The Olympic movement rose in the era of capitalist industrialization in Europe. Relying on a solid social, economic, political and cultural foundation, it conforms to the needs of social development and the trend of sports development. It is a great social practice that human society began after entering industrial civilization, and its emergence has the following background.
Six times background
1. The three major ideological and cultural movements laid the ideological foundation for the rise of the Olympic Movement. During the 14th and 18th centuries, there were three large-scale ideological and cultural movements on the European continent, namely, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The three major ideological and cultural movements broke the feudal shackles that bound people’s thoughts in the Middle Ages, cleared the main ideological obstacles on the road of capitalist development, and ushered in a period of ideological emancipation, talented people and scientific prosperity. New ideology, culture and new science and art have emerged to meet the needs of new productivity development and new production relations. At the same time, new sports ideas-modern sports ideas have also emerged.
A large number of great figures produced in the three major ideological and cultural movements are in direct opposition to the dark Christian asceticism in medieval Europe. They denounce asceticism as a violation of human nature, point out that human desire is a legitimate purpose of life, think that harmony must be established between soul and body, advocate the unity of body and spirit, pay attention to the balanced and coordinated development of body, and attach importance to physical health and bodybuilding, so that people can rediscover the value of sports and realize that only physical health can enjoy the happiness of life. The rise and establishment of this idea has fundamentally changed the traditional moral standards and the concepts of beauty and ugliness, and laid the ideological foundation for the rise of the Olympic Movement.
In the three major ideological and cultural movements, humanists explored and sorted out the rich heritage of ancient Greek sports, such as the ancient Olympic Games and other sacrificial competitions, ancient Athens sports and Spartan sports, the educational thought of harmonious development of body and mind in ancient Greece, and various sports means and methods in ancient Greek sports. Humanists believe that ancient Greek sports conform to "human nature" and attach importance to personal happiness, so they vigorously publicize it, and inherit the legacy of ancient Greek sports in modern sports thought and practice, so that modern sports are greatly influenced by ancient Greek sports in holding regular sports meetings, paying attention to the all-round development of the body, and the content and form of sports events.
2. Capitalist industrialized production and bourgeois education provided suitable soil for the rise of the Olympic Movement. The capitalist industrial revolution brought a series of profound changes to human society, which promoted the development of modern natural science, made modern sports have a solid economic foundation, and promoted sports to gain stronger vitality. Because the production and lifestyle in industrialized society have brought a series of severe challenges to people’s physiology and psychology, people are urged to seek a new and ideal lifestyle and have a new understanding of physical activities. People began to turn their attention to improving people’s health, and sports was further developed as a new social need.
Since the Renaissance, bourgeois educators have strongly advocated sports as an important means to cultivate talents. They not only restored the sports system in ancient Greece, but also further formulated various measures to exercise, actively studied various sports methods, and strived to make students’ bodies develop in an all-round way. Sports has become an important and indispensable educational activity. In 1423, Vitorino, an Italian humanist educator, founded a new school, which was named "Sports Palace" after the ancient Greek gymnasium. The school implemented the policy of paying equal attention to physical education, moral education and intellectual education, and carried out a variety of sports activities, becoming the representative of bourgeois education in the Renaissance. Vitorino’s educational thought and sports practice have made sports get unprecedented attention, and also made sports as a part of education begin to be implemented in schools.
The exploration of education in the Reformation and the Enlightenment further established the status of sports. Martin, the representative figure of bourgeois religious reform? Luther advocated that physical education should be a part of education. Comenius, a Czech educator, systematically discussed school physical education according to the educational requirements of the bourgeoisie, and introduced physical education into school education in a mature form. He advocates that schools should set up spacious sports grounds and carry out extensive sports activities to encourage students to develop physically and mentally by participating in sports activities. Comenius has made important contributions to the development of school physical education and is known as the "father of school physical education". Locke, a famous British educator, clearly divided education into three parts: moral education, intellectual education and physical education in his "gentleman education" system, pointing out that physical education is the foundation of all education, making physical education an indispensable and independent part of school education. Rousseau, a French enlightenment thinker, expounded his ideal of naturalistic education in his masterpiece Emile. He demanded that education and physical education should be closely combined, and advocated that physical education should be carried out according to the laws of nature, and physical activities should be organized according to the different characteristics of children at different ages and their interests and hobbies, so as to cultivate talents with "both physical and mental health".
After the 19th century, Britain began a series of educational reforms, among which arnold’s reform in Rugby College was the most successful. He founded the system of "autonomy of competitive sports" to give full play to the exercise value and educational function of competitive sports. Through this reform, the students of Rugby College manage themselves in a dynamic sports field, which not only exercises their strong physique, but also cultivates the ideology and morality of fair competition, unity and friendship, obeying rules and being brave and tenacious, which greatly changes the school spirit and discipline. The reform in arnold firmly established the position of sports in education, established the educational and social values of competitive sports, and provided a suitable soil for the rise of the Olympic Movement.
3. The excavation of ancient Olympic ruins aroused people’s yearning for the Olympic movement. During the Renaissance in the 14th-16th century, the new bourgeoisie in Europe warmly praised the ancient Greek sports spirit, reminding people of the ancient Greek Olympic Games. The ruins of the ancient Olympic Games aroused people’s strong yearning. Scholars from Britain, France, Germany and other countries all hoped to enter Greece to look for the ruins of the ancient Olympic Games, but this wish failed to come true due to the blockade of the Turks.
It was not until 1766 that the British scholar Chandler was allowed to visit Greece on the spot. He discovered the ruins of the ancient Olympic Games. In 1828, scholars in the French Corps who supported Greece in resisting Turkish aggression excavated at the site of Olympia, and then transported a batch of precious cultural relics to the Louvre in France for exhibition.
On January 10th, 1852, Curtius, a professor at the University of Berlin, made a long speech about the ancient Olympic Games after visiting the Peloponnesian Peninsula, which aroused great repercussions in the society. In 1871, Germany and Greece reached a treaty to comprehensively excavate the ruins of the ancient Olympic Games. From 1875 to 1881, German scholars led by Curtius made a six-year excavation of Olympia. In 1881, the main facilities of the ancient Olympic site finally came to light. In 1887, a large number of cultural relics excavated from Olympia were exhibited in Berlin, which aroused people’s longing for the Olympic movement and people expected the Olympic Games to return to reality as soon as possible.
4. The internationalization trend of sports has created conditions for the emergence of the Olympic Movement. In the second half of the 19th century, with the transition from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism and the formation of the world market, the barriers between nations were broken, and sports also transcended national boundaries, and international sports exchanges and competitions appeared, forming the trend of sports internationalization. Due to the needs of international sports competitions and mutual exchanges, some international individual sports organizations have been born one after another. In 1881, the first international individual sports organization, the International Gymnastics Federation, was established. In 1892, the International Rowing Federation and the Skating Federation were established one after another. The emergence of international sports organizations has made sports competitions break away from the original local traditions and become international. On the basis of the continuous establishment of international individual sports organizations and the vigorous development of international individual sports competitions, people urgently demand to organize the largest comprehensive sports meeting in the world, creating conditions for the emergence of modern Olympic Games. At the same time, with the increase of international sports exchanges, the birth of an international sports organization that coordinates the activities of various sports organizations has become inevitable.
Attempts to revive the Olympic Games around the world have accumulated experience for the rise of the Olympic Movement. In the early 19th century, some countries in Europe and America made various attempts to revive the Olympic Games. In the 1930s, Professor Skatu of Lund University in Sweden organized two competitions called "Olympic Games" by local newspapers. Since 1849, once a year, Dr. Brooks of England has organized the "Olympic Festival" for decades.
After the mid-19th century, the Greeks were eager to revive the ancient Greek civilization by reviving the ancient Olympic Games. With the support of King Otto of Greece, a Greek named Zapas organized the first Pan-Greek Olympic Games in Athens on October 1st, 1859. Since then, four Pan-Greek Olympic Games have been held in 1870, 1875, 1887 and 1889. Due to poor organization and limited participation by Greeks, the Pan-Greek Olympic Games failed to continue to develop, but it had a great impact on European countries. Many countries’ newspapers reported these games in detail, which caused a far greater response than Greek scholars, and it accumulated experience for the rise of the Olympic Movement from both positive and negative aspects.
The threat of war and people’s desire for peace promoted the rise of the Olympic Movement. At the end of 19th century, monopoly capitalism and imperialism appeared in the world. A new and powerful imperialist country, Germany ruled by William II, stepped onto the historical stage and tried to carve up the world again through war. The cloud of war hung over the whole of Europe.
At this stage, Germany’s call for the revival of the Olympic Games is very high. Some Germans with ulterior motives want to expand their influence and serve the world by launching the Olympic Games. France is a close neighbor of Germany. If Germany starts a war, the disaster of the war will first fall on the French people. The French people are strongly opposed to war and are eager to maintain world peace. The spirit of peace and friendship in the ancient Olympic Games coincides with the desire of the French people and the people of the world for peace. Reviving the Olympic Games will not only benefit the development of international sports, but also help the French people and the people of the world to fight against Germany’s domination of the world. Reviving the Olympic Games has become an urgent need for people, and this glorious historical mission falls on the French’s shoulders.
Coubertin made the Olympic Movement a reality.
Coubertin, a French educator, is recognized as the founder of modern Olympics. He has made outstanding contributions to the birth and development of the Olympic Movement. In 1888, Coubertin became the Secretary-General of the Preparatory Committee for French School Education and Physical Training. In 1889, Coubertin represented France in the international sports training conference held in Boston, USA, and further understood the trends of world sports. He believed that the development of modern sports was going international, and international sports should be promoted with the help of the experience and traditional influence of ancient Greek sports, so the idea of reviving the Olympic Games came into being. In order to realize this idea, Coubertin did a lot of work.
In 1891, Coubertin founded Sports Review magazine, which was used as a position to enthusiastically publicize his ideas and played a positive role in promoting the founding of the Olympic Games. In 1892, Coubertin visited Europe to publicize the Olympic ideal. On November 25th of the same year, he made a famous speech at the meeting to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the French Federation of Sports Associations, and put forward the initiative of establishing the modern Olympic Games for the first time publicly and formally. In his speech, Coubertin stated that the modern Olympic Games should aim at unity, peace and friendship like the ancient Olympic Games, but it should be more developed and innovative than the ancient Olympic Games. It should be open to all countries, all regions and all ethnic groups and held in turn around the world. Coubertin’s initiative has enabled the modern Olympic Games to break through the boundaries between nations and countries from the very beginning, and it has a distinct international character. In 1893, Coubertin held an international sports coordination meeting in Paris to unite international sports people and discuss the establishment of the Olympic Games. The following year, he also wrote an open letter about his initiative and sent it to sports clubs in many countries, which won the support of many sports clubs.
With the promotion of various international factors and Coubertin’s unremitting efforts, all kinds of preparations for the founding of the Olympic Games were finally ready. From June 16 to 24, 1894, at the suggestion of Coubertin, representatives of 49 sports organizations from 12 countries, including the United States, Britain, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece, attended the international sports congress held at the Sorbonne Seminary in Paris. During the meeting, 21 countries sent letters to express their support and congratulations to the conference. The meeting adopted a resolution to establish the International Olympic Committee, and selected 15 members from 79 official representatives as the members of the first International Olympic Committee. The Congress also decided that IOC members from the host countries of the Olympic Games should be the IOC presidents. As the first Olympic Games was scheduled to be held in Athens, Greece in 1896, Greek member Vi Kailas was elected as the first president of the International Olympic Committee, and Coubertin was the secretary-general. The General Assembly stipulated that the Olympic Games should be held every four years, and adopted a resolution to follow "amateur sports". The Congress also stipulated that the Olympic Games should include track and field, water sports, swimming, rowing, sailing, fencing, wrestling, boxing, equestrian, shooting, gymnastics and ball games.
From April 6 to 15, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games was finally held in Athens as scheduled. Although the organization is not perfect, it is an important symbol of the official birth of the Olympic Movement and has the significance of carrying forward the past and opening up the future.
The Olympic Movement finally stepped onto the historical stage, opening a new chapter in the history of human civilization.
Editing and proofreading: ceshi1
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