committee

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...

. A number of initiatives are underway in Canada (Vancouver hosts the 2010 Olympic Winter Games), Beijing (host of the 2008 Olympic Games), London (host of the 2012 Olympic Games), Japan, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

International Olympic Committee Official Programme

The mission of Olympic Spirit is "to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play - Olympic Spirit strives to inspire and motivate the youth of the world to be the best they can be through educational and entertaining interactive challenges. Olympic Spirit seeks to instill and develop the values and ideals of Olympism in those who visit and to promote tolerance and understanding in these increasingly troubled time in which we live, to make our world a more peaceful place."

Olympic Spirit "will give Olympic athletes and sports much higher profiles and the increased attention they deserve... People - young and old alike - will be able to experience the sports and the intensity of the competitions personally through interactive exhibits and demonstrations [giving] everyone attending a sincere appreciation for what the athletes experience - and endure. The Canadian Olympic Committee

Canadian Olympic Committee

The Canadian Olympic Committee - COC is the private, non-profit organization representing Canadian athletes in the International Olympic Committee and the Pan American Games. It was formally recognized by the IOC in 1907. The COC also represents the selection of Canadian cities in their bid for...

  is thrilled to be part of such a fun, exciting and dynamic project."

General concept

More generally, the term "Olympic spirit" is an oft-referred to but perhaps vaguely-defined concept associated with the Olympic Games. Some media equate it with Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...

's statement that "The important thing is not to win, but to take part", and view athletes who try their best but finish last as epitomising the "Olympic spirit". Thus the Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...

 wrote: "True Olympic spirit is often found away from gold medallists with their agents and sponsorship deals -- it is found in its purest sense in those that come last." It cited Eric Moussambani

Eric Moussambani

Eric Moussambani Malonga is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea. Nicknamed "Eric the Eel" by the media after the name first appeared in an article by Craig Lord in The Times newspaper in London, Moussambani won brief international fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics when he swam his heat of the...

, Paula Barila Bolopa

Paula Barila Bolopa

Paula Barila Bolopa, born in 1981 or 1982, is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea. She was one of two Equatorial Guinean swimmers to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the other being Eric Moussambani....

, Abdul Baser Wasiqi

Abdul Baser Wasiqi

Abdul Baser Wasiqi is an Afghan athlete.Wasiqi represented Afghanistan at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He injured his leg before the marathon, but took part nonetheless. He completed the race despite his injury, after limping the whole way, with a time of 4:24:17, well short of his...

, Pyambuugiin Tuul, Charles Olemus

Charles Olemus

Charles Olemus is a Haitian former athlete.He ran in the men's 10,000 metre race at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He finished last, with a time of 42:0.11...

, Mala Sakonninhom, Luvsanlkhündegiin Otgonbayar, Mira Kasslin and Samia Hireche as incarnations of the Olympic spirit. In 2000, CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 published an article on Eric Moussambani entitled "Olympic spirit: Swimmer competes for love of sport". In 2008, a press officer with the Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an Tennis Federation described Nicolás Massú

Nicolás Massú

Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried , nicknamed Vampiro , is a Chilean tennis player, a former world number nine in singles, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist...

as having "really demonstrated the Olympic spirit: the effort, the struggle, his refusal to give up".

External links

• Olympic Spirit
• International Olympic Committee
• Canadian Olympic Committee