The history of the modern Olympic movement for more than one hundred years has been accompanied by the development of modern civilization in human society. The position and role of sports in social activities and its influence on social culture and people's lifestyle are constantly strengthened because of the existence and development of the Olympic Movement. In a sense, the convening of each Olympic Games is also a grand cultural celebration and wonderful cultural display. Through the design of its logo, mascot and poster, the creation of theme song, the creation of music and dance at the opening and closing ceremonies, the design of Olympic venues, competition facilities and sportswear, etc. Ignite the fire of culture in various forms, convey the light of civilization, and let people all over the world feel the influence of culture and art.
Cultural characteristics of the Olympic movement
Coubertin said: "The Olympic Movement is a great symbol." In the practice of the Olympic Movement, its philosophy of life, the spirit of unity, friendship and progress, the principle of fair and equal competition, and the etiquette norms formed have all been embodied into a series of unique and distinctive cultural and artistic forms, such as the Olympic flag, Olympic torch, Olympic symbol, Olympic song, Olympic medal and Olympic mascot.
(1) Olympic cultural symbol
Olympic symbol. The five nested rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red represent the unity of five continents and the gathering of athletes from all over the world at the Olympic Games. Today, the Olympic rings have become a symbol of world peace and national unity. For example, at the opening ceremony of 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, an Olympic five-ring flag with a length of/kloc-0.05 meters and a width of 75 meters fluttered in the wind at the main venue, covering all national athletes attending the opening ceremony, which is a vivid manifestation of this symbolic significance.
② Olympic flame. Fire represents life, enthusiasm and exuberant vitality. The flame lit at Olympia site in ancient Greece symbolizes the light of civilization that originated in ancient Greece, and still shines on the road of human progress and inspires human beings to pursue light, ideals and lofty goals. The torch relay also symbolizes the transmission of the Olympic spirit.
③ Olympic emblem. The emblem of previous Olympic Games is not only a record of the location and time of the Olympic Games, but also a cultural symbol and ideological significance. For example, the emblem of the Seoul Olympic Games consists of blue, red and Huang San spiral stripes and a five-color ring symbolizing the Olympics. Three colors represent the philosophical meaning of the trinity of heaven, earth and man; Dynamic stripes represent endless movement, and upward rotation represents harmonious progress; Introversion in the logo is a metaphor for athletes from five continents gathering to participate in the Olympic Games. External centrifugal power means moving towards mutual understanding and world progress through the lofty Olympic spirit. The whole design is rich in Korean national color.
④ Olympic anthem. The songs of previous Olympic Games, whether passionate or emotional, are full displays of the great integration of world cultures. The songs of almost every Olympic Games have concentrated the creativity and inspiration of global music artists, such as 1988 Seoul Olympic Games' Hand in Hand, which quickly swept the world and effectively promoted the Olympic culture and spirit.
⑤ Olympic medals. The production of Olympic medals, with the rotation of host countries, presents distinct characteristics of different cultures. For example, the medals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have been announced, with the unique design of "gold inlaid with jade", which symbolizes the heavy historical tradition and unique cultural charm of the Chinese nation.
⑥ Olympic mascot. Since mascots first appeared in the 1968 10 Winter Olympics, the unique mascots introduced in each Olympic Games are the ingenious integration of national culture and Olympic culture, and also the process of spreading and educating Olympic culture.
These symbolic symbols, patterns and objects of the Olympic Games have become a well-known "international language". With its unique and distinctive image, the Olympic culture has been printed in the hearts of countless people around the world.
(2) Diversity of Olympic culture
Based on the spirit of equality, respect and fair competition, the modern Olympic Movement opposes all forms of discrimination and emphasizes the universal principles of "everyone's movement" and "participation is more important than winning". The implementation of this principle has promoted the diversity of Olympic cultural development, and cultural diversity is also the basic experience and the biggest feature of the development of the Olympic movement. In this regard, the words of Mr. He, the executive member of the International Olympic Committee, are the best interpretation: "From the history of the Olympic Movement for nearly a hundred years, one of the reasons for its success is the compatibility and respect for many cultures. This wise policy not only determines the multiculturalism of the Olympic Movement, but also makes it more attractive and cohesive. It is no exaggeration to say that multiculturalism is the wealth and strength of the Olympic movement. "
(3) Appreciation of Olympic culture
It is a phenomenon in sports and an ideal pursued by Olympic culture to show and create beauty. The Olympic Games is the highest form of human beauty display, and the Olympic Movement aims to create and display a beautiful world. It not only shows the world-class beauty of the human body, such as the beauty of its shape, strength, rhythm and movement, but also condenses the beauty of other cultural and artistic forms. Athletes' superb skills and enterprising spirit can maximize their potential and challenge the limits of their physical fitness and life. At the same time, they created an image of seeking happiness and physical and mental pleasure, and at the same time, they also let hundreds of millions of viewers appreciate the beauty and were influenced by culture. The various cultural and artistic forms displayed in the Olympic Games, like an artistic world, attract hundreds of millions of viewers. The emotional atmosphere, aesthetic mood and colorful cultural landscape created by the Olympic Movement make it very ornamental. such
Appreciation improves people's aesthetic accomplishment, beautifies the audience's mind and social life.
(4) the humanistic spirit of Olympic culture
Humanism refers to various cultural phenomena in human society since the Renaissance in Europe, which constitutes modern humanistic thoughts and concepts and has a profound impact on all levels and fields of social life, including sports. The ancient Olympic Games has become a part of Greek national culture, while the modern Olympic Movement is the product of the development of humanistic thought, emphasizing people-oriented and harmonious development of people. The long-term practice of the Olympic Movement has accumulated rich humanistic spirit and embodied people's pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty. As a discipline system and a part of humanities, Olympic culture has been formed, and its humanity makes it have universal and good educational value.
(5) the artistry of Olympic culture
In the traditional mass festivals of all ethnic groups, there is often a lack of elegant taste and artistic tension. In various activities of the Olympic Movement, especially in the quadrennial Olympic Games, people used various artistic means, which made these activities reach a very high aesthetic mood and full of rich artistic atmosphere.
Through the artistic expression of the Olympic Games, all participants and spectators have deepened their own aesthetic cultivation while creating beauty, and people's appreciation of these beautiful things is also a process of accepting beauty. The purpose of promoting Olympic culture is to improve people's emotional accomplishment, social morality and personality through aesthetic feeling. this
Although this kind of aesthetic education is not pure art, it implies people's cultivation and sentiment through artistic expression, and achieves the coordination between people and the environment and between people. Advocating beauty and cultivating people's spiritual world with beauty can sublimate the real life of the whole human society. In this sense, the Olympic movement is also a large-scale aesthetic education process, and it is a bold and meaningful attempt to improve the spiritual outlook of the whole human society by using artistic beauty.
The ideological connotation of Olympic culture
Although Olympic culture is a polysemous concept, its basic point is to reflect an ideal and a spirit, which is the main embodiment of the connotation of Olympic culture. In the development of modern Olympic movement, there are often different emphases or formulations according to different needs and different angles.
Sports activities contain rich universally recognized values. Today, the Olympic movement is no longer just an ordinary sports activity. It refines, generalizes and sublimates the rich connotation of sports, induces "Olympism" and "Olympic spirit", and strives to practice it in the Olympic movement. The Olympic Movement is an eternal school for people to learn Olympism and Olympic spirit.
By organizing and participating in the Olympic Movement, people's Olympic spirit has further penetrated into sports and other social life in a subtle way. According to the Olympic Charter and the practice of the Olympic movement, as well as the nature and concept of culture, the connotation of Olympic culture is mainly reflected in the following six aspects: harmonious development, unity and friendship, fair competition, focusing on participation, hard work and winning glory for the country.
(1) Harmonious development
The harmonious development of human beings mainly includes physical strength and intelligence or body and mind. The ancient Olympic Games emphasized the harmonious development of human beings. The winners were not only skilled and physically strong, but also virtuous and knowledgeable. The ancient Greeks believed that a healthy body was the foundation of a healthy life, a sound soul lived in a healthy body, and paid attention to the combination of physical exercise and cultural quality. The modern Olympic movement is more people-oriented, and all events can only be realized through the cooperation between people, people and sports tools. The purpose of Olympism is to make sports serve the harmonious development of people and promote the establishment of a peaceful society that safeguards human dignity. The Olympic philosophy of life is to "strengthen physique, will and spirit, and make them develop in an all-round and balanced way".
As a fertile ground for cultivating people, the Olympic Movement is a process of educating people to develop in an all-round way. Through physical activities, people can exercise, strengthen their physique, develop and improve their thinking ability and shape their perfect personality. Coubertin said: "Physical education is the most direct way to strengthen the national physique and correct the deformed body." "Sports is an ideal means to cultivate honor and selflessness." Ode to Sports by Coubertin highly praised the role of sports and encouraged people to actively participate in sports. Its purpose is to make people develop in an all-round way, with both healthy body and good quality, and become noble, just, strong, intelligent and bodybuilding people.
(2) Unity and friendship
The highest goal of the Olympic Movement is to bring people from different countries, races, languages and religions together through sports activities, so that everyone can communicate with each other, enhance understanding and promote friendship, and then contribute to building a better world and safeguarding human dignity, not just a simple sports activity.
The olive branch is the highest award of the ancient Olympic Games, symbolizing auspiciousness, friendship and peace. It made a sacred truce treaty to ensure the sanctity of the Olympic Games. The ancient Olympic Games played an important role in stopping wars and maintaining peace. The modern Olympic Games has inherited this tradition, emphasizing national equality, safeguarding human dignity, advocating multiculturalism, mutual compatibility and peaceful coexistence.
Unity and friendship are the basic principles of human survival and development, and the modern Olympic movement reflects the strongest desire of human beings, so it has extensive attraction and powerful strength. The Olympic symbol consists of five Olympic rings. Their colors are blue, yellow, black, green and red. The five rings are connected from left to right, with blue, black and red rings above and yellow and green rings below, representing the unity of the five continents and the gathering of athletes from all over the world at the Olympic Games. Modern Olympic Movement tries to build a bridge connecting people from all countries, is a link connecting people from all countries, enhances mutual understanding among people of different nationalities and cultures, promotes world peace and reduces the threat of war, so it has become an important part of the cause of world peace.
(3) Fair competition
Olympic Games is a kind of sports at first, with competitive sports as the main activity content. Competition is the essential attribute of sports. The competition advocated by Olympism is based on fair moral standards, emphasizing that "sports are honors, but honors are impartial". This is the maintenance of human dignity and the guarantee of realizing the Olympic purpose. The outstanding characteristics of competitive sports are fierce antagonism and distinct entertainment. In the competition, athletes decide the outcome through fierce physical contact and confrontation, which not only exercises their bodies and hons their will quality, but also provides healthy physical and mental entertainment and enjoyment for the audience. Competition is one of the basic means to promote the progress of human society. People express their ambitions and increase their intelligence in competition. To participate in this activity, we must establish a sense of competition, dare to challenge the world's strong players and advanced levels, and constantly surpass ourselves, others and the world's highest record. This is the driving force for human development, innovation and progress.
The scope of fair competition in ancient Greece only refers to male citizens of Greek descent, while women who account for half of the population and slaves and foreigners who greatly exceed half of the citizens have no chance. But the modern Olympic Games is open to all people in the world. Athletes are in a state of complete equality, abide by the rules and compete aboveboard with their own abilities. This is real fair competition. The principle of fair competition is as follows: in the venue provided by the organizer with the same conditions, under the completely equal competition rules, and under the standard of fair law enforcement by the judges, the contestants completely rely on their strong physique, alert mind, good reaction ability and control to beat their opponents and win. Only on the basis of this fair rule can sports have unique charm and the victory or defeat of the game have real significance.
(4) Hard struggle
The Olympic Movement has always advocated the attitude of taking struggle as fun and seeking happiness from struggle, and has always advocated people to tap their own potential to the maximum, challenge the limits of their physical fitness and life, and "create a lifestyle based on seeking happiness through hard work, give full play to the educational value of good examples, and respect the basic principles of public morality". Brave competition and hard work are the essence of realizing the value of life, and also the purpose and concept pursued by the Olympic Movement. Because the struggle on the field is the epitome of human struggle. Hard work and fierce competition not only directly stimulate the athletes on the field, but also have far-reaching educational significance for many spectators outside the field, especially the growing teenagers. The spirit of struggle embodies an inner strength of human advanced elements and is an indispensable noble quality for the self-improvement and prosperity of human society.