The modern Olympic Games : Relevance in the present society

Professor Dhaneshwar Moirangthem *

The next Olympic Games, XXXII Olympiad, will be held in Tokyo, Japan from 23rd July to 8th August 2021. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been rescheduled to 2021. But it is still called the Tokyo Olympics 2020 for all its official purposes. There will be 339 events in 33 sports (50 disciplines) in the competition under the motto, 'United by Emotion'.

A few sports will be making their Olympic debuts – surfing, sports climbing, karate and skateboarding. The competition will also see return of baseball and softball for the first time since 2008. However, there is still a cloud of uncertainty looming large on the holding of the next Olympic games. We cannot help but wish that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 be held successfully.

This will be the second time Tokyo will be hosting the Games. In 1964, the Olympic Games was held for the first time in Asia when Japan hosted the Olympiad-XVII. The competition was held in 183 events in 19 sports (25 disciplines). It was a proud moment for the whole of Japan when the game ended successfully.

Japan was the sports powerhouse in the whole of the Asian Continent besides being the emerging economic power post the second world war, which was demonstrated when they put up a strong competition to the mighty contingents of the United States and the then Soviet Union (USSR) by claiming the third spot in the Medals Table, just behind the two giant Nations.

When the rest of the world was expecting the Japanese economic recovery, they were surprised by the pace of the development of Japan given the fact they were devastated during the 2nd world war, suffering two atomic bombings (Hiroshima, 6th August 1945, and Nagasaki, 9th August 1945).

Just like any other sport loving Nation, Japanese are also addicted to sports and physical health activities. They are also among the leading practitioners of Yoga. This is evident when they had been celebrating 10th October as a National Holiday as Health and Sports Day since 1966 until 1999. But why October 10 ? It was the day of inauguration of the Tokyo Olympics 1964.

From 2000 onwards, however, the National Sports Day has been shifted to the second Monday of October each year. When Tokyo Olympics 2020 begin on 23rd July 2021, the National Sports Day is likely to be shifted to that day from 2022. On the National Sports Day, every school, every college, every locality, every town or city, all over Japan, irrespective of age and sex, observe the Sports Festival by indulging in various sports and health activities; very much similar to what we have here in our State during Yaoshang Sports Festival.

China and South Korea are the two other Asian Nations besides Japan who are leading in Sports. Japanese are identified with strong Nationalism, and their patriotism towards their motherland remained unparalleled. It was expressed in the words of the Hiroshima Pilot, referring to the deadly second World War, "Japanese will fight till the last man, the last woman and the last child".

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. of the United States Air Force was the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy (Uranium Bomb) in the heart of Hiroshima on the fateful morning (8:15 am local time) of 6th August 1945. The bombing killed about 80,000 people immediately and several thousands died later on. The Hiroshima A-Bomb Dome (iron and concrete structure of a building) still stands today in a damaged structure by the side of the Motoyasu River opposite the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park as a standing testimony to the atomic bombing.

The Allied Forces dropped another bomb (nicknamed Fat Man, a Plutonium Bomb) on Nagasaki on 9th August 1945, and the Japanese Imperial Army surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces on 15th August 1945. It is reported that many Japanese citizens who restrained themselves from shedding tears at the suffering of the two atomic bombings wept inconsolably on hearing the news of the Japanese surrender. That was the unique Japanese pride. Having made a detour to the World War II, let us go to the First Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896 (6-15 April) under the aegis of International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The formation of the first Olympic Committee on 23rd June 1894, two years before the Olympiad-I with Demetrios Vikelas (a Greek scholar) as the first President (1894-1896) was credited to the founding member Peirre de Coubertin, the French Educationist and Visionary. He was the President of IOC from 1896-1925 and is regarded as the Father of the Modern Olympic Games.

The philosophy behind the holding of the Olympic Games was to bring a world order free from chaos, devoid of enmity by befriending of Nations through games and sports and by inculcating the spirit of sportsmanship among the citizens of the world. Coubertin wrote, "Peace could be the product of only a better world, a better world could be brought about only by better individuals; and better individuals could be developed only by give and take, the buffeting and battering the stress and strain of fierce competition".

The founders of Modern Olympic Games laid more emphasis on participation rather than winning medals as indicated in the Olympic Creed or the guiding principle of the Modern Olympic Games, which is a quote by Pierre de Coubertin; "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle". This is in many ways similar to the centuries old teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu Holy book.

In the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna tried to educate his close friend and disciple Arjuna about the life and death, birth and rebirth, and specially about performance of one's assigned duties irrespective of the results. When Arjuna was confused and was about to abandon the fight and leave the battlefield, Lord Krishna exhorted him to perform his duties. He said, "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities and never be attached to not doing your duty" – Text 47, Bhagavad Gita, as it is.

'.... Arjuna was therefore, advised by the Lord to fight as a matter of duty without attachment to the result. His nonparticipation in the battle is another side of attachment. Such attachment never leads one to the path of salvation. Any attachment positive or negative, is cause to bondage. Inaction is sinful. Therefore, fighting as a matter of duty was the only auspicious path of salvation for Arjuna', as purported by Shri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on text 47, Bhagavad Gita as it is. The Lord continued, "Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga", Text 48, Bhagavad Gita, as it is.

Participation in any event is important. Without the participants, there will be no competitions and therefore no winners.

The world seemed to have accepted the view of the founding fathers as the Olympic movement grows over the years from strength to strength. In the 1st Olympiad, Athens 1896, only about a dozen Nations competed hardly on 43 events. But in 2016 Rio Olympics, as many as 207 countries participated in 306 events. In Tokyo Olympics 2020, there will be 339 events in 33 sports over 50 disciplines.

How much is the Olympic movement relevant in today's world ? I feel it is quite relevant in the sense that it encourages fair play, fierce competitions and paves the way for long lasting friendships among the participants and participating Nations. Recently there was a news item stating, "Mirabai Chanu's medal hopes swell after North Korea's withdrawal from Tokyo Olympics". In the article (attributed to PTI), it appeared that the coach was happy with the news of the North Korea withdrawal. If that was the case, I completely disagree with him, because it is against the spirit of Olympic Games. Getting a medal because an opponent withdraws is not something any athlete would want.

I feel there is something missing if I do not mention the Olympic Oath. At the start of the Olympics, every athlete promises to play fairly and obey all the Olympic rules. One athlete from the host country takes this oath at the opening ceremony on behalf of all the athletes. Holding a corner of the Olympic flag, the chosen athlete repeats the oath: "In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic games respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and honour of our teams".

Written by Pierre de Coubertin, the athlete's oath was first taken at the 1920 Antwerp Games in Belgium. In connection with the fair play, let me visit the reports of Berlin Games 1936 during Adolf Hitler's Germany just before the 2nd world war. Politically the United States and Germany were on uncompromising terms and Hitler was boasting of his Aryan Supremacy theory. One American athlete, Jesse Owens (James Cleveland Owens) was about to be disqualified from his favourite Long Jump event because he had already committed two foot-faults in the qualifying round and had one last chance.

Incidentally, Jesse Owens had an unexpected German fan named Luz Long who gave him a piece of advice on how to make the last jump without faulting. Jesse Owens heeded to his advice and was qualified in the last attempt. He went on to ultimately win the gold medal in the finals. It turned out that Luz Long (Carl Ludwig Long) was his nearest rival who ended with the Silver Medal. If Jesse Owens had been disqualified, the gold medal would have gone to Luz Long. From that moment they became good friends. Long was genuinely happy that his friend Jesse Owens won the gold.

In his memoirs, Jesse Owens called his friendship with Luz Long as a 24-carat friendship and regarded their friendship as his greatest Olympic prize. He quoted, "Medals are corroded but friendship gathers no dust". Unfortunately, Luz Long died young at the age 30 during the World War II fighting for Germany. Jesse Owens is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century for his 4 gold medals (track and field) in a single Olympic Games (Berlin- 100m, 200m, 100mx4, and long Jump), a record that stood unmatched for 48 years. It was broken only in 1984 Los Angeles Games, when another American Carl Lewis equalled the record by winning 4 golds exactly in the similar events. When people started comparing Carl Lewis with Jesse Owens, the great but humble athlete Carl Lewis admitted that Jesse Owens deserved more than he did.

Since the participants are young competitors from different parts of the world, the founding members of IOC appeared to address the youngsters with the Olympic Motto, 'Citius, Altius, Fortius', (Latin) translated as 'Faster, Higher and Stronger'. The Olympic Motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin and accepted by IOC in 1894. The motto urges the competitors to have the willingness to do better, the eagerness to achieve new goals, the preparedness to scale new heights. Even if you do not win a medal, if you improve your performance, it is more than an achievement. If you win a prize, you should try to better your performance next time.

Whatever you do, you should always try to bring the best out of you. If you are able to do so, medals will follow you. I would like to remind the readers what Sachin Tendulkar (The Batting Maestro of Indian Cricket, Master Blaster) said in one of his replies to the journalists who followed him. When asked about his next goals, next records, next milestone. Tendulkar replied that he was not aware of the records, and he was only concentrating on his performance and he would simply let his bat do the talk. If he performed well, the records would automatically come. A few weeks ago, I happened to watch an old video of Steve Jobs' (Steven Paul Jobs, American business magnate, founder of Apple Inc.) 2005 Stanford Commencement address, talking to the young graduating students.

He was encouraging the students to concentrate only on those things they love doing. If they do things they enjoy doing, that will help them shape their career. He ended his speech by quoting what was written on the back of a New York Magazine, "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish; Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". These quotes, I feel, are in tandem with the Olympic Motto, 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'. They tend to urge the students to do more, to learn more and to not let them think they have learnt enough.

It is universally agreed that the mantra for the success of an individual is the hard work. The Olympic Creed says that the important thing is not the medal but the struggle towards the medal. There is no short cut to success other than to work hard. In this connection, I would like to draw the attention of the readers to the following quotes by American Basketball Champion, Kevin (Wayne) Durant, which are quite relevant. "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard" "The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle".

One may ask why all these competitions are being held, why so much energy and time being spent, why all the three M's (Men, Money, Material) have been exhausted for organizing events like the Olympic Games. Some may even think, these events would make someone famous, rich and what not. But the ultimate goal, in my opinion, is to make someone become a more responsible citizen who will contribute to make the world a more beautiful place to live in.

These events will help evolve one's character which is the most important thing in one's life. Here, I would like to quote further what the famous American basketball player and coach, John (Robert) Wooden said, "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are".

I wish all the best to the participants and participating Nations of the Tokyo Olympics. I pray to the Almighty for the success of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Long live the Olympic Movement !