Why the Olympic Modernism is more than Sport?

• Authors: Andrzej Pawłucki
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Olympic sport is a symbolic response to the literal evil of war. It establishes peace in its own way as there is always a need to redeem the evil of war. Sport is not what the mindful journalists think - a gathering of pagan mob, festival of youth or vanity fair of business traders. If, however, Olympic modernism ever became its own negation in the form of a spontaneous movement of liberation from moral constraints, legitimised by postmodern ideology, it would be a negation of the ethical ideal of friendship, i.e. it would be collective defiance of order as ordo amicitia pro pace. In consequence, Olympic modernism would deprive itself of the idea of universal good and lose its inherent order-making potential. Whoever then becomes a part of the motley movement against oneself, in which all standards of moral life in love are replaced by liberal aesthetic expressions, he or she becomes incomprehensible to oneself and others, like the proverbial black sheep in a family. Beware the poor in Olympic spirit of peace, as they will never be granted friendship. It will be a great loss to them as well as to the entire Olympic family. The Olympic Games of Peace must last as long as there are wars. The primary cause of Olympic sport is the experience of the evil of war. Olympic modernism uses sport as the foundation of its symbolic affirmation of the idea of friendship. It has not created sport, but has taken a great advantage of it, using the physical cultivation and the moral formation of the mighty sport club for free play (ludic sport) or paid play (professional sport). Although the Olympic costs are high, despite all the expenses, it is a highly profitable cultural enterprise. The order of friendship for peace, known as Olympic modernism, not only banishes the spectre of hatred but also provides culture with sanctity, making everybody's life more perfect.

Keywords

EN

sport; Olympism; modernism

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 117-124

Dates

published

1 - 12 - 2009

online

13 - 1 - 2010

Contributors

author

Andrzej Pawłucki

• Academy of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10141-009-0039-4