From the ancient Olympics to the Beijing Winter Olympics, why has the peace gene always been passed on? | Something asked

Sport is the common language of mankind, and the Olympic Charter, the general statute of the international Olympic Movement, has repeatedly emphasized the building of a peaceful and better world. From the ancient Olympics to the Beijing Winter Olympics, the gene of peace has always been contained in the Olympic spirit.

From the perspective of the history of human civilization, why has the Olympics always inherited the gene of peace? What are the implications of the East-West dialogue using sports as a medium for exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations? What is the common language between Chinese culture and Olympic culture? Gao Fugui, a researcher at the Humanities Beijing (Humanities Olympics) Research Center of Chinese Min University, recently gave an exclusive interview to China News Agency's "East and West Questions" to make an in-depth interpretation of this.

The interview transcript is summarized below:

China News Service: The ancient Olympic Games lasted for 1170 years and held more than 290 sessions. Today, the modern Summer Olympic Games have been held for 32 years, and the 24th Winter Olympic Games are about to open in Beijing. What kind of connotation has the sportsmanship represented by the Olympics enriched for the development of civilization?

Gao Fugui: There are many legends about the ancient Olympic Games, but the understanding of the Olympic spirit is quite consistent from all walks of life, that is, fair competition, advocating peace, and improving health. Perhaps influenced by mythology, the ancient Greek people expressed their reverence for their heroes through competitive sports. After the Renaissance movement, the affirmation of man's natural characteristics and the spirit of enlightenment in the ancient Olympic Games stimulated each other, which triggered the exploration of the ancient Olympic spirit by the people of the time.

Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, thought about reviving the Olympic movement at the height of the Western colonial movement. Although the wave of modernization has promoted scientific and technological progress and human exchanges to a certain extent, there has also been sovereign aggression and resource plundering of late-developing modern countries based on the inevitable emergence of modern nations and state systems.

Coubertin sings in Ode to Sport: "Ah! Sport, you are justice! You embody fairness and rationality that cannot be pursued in social life. This shows that from the very beginning, the modern Olympic movement has embodied the reflection of people of insight on the inherent contradictions of Western civilization, and tried to draw the wisdom of peaceful coexistence of multiple civilizations from the ancient Olympic spirit.

It can be seen from this that from the perspective of the history of civilization, although the Olympic Movement originated in Greece, it has from the beginning presented values that are sufficient to become the basis of human civilization, against bullying, plunder and discrimination against weak and small peoples. The Olympic Movement aims to transcend the restrictions of nationality, ethnicity, politics, religion, colour and language in order to promote peace, solidarity, friendship and progress in human society.

China News Service: The modern Olympic Games combine the Olympic purpose with the tradition of "truce". The 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution on the Olympic Truce, calling for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the conflict. Why has the Olympics always inherited the peace gene?

Gao Fugui: Peace is the common aspiration and goal of all mankind. Whether in terms of origin, purpose, spirit or goal, every cell of the Olympic Movement is permeated with the gene of peace.

Whenever the Olympic Games were held in ancient Greece, the city-states had to stop fighting between themselves so that athletes from all over the world could participate in the competition, and spectators from all over the world were allowed to attend the games, and violators were banned from participating. The "Holy Truce" is full of the longing for peace of the war-torn people. The modern Olympics were also born in an environment threatened by war, so the Olympic Movement has always pursued the noble ideal of human peace. In other words, without the element of peace, the Olympic Movement loses its luster.

Coubertin defined the main purpose of the modern Olympic Games as "peace, friendship and progress", international sports competitions as "the free trade of the future", and athletes as "messengers of peace". Sport, as an innate human right, must be enjoyed by all, and it is the human quest for instinctive experience. The Olympic Games provide a spiritual home for humanity to show themselves and bathe in peace.

The ancient Greeks called for peace through a "holy truce" and strengthened exchanges between city-states by holding olympic games. The modern Olympic Games advocate strengthening exchanges between countries, understanding between people, and building a more peaceful and better world through solidarity and optimism.

At a time when the world is facing many disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the value of human solidarity, resilience and cooperation. As the theme slogan of the Beijing Winter Olympics " Together to the Future " shows, everyone should unite and cooperate under the Olympic banner, overcome difficulties together, ignite the flame of hope belonging to mankind, and move forward into the future together.

China News Service: In 2021, the IOC decided to add "more solidarity" after the Olympic motto "faster, higher and stronger". What does the Olympic Movement's advocacy of peace and solidarity have for mankind to address global challenges together?

The addition of "More Unity" reflects the IOC's rethinking of the peaceful development of mankind under global challenges, gives new connotations to the Olympic Movement, and calls on all mankind to unite as a community.

As one of the few event platforms in the world that can bring different countries together, the Olympic Games have a clear appeal to the international community in terms of scale and level. While globalization has brought more opportunities for contacts, the misunderstandings and antagonisms between different ethnic groups and civilizations have become increasingly acute. Before the consensus crisis, the Olympic Movement was no longer just a display of individual and group honor in the arena, but also gave human beings the meaning of unyielding as a community of destiny.

In addition, the "greater unity" added in the context of the epidemic consensus crisis is also a "greater unity" that advocates human beings and nature as communities. For example, many Olympic Games have called for a "green Olympics", and this sustainable Olympic concept reflects the reflection on the relationship between man and nature.

China News Service: With the development of the Olympic movement in recent years, the process of Olympic cultural pluralism has accelerated, what enlightenment does the East-West dialogue using sports as the medium have for exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations?

Gao Fugui: Western countries have played a great role in promoting the development of the Olympic movement, most of the Olympic sports originated in the West, and most of the modern Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are also held in Western countries.

The participation of more and more countries and regions has made the Olympic culture develop in the direction of diversification, increased the viewing value and attractiveness of the Olympic Games, and reflected the compatibility and respect for multiculturalism.

For example, at the Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese singer Liu Huan and British female singer Sarah Brightman sang the theme song "Me and You", which not only reflected the "international model" of the combination of Eastern and Western cultures, but also reflected the expectation of the Beijing Olympic Games to promote "one world".

In sports-mediated exchanges, the Olympic Movement's promotion of universality does not mean standardization, modernization or simplification, let alone Europeanization or Westernization, but a process of multicultural interaction.

China News Service: From the Summer Olympic Games hosted in Beijing in 2008 to the Winter Olympic Games today, the exchange of Chinese culture and Olympic culture has increased significantly. What is the common language between Chinese culture and Olympic culture, which advocate the spirit of harmonious symbiosis?

Gao Fugui: The Olympic Movement has promoted multicultural exchange and understanding in the world, and as the "City of The Two Olympics", Beijing hosted a Summer Olympic Games known as "unparalleled" in 2008. The Slogan of "Humanistic Olympics" was put forward at the Beijing Olympic Games, and the Humanistic Olympic Research Center of Chinese Min University was established at that time to promote the humanistic characteristics of the Olympic Games. The "Humanistic Olympics" is an attempt to summarize the spirit of the Olympic Games from the perspective of cultural roots, and to explore how Traditional Chinese Culture and Sports Culture can enrich the Olympic Spirit.

The Chinese nation respects the cosmology of the unity of heaven and man, emphasizing the harmonious coexistence between man and man and man and nature. When the core values of freedom and equality of the Olympic movement are being hit by some of the "counter-currents" of globalization, China is helping the Olympic movement stabilize its spiritual core by hosting the Winter Olympics.

From the perspective of harmony and different concepts, a benignly functioning society cannot depend on "one-size-fits-all" value judgments, but explores the possibility of achieving dialogue in various fields on the basis of respecting the diversity of social forms. Athletes from all over the world compete on the Olympic platform and under the same set of rules, demonstrating that human society has the ability to transcend distinctions and differences to achieve "unity".

China has always advocated "friendship first, competition second", with sports to build a bridge of human coexistence and sharing, concord Wanbang's international concept makes sports events carry China's embrace of the world's mind, but also express China's position of mutually beneficial coexistence with the world. The concepts of justice, benevolence, friendliness and honesty in traditional Chinese sports ethics and the Olympic cultural concepts of freedom, competition, hard work, pioneering, enterprising, and attaching importance to the individual complement each other, which will further promote and enrich the Olympic spirit.

(China News Network)