Olympism and the values of sport: De Coubertin and the Thailand Olympic Academy

Suriyan Somphong
2019 African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure  
In this paper, the author examines how the Thailand Olympic Academy (TOA) can be conceptualized and nurtured into the Olympism values of sport as per de Coubertin's ideal and vision for the Thailand Olympic Academy. The author offers a conceptualization of Baron Pierre de Coubertin's emphasis that "The future of civilization rests at this moment neither on political nor on economic bases. It depends solely on the direction which will be given to education." To reform the education offered or
more » ... n better drive social reform, Coubertin accepted to use "Athletes" as means and "Olympism" as the object. He had no hope for any country heading to "Utopia" and saw no one wanting to give it a thought. The term "Olympic education", according to Muller (2000), has not been used until 1970s and it is very doubtful at the beginning amongst researchers that the aim of this subject is to really look at the educational ideals of the ancient Greece or is it merely a marketing campaign of the Olympic Games. For Coubertin himself, "Sporting education" rather than "Olympic education" is to be championed and is in fact the title of his book published in 1922, "Pedagogies sportive" (Muller, 2000). It is interesting and challenging to study how the Olympics can promote a social reform through not only individual sportsperson's but also with a group of people or an organization that, over the last 150 years, has become the world's dominant economic institution (Bakan, 2004). The overall aim of the study was to analyze the ideas of the Thailand Olympic Academy with empirical data in order to adjust and to improve the path ahead for Olympic Movement in Thailand.
doaj:c81682b6474040728651ef18fa64b19a fatcat:jr2tlhmm7zcj7bcxaseht27sba