Psychological aspects of the experiences of athletes in the Olympic Villages: issues and challenges^†

Abstract

The institution of the Olympic Village – designated housing and amenities for athletes, coaches, officials and media participating in Olympic and Winter Olympic Games – constitutes perhaps the most significant contribution of the Olympic Movement to urban development and renewal in the cities where the Games have been staged. It has stimulated innovation in planning, architecture, technology, environmental renewal, protection and sustainability, and public and private finance and, in many cases, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, even controversy. But how well has the Olympic Village served participants, especially the athletes, and to what extent has it enabled the intercultural communication and exchange so fundamental to the core aspirations of the Olympic Movement? This paper pursued those questions at a conference organized by the Olympic Study Centre at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1996. I suggested that most athletes experience the Village as a contradiction, frustrating to both their preparations for competition and their desire to be a part of and contribute to a world community devoted to sporting excellence. I argued that every Olympic athlete should be required to live in the Village and encouraged to participate in intercultural activities, but to justify such a condition, the IOC and the organizing committees should give much more attention to the conditions of life within the Village. The paper anticipates some of the considerations that have gone into the design of the Youth Olympic Games.

Notes

^†Originally published in Olympic Villages: One Hundred Years of Urban Planning and Shared Experiences, ed. Miguel de Moragas Spa, Montserrat Lines, and Bruce Kidd, 165–72. Lausanne: International Olympic Committee, 1996.

^1.Barcelona'92 Olympic Organizing Committee, Official Report; Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, Official Report; Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXI Olympiad Montreal, Official Report and Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee, Official Report.

^2. See, for example: Christie Blatchford, ‘Olympians Deserve Their Time in the Sun’, Financial Post, March 29, 1996; Mary Jollimore, ‘COA Time Limit for Games Sparks Athlete Outrage’, Globe And Mail, April 8, 1996; Starkman, ‘Olympic Athletes Upset’.

^3.MacAloon, Intercultural Education, 10.

^4.Kidd, ‘Seoul to the World’.

^5.Winston, Scott Anchors and associates, Student Housing and Residential Life.

^6. Other Nike ads are much more progressive, such as those affirming the importance of opportunity for girls and women to engage in sports. For a discussion of some of the ambiguities and complexities of ‘NikeNation’, see Cole, ‘P.L.A.Y., Nike and Michael Jordan’.

^7. In part, the Victoria Athletes' Declaration said: ‘Because of the extraordinary opportunity we have enjoyed to represent our countries and to achieve personal goals, we believe that all citizens should enjoy the benefits of development through sport. But as we look around our societies, only a minority of young people have access to quality programs of sports and physical activity. In disadvantaged communities, opportunities are rare. Many social ills facing our brothers and sisters today – drug dependency, senseless violence, despondency and defeatism – stem from the lack of opportunities to develop themselves. Sports can help’. ‘We would like to give something back for what we have received. But there is little opportunity to do so. We therefore call upon Commonwealth Heads of Government to enable us to make our contribution to education, social development and intercultural understanding. We ask you to improve opportunities for all citizens to participate in sports and physical activity. In particular, we ask you to create programs in which athletes, coaches, officials and teachers contribute to the urgent task of development through sport in the disadvantaged communities and countries of the Commonwealth.’

^8.Kidd, ‘Towards a Pedagogy of Olympism’.