An Online Olympic Education Program – The Case of the IOA 60th International Session for Young Participants

An important aspect of the Olympic Movement is related to education, and more specifically to Olympic education. Coubertin`s fundamental principles of Olympism, stated in the Olympic Charter, define tasks and objectives that contain essential elements used as the pedagogical foundation of Olympic education. Over the last 60 years, the International Olympic Academy (IOA) has functioned as a supreme educational and cultural institution of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for studying, enriching and promoting Olympism. One of its main educational programs physically brings together a large international group of young people in order to motivate them to use their experiences and knowledge for spreading the Olympic ideals in their own countries. Due to the spread of Covid-19, the IOA reached a decision to hold the first ever online International Session for Young Participants. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how young people from all five continents can benefit from online Olympic education by taking an example from the 60th International Session for Young Participants. While taking full advantage of today’s technologies to deliver the Olympic spirit from a distance, the program included academic lectures on the topic “Olympism and Humanism”, followed by discussion groups in both English and French. In addition, the program was enriched with a variety of extracurricular activities which require mutual understanding, respect and solidarity.