In August 2008, the Olympic Games will be held for the first
time in the city of Beijing, inviting its citizens and the world's
citizens to celebrate together "one world, one dream".
These Games in Beijing will thus respond to the vision of a man
who, more than a century ago, expressed the need to organise an
international competition open to athletes from all over the world
also with a view to achieving a peaceful world.
Indeed, it was on 25 November 1892, in the amphitheatre of the
Sorbonne University in Paris, that Pierre de Coubertin, then aged
29, delivered his "Olympic Manifesto", explaining for the first
time publicly his project for the re-establishment of the Olympic
Games. For Coubertin and his peers, the Olympic Games were not an
end in themselves but a means to promote physical education and
sport, thus teaching the youth of the world basic human values that
would enable them to lead better lives and build better
communities.? Coubertin devoted his life to developing a
movement that supported his ideas of using sport to advance culture
and education and then to bring the world's young people together
every four years in peaceful competition to celebrate that very
dynamic between sport, education and culture.
This century-old philosophy still remains that of the IOC in the
21st century: promoting physical education and sport as an
educational means for young people through the Olympic Games.
China has played a very important role in the promotion of the
Olympic Movement, sport, and its values. The Beijing 2008 Games
will not only be of a very high quality, but will also be where the
peoples of China and the world are enriched through cultural
exchange, celebrating the strength and power of the Olympic values
such as excellence, friendship and respect.
By publishing the manuscript of the "Olympic Manifesto" -- in
French, English and Chinese -- , Civilization Magazine is
once again showing its deep commitment to promoting the Olympic
ideals and knowledge of the Olympic Movement and Games, recalling
the essential values at the heart of sport.
By Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic
Committee
(Source: Civilization Magazine)