EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES: VALUING OLYMPIC SPIRIT

“What is Olympic is universal.”

Baron Pierre de Coubertin

Sport is the mean to achieve one’s true goals rather than an end in itself. And goals are as diverse as are people. In the private sphere, sport can be seen and use as a means to excel, to develop the sense of effort, to transcend and surpass oneself. It can also be seen as a way to lose weight, to make friends, to enjoy being outside, etc.

In the public arena, sport has become an instrument in many public policies, from education to health, from social fabric improvement to inequality reduction, from access to culture and art to mobility planning.

The combination of individual motivation and public engagement to promote sport practice is based on the spread of the values that underlie Olympism:  friendship, respect and excellence. And the strength of these values is that they are identifiable and shared by all. The universality of the Olympic message is strong enough to be understood and “lived” worldwide.

The cases presented in this section highlight sport as a very powerful  educational tool and as a catalyst for health, social cohesion and collective apprenticeship.

Olympic Legacy is therefore integrated, absorbed in our daily lives and practices.