On the harmonious development of athletes in olympics

Introduction

In the past one hundred years, the Olympics have unwaveringly persisted in promoting the harmonious development of the participants and have it as the lofty goal. The athletes make up the body part of the Olympics, being the chief carrier and practitioner of its creeds. It is by them that the ideas and spirits of the Olympics are exhibited, spread and enhanced. Accordingly, to ensure a healthy and sustainable development of the Olympics in the 21st century, we must get the main body strengthened, and pay sufficient attention to the harmonious development of the athletes, so that they can become models and good examples in society in its real sense.

Methods

Methods: (1) of document; (2) of history; (3) of logic.

Results

1. the ultimate goal of human and social development is the former’s development, which contains the harmony in human’s physical and mental state, interpersonal relation and nature-human relation. In pursuit of development is one of the main goals and motives in life. To some extent, the pursuit of an ideal society is that of human development for social development, in the final analysis, is human development.
2. the Olympics aims at contributing to the harmonious development of human beings. Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), founder of modern Olympics argued for a dignified and peaceful society based on the harmonious development of human’s body and mind. He studied the educational theory of body and mind perfection from ancient Greece and the theory of cultivating students’ personalities through athletics from the British colleges in the 19th century. This claim, meeting the needs of the society and human development, has been established as the guiding principle for the revival of the Olympics, being the inexhaustible power supply for the progress of modern Olympics.
3. the harmonious development of athletes in Olympics is confronted with a number of realistic problems and crisis. Owing to the political functions and the trend of being commercial and professional which are specifically attached to the Olympics, conflicts arise between the harmonious development of itself and the realities. They are:
(a) the damage to physical and mental health. Ubiquitous hurts and injuries of the athletes result from long-term tough training, over-extreme burden on body, ardent physical confrontations, and serious psychological pressures. To some extent, each increase in the athletes’ performance is made at the expense of damage to their health.
(b) the poor educational background. Most athletes can not get the same education as their contemporaries since they have to start training at an early age, which consequently results in the comparatively low education background.
(c) the difficulty in reemployment. The insufficiency in education has become a big obstacle preventing the retired athletes from getting new jobs.
(d) the loss of sports morals. Brought about by the commercialized athletics and high technology, use of drugs or stimulant is now a malignant tumor, which does great harm to athletes’ health and the development of sports.

Discussion / Conclusions

To guarantee a continuous and healthy development of the Olympics in the 21st century, much work still must be done in the following aspects:
(i) keeping to the value of human-orientation;
(ii) sticking to the athletes’ role as the principal part;
(iii) sporting being closely combined with education and culture;
(iv) seeking for an amalgamation of the traditional sports cultures in both China and the West.

References