It’s 2012 and here comes the London Oympics, but what about Olympism – the reason  the Olympics exist? Olympism was founded by the ancient Greeks. They actively encouraged citizens to develop all of their physical, moral, intellectual, cultural and artistic qualities.

The Olympic Games celebrated this with the Olympic Games festival involving athletes, artists and scholars from different cultural fields. Sport, art, educational and cultural activities were blended.

Modern Olympism
The modern Olympic Movement was started in 1894 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin.  He resurrected the ancient Greek ideals and gave them to the rest of the world when he staged the first ‘modern’ Olympic Games  in 1896 in Greece’s  newly reconstructed Panathenean Stadium (originally created in 330BC).

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Olympism blends sport with culture and education, and most importantly, Olympism promotes a peaceful way of life which uses ‘sport to promote the balanced development of people as an essential step in building a peaceful society that places a high value on human dignity’.  In fact the Olympic Movement believes ‘sport is an invaluable means of

• educating people,
• cultivating aesthetic and
• moral values,
• fostering friendships
• among young people, and
• bringing people from different nations closer together.’

[See ‘What is the role of Sport in The Olympics? for more.] This is what sportsmanship is all about – morale values (respect, fair play, honesty) and fostering friendship  whilst competing.

So hopefully, we’ll see some true Olympism (sportsmanship) in London Olympics 2012 just like we did in 1908 (Queen Alexander), 1932 (Judy Guinness, fencing), 1936 (Karl Lutz Long, long jump), 1952 (Zatopek, 5k & 10k runner), 1956 (Takhti, wrestler), 1960 (Rudolph, sprinter), 1968 (Akhwari, marathon), 1976 (Fujimoto, gymnast), 1988 (Lemieux, sailing) 1992 (Derek Redmond, 400m), 1994 (Jensen & Koss, speed skaters), 2004 (Cordeiro de Lima, marathon), 2006 (Hakensmoen, Ski-ing), 2008 (Junquan, swimmer). Full stories in the Great Moments Of Sportsmanship eBook (& printed book). Free Sportsmanship Workbook & Tutor’s Guide available for schools also.

1. Romanian captain, Cristian Petre, who after suffering a 67-3 loss to England,  was asked by a reporter about the game and replied “I play rugby for happiness.”  More.
2. The French rugby team won the toss to choose who wears their own home jerseys in the Rugby World Cup Final and declined to wear their treasured ‘bleu’. Instead they felt it was right for Kiwis, as RWC hosts, should  wear their own colours.   More
3. Young Kerry Gaelic football Tomás Ó’Sé after the final whistle carried the ball as a souvenir to the Dublin goal keeper who kicked the winning point in 2011 All Ireland Gaelic Final. Caught on camera! More.
4. Former Somali refugee, Mohamed Farah, won gold for Britain in the 5,000 metres World Athletic Championships – making his new nation very proud while arch rival, Kenyan, Paul Lagat (representing USA) was the first to embrace him and congratulate him. More.
5. Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed honour when he allowed England’s batsman to be reinstated after being ‘run out’ because of a misunderstanding that the game had stopped for tea. More.
6. Vancouver’s Langley Elementary School children displayed true sportsmanship after Ice Hockey riots when they wrote to Boston school children to congratulate the winners, Boston. More.
7. Ex American basket ball pro, ex junkie and now coach, Chris Herren, is a true sportsman as he coaches children and encourages them to always have fun & enjoy their games. More.
8. The Indian & Pakistan cricket fans – arch enemies became friends for life as they shared the excitement & enjoyment of fierce competition as over one billion people watched the match on television.  One man offered to sell his liver … More.
9. 19 year old Japanese golfer, Ryo Ishikawa, donated all this year’s earnings to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  More.
10. Irish rugby coach, Declan Kidney when asked about the illegal Welsh try that won the game said, that ‘while he felt extremely frustrated, he was not going to make an issue of it at a time when so many in the world were suffering. More.

I will tweet later our all time favourite single moment for 2011. Happy New Year  To One and All.  Say ‘Yes’ to Great Sportsmanship in 2012.

All Black Snow Angels:  Cory Jane, left, and Israel Dagg enjoy the tickertape after receiving their winners’ medals. Photo RWC

Congrats to New Zealand on a hard fought battle with the magnificent French revolutionaries – what a game. As they say in the song, it’s been a long time coming.

The then reigning world champions South Africa, when beaten by Australia in the quarter finals, exited with great dignity. As the final whistle blew I watched their   world’s best second row, Victor Matfield, smile warmly whilst congratulating the victorious Australians. So too did the Springboks  talisman captain, John Smit. He got up from the bench and promptly walked over to the Australian bench to congratulate them with a  smile, whilst privately sad, knowing that his international rugby career was over.

But the moment of the tournament  came from a real winner in rugby, in sport and in life, the Romanian captain, Cristian Petre, who after suffering a 67-3 loss to England,  was asked by a reporter about the game and replied "I play rugby for happiness".  

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Note: Springbok captain John Smit and vice-captain Victor Matfield retired a few days after the World Rugby Cup (Smit from international rugby and Matfield from all rugby with the quote: “It has been an unbelievable experience being part of building our great nation and bringing people closer to each other.”

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Farah arrived in England when he was just 8 years old and hardly spoke any English. His first love was football and his dream was to play for Arsenal.  His PE teacher offered Farah the incentive of playing indoor football for 30 minutes before taking him to the running club. He worked hard and went on to get  the European track record for 10,000 metres, the British road record for 10,000 metres, the British indoor record in the 3,000 metres, the British track record for 5,000 metres and the European indoor record for 5,000 metres.

In July 2010, Farah was the first British man to win the European 10,000 metres gold medal. He went on to also win gold in the 5,000m, becoming the first British man to win the long distance double.

Then last weekend, he turned silver into gold in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea after winning silver in the 10,000 metres, he went on to win gold in the 5,000 metres after a dramatic final lap.

Bernard Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya and won medals for Kenya before changing his domicile and representing America. Despite the fierce rivalry between Farah and Lagat (Lagat pushed for gold the whole way), Lagat was the first man over to congratulate Farah. A beautiful moment from two world class sports men who have adopted to foreign countries.

Thanks to Ken Mc Cue (Sport Against Racism Ireland) for alerting me to the story.

During the interview I was moaning about the French footballer, Henri handling the ball (see 3 Wise Men) and demanding a replay in the name of Fair Play (as well as marking the end of the ‘non-video ref era’), when a wonderful Wigan FC fan phoned in (as the programme was originally about the Wigan players giving the fans their money back after Wigan were beaten  9-1 by Spurs). He  admitted that one of their players had, in fact handled the ball also, and that they, as true sportsmen, were offering Spurs the opportunity of a replay. Don’t you just love some football fans’ wit & humour? A wonderful Christmas gesture!

Cochran won the event in 10:36, beating Shadle Park’s Andrea Nelson by 3 seconds. Thirty minutes later, race officials disqualified Cochran, ruling that the Harvard-bound runner ran 3 consecutive steps inside the lane adjacent to hers. Bellarmine Prep Coach Matt Ellis appealed the infraction, but his appeal was denied. Everyone knew that Cochrane had not stepped into the next lane and that the officials were wrong.

In a magical sportsmanship moment  when the official 3,200 race winner Andrea Nelson was awarded her first place medal at the podium, she moments later gave her first place medal to Cochran. Redmond’s Sarah Lord followed by giving Nelson her second-place medal, and the other medal winners followed suit. Somewhat reminiscent of the Britain’s  Gold medalist fencer, Judy Guinness at the 1932 LA Olympic when she refused her gold medal because officials had missed her opponent’s scores.

Some days later – the officials, having studied the video tapes rescinded their decision and officially awarded Cochran the gold medal. Congrats to Nelson, Lord and the other young lady who felt honour was more important than metal.

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