Olympic Education and the Surprising Range of Extrapolation of the Subject-Matter into Other Fields of the Educational Endeavour

"Olympic Education" embraces a surprising range of both intuitive subject matter and possible extrapolation into other fields of the educational endeavour.

Games-by-Games Focus

The Olympic Games ("Games"), as a phenomenon, have become the world`s foremost international sports-related event, well into the second century of their existence, with that existence spread over three centuries of extraordinary change on every continent. How the Modern Games were conceived, born and nurtured, how they have adapted and persisted, and the ongoing challenges they face are, in themselves, rich opportunities for the advancement of knowledge.

Each edition of the Games provides a convenient backdrop against which changes across the full spectrum of the human condition can be assessed. Current social, economic and political dynamics are radically different from those in place when the Modern Games were established. Technical and scientific advances have "shrunk" the planet and made instantaneous worldwide communications all but a commodity. Games audiences now measure in the billions.

Olympic Values-based Education

The concept of Olympism, highlighted in the Olympic Charter, presents unique opportunities to provide values-based education, especially for youth. There are vast Olympic-related resources available, many of them accessible through the Olympic Studies Centre, to provide motivating examples of such values and the related universal principles on which they are grounded. In times (such as the present) when fundamental and sustainable lifestyle choices are often difficult for youth to identify and articulate, such educational activities can provide a reassuring focus for making good decisions.

Extrapolation of Olympic Education to Other Educational Activities

This perspective of Olympic education is completely open-ended. The Olympic perspective and experience can be used to enrich education in matters completely unrelated to the Games themselves.

Examples (with topics and questions included for each identified subject) include:

History, Geography, Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, Chemistry, Cinematography, Ethics

From Games Skills to Life Skills

Many life skills that can be taught using Olympic examples:

· Aspiration, goal-setting, conceptualization and planning

· Preparation, motivation, self-discipline, self-confidence [The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.]

· Focusing on maximum performance at the right moments

· Dealing healthily with both success and failure

· Value of good (and bad) examples – overcoming adversity, resilience, persistence, technological innovation

· Respect for the rules of play and fellow competitors (e.g., 1936 Jesse Owens and Lutz Long; 1960 decathlon: Rafer Johnson and C.K.Yang; 2026 athletics: Usain Bolt and Andre deGrasse, the "old" and the "new" generations)

· Transferability of the Games’ values (including freedom from discrimination), skill sets and disciplines into every field of endeavour

· Being able to move on from sport to the rest of one`s life with the benefit of lessons learned from and through sport.