The IOA

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IOA Latest Posts

IOA hosted the General Assembly of the International Camel Racing Federation
November 29, 2024
News
IOA hosted the General Assembly of the International Camel Racing Federation

Delegations from 63 countries around the world attended the General Assembly

IOA visit to BIIOS in Beijing, China
November 4, 2024
News
IOA visit to BIIOS in Beijing, China

IOA team members Stella Tachtara and Roula Vathi visited Beijing, China and participated in two International Forums

Strengthened synergy between the IOA and Thailand’s Olympic Organizations following Elite Sports Personnel Development Programme
November 1, 2024
News
Strengthened synergy between the IOA and Thailand’s Olympic Organizations following Elite Sports Personnel Development Programme

The International Olympic Academy and the National Olympic Committee and National Olympic Academy of Thailand are building upon a strengthened partnership to advance Olympic Education

IOA and Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy unite to promote Olympism at the 47th Session’s Opening Ceremony
October 29, 2024
News
IOA and Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy unite to promote Olympism at the 47th Session’s Opening Ceremony

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy celebrated the commencement of its 47th Session with an impactful opening ceremony, highlighting a dynamic collaboration with the International Olympic Academy.

IOA Delegation participated in Saudi Olympic Academy’s Conference on "Olympism"
October 10, 2024
News
IOA Delegation participated in Saudi Olympic Academy’s Conference on "Olympism"

The Saudi Olympic Academy, with the participation of the International Olympic Academy, successfully hosted a conference under the theme "Olympism"

IOA has initiated a synergy with the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA)
October 5, 2024
News
IOA has initiated a synergy with the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA)

A significant step toward fostering global cooperation

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The Vault

IOA hosted the General Assembly of the International Camel Racing Federation
November 29, 2024
News
IOA hosted the General Assembly of the International Camel Racing Federation

Delegations from 63 countries around the world attended the General Assembly

IOA visit to BIIOS in Beijing, China
November 4, 2024
News
IOA visit to BIIOS in Beijing, China

IOA team members Stella Tachtara and Roula Vathi visited Beijing, China and participated in two International Forums

Strengthened synergy between the IOA and Thailand’s Olympic Organizations following Elite Sports Personnel Development Programme
November 1, 2024
News
Strengthened synergy between the IOA and Thailand’s Olympic Organizations following Elite Sports Personnel Development Programme

The International Olympic Academy and the National Olympic Committee and National Olympic Academy of Thailand are building upon a strengthened partnership to advance Olympic Education

IOA and Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy unite to promote Olympism at the 47th Session’s Opening Ceremony
October 29, 2024
News
IOA and Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy unite to promote Olympism at the 47th Session’s Opening Ceremony

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Academy celebrated the commencement of its 47th Session with an impactful opening ceremony, highlighting a dynamic collaboration with the International Olympic Academy.

IOA Delegation participated in Saudi Olympic Academy’s Conference on "Olympism"
October 10, 2024
News
IOA Delegation participated in Saudi Olympic Academy’s Conference on "Olympism"

The Saudi Olympic Academy, with the participation of the International Olympic Academy, successfully hosted a conference under the theme "Olympism"

IOA has initiated a synergy with the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA)
October 5, 2024
News
IOA has initiated a synergy with the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA)

A significant step toward fostering global cooperation

IOA educational development programme: Enhancing International Sport Management Skills
September 9, 2024
News
IOA educational development programme: Enhancing International Sport Management Skills

The programme has been developed through the collaborationof the Sport Authority of Thailand and the National Olympic Academy of Thailand

The Advanced Diploma in Olympic Studies in Bahrain was successfully completed
July 8, 2024
News
The Advanced Diploma in Olympic Studies in Bahrain was successfully completed

IOA keeps expanding its educational mission abroad

Τhe IOA President Isidoros Kouvelos attended the Session of the National Olympic Academy of Cyprus
June 19, 2024
News
Τhe IOA President Isidoros Kouvelos attended the Session of the National Olympic Academy of Cyprus

The theme of the 34th Session was "Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Promotion of Olympic Values"

The opening of the works of the 64th Session for Young Olympic Ambassadors
June 9, 2024
News
The opening of the works of the 64th Session for Young Olympic Ambassadors

Her Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic Mrs Katerina Sakellaropoulou declared the opening of the works of the IOA Session

Opening Address
Message
Opening Address

For about 60 years, we have welcomed Young Participants in the International Sessions!

2020 President's address
July 1, 2020
Message
2020 President's address

Due to the covid-19 pandemic the IOA organized its annual sessions virtually. Nevertheless the renovation of the IOA premises, generously funded by the IOC, never stopped.

The Olympic Movement and its Responsibility  for Human Rights
Proceedings
The Olympic Movement and its Responsibility  for Human Rights

Each one of us is required to act in his or her field of responsibility.‍

The educational value of Olympism
Proceedings
The educational value of Olympism

The concept of virtue is still missing from the Olympic Charter.

Respect for Diversity
Proceedings
Respect for Diversity

Diversity can be seen as the many aspects of a beautiful mosaic.

Victory and Virtue in Sport
Proceedings
Victory and Virtue in Sport

Sport challenges you to learn from the virtues of sport, that you should become virtuous.

Lessons and  activities for teaching respect in Olympic education
Proceedings
Lessons and  activities for teaching respect in Olympic education

Undoubtedly, the best practices presented here may make a considerable contribution to an education of the younger generation, the development of their personality and in teaching respect for diversity.

Respect your sport: Rules, culture, internal products
Proceedings
Respect your sport: Rules, culture, internal products

Japan welcomes the Olympic Games to its territory for the fourth time.

Human rights and youth sport
Proceedings
Human rights and youth sport

Human Rights, in one form or another, existed in all societies since ancient times.

Sport and moral education: Is kalokagathia a value today?
Proceedings
Sport and moral education: Is kalokagathia a value today?

The relationship between sport and moral education, we can note that sport practice does not automatically lead to mature collective reasoning and value adoption.

Possibilities and limitations of intercultural education within the Olympic Movement
Proceedings
Possibilities and limitations of intercultural education within the Olympic Movement

This social richness of cultural diversity was perfectly blended with sport activities, leaving me with memories I will long cherish.‍

The Power of Tokenization: Transforming Sports & Education
Insight
The Power of Tokenization: Transforming Sports & Education

Engage their communities, enhance funding mechanisms, and create innovative ways for fans to participate actively in the success of their teams and athletes.

Rethinking Olympic Education at Scale
March 16, 2021
Insight
Rethinking Olympic Education at Scale

Open Invitation — Social Impact at Scale

AI & Personalized Executive Training
March 22, 2023
Insight
AI & Personalized Executive Training

The integration of AI into learning management systems and personalized training has the potential to make learning more engaging, effective, and efficient.

Pierre de Coubertin et internationalismes
November 13, 2019
Insight
Pierre de Coubertin et internationalismes

Coubertin transferred to sport the concept of the World Fairs and the educational initiatives of the World Peace Congresses to strengthen respect between the nations. 

Olympism and Peace Education: a historical analysis
September 18, 2019
Insight
Olympism and Peace Education: a historical analysis

How do we apply a system of common moral values and cultural models?

The International Olympic Academy turns over a new leaf!
October 9, 2019
Insight
The International Olympic Academy turns over a new leaf!

The renovation cost shall amount to approximately 12.5 million euros

Annual Report of Angola
July 14, 2023
NOA Report
Annual Report of Angola

Norway 2022 Report
November 10, 2022
NOA Report
Norway 2022 Report

Thailand 2022 Report
December 19, 2022
NOA Report
Thailand 2022 Report

Argentina 2022 Report
December 6, 2022
NOA Report
Argentina 2022 Report

Kosovo 2022 Report
December 15, 2022
NOA Report
Kosovo 2022 Report

Ukraine 2022 Report
December 19, 2022
NOA Report
Ukraine 2022 Report

Senegal 2022 report
December 12, 2022
NOA Report
Senegal 2022 report

Iran 2022 Report
November 9, 2022
NOA Report
Iran 2022 Report

The IOC Commission for Olympic Education  and its vision
June 19, 2018
Olympic Athlete
The IOC Commission for Olympic Education and its vision

A champion wins the event ...AND in addition, displays the Olympic values of excellence, tolerance, respect and fair play

The Olympic Games and Peace
October 6, 2019
Sport Diplomacy
The Olympic Games and Peace

All individuals impart a qualitative priority to some form of peace.

Olympic Movement as a soft power in Diplomacy
Sport Diplomacy
Olympic Movement as a soft power in Diplomacy

Sports can be a platform, capable of surmounting obstacles often created by dogmatic stereotypes

The external dimension of the EU Sport Diplomacy
September 11, 2019
Sport Diplomacy
The external dimension of the EU Sport Diplomacy

Major sports organizations and federations have for a long time been organizing themselves at the international level and putting in place umbrella structures

Sport and an active society without walls. Social inclusion of refugees through sport and physical activity
September 18, 2019
Sport Diplomacy
Sport and an active society without walls. Social inclusion of refugees through sport and physical activity

Sport and physical activity can function as a vehicle of communication between refugees and host communities.

Protocol of Academic Understanding between IOA and CISM
November 17, 2021
Sport Diplomacy
Protocol of Academic Understanding between IOA and CISM

The main point of this agreement is the organization of an International Symposium by CISM in Ancient Olympia.

Olympic Movement and International Politics
October 23, 2019
Sport Diplomacy
Olympic Movement and International Politics

As the reader of this documented study will find, the relationship between sport and politics has gone through many fluctuations and many levels of conflict.

Books

30 Years Olympic Studies for Postgraduate Students

The commemorative volume “30 Years Olympic Studies for Postgraduate Students” is a publication of the IOA comprising 58 texts, written by renowned academics from all over the world who have contributed to define the physiognomy of the Postgraduate Seminar, through their valuable lectures and supervision of the students’ papers as well as by young scholars who have gained useful knowledge and experienced the Olympic spirit through the IOA Seminar’s activities. The main aim of this publication is the reconstruction of the history of this academic endeavor, its human-centered character and its evolution through the years.

Looking Towards The Future with Hope.
60th IOA anniversary

On the occasion of the celebration of the 60th International Olympic Academy Anniversary, the IOA issued the book “Looking towards the future with hope”. The book comprises a selection of articles written by distinguished scholars, university professors and members of the Olympic Family. The book touches upon a variety of Olympic topics since the articles deal with issues of Olympism today and tomorrow, review the Olympic Values in today’s world, as well as the contemporary challenges in the Olympic Movement and the relation between the Olympic Movement and Peace.

Olympic Movement & International Politics.
A confrontational coexistence over time

The relationship between the Olympic Movement and politics has gone through many changes and levels of conflict, as both these social forces have a different starting point and different target. On the one hand, the Games are based on a warm and strong co-existence of different peoples, religions, ideologies and cultures, targeting brother-hood, solidarity, humanism and consolidating world peace. On the other hand, politics attempts to take advantage of any fertile ground to flex its muscles and to gain an advantage, able to assist in imposing any idea expressed each time.

Over the 120 years of its lifetime, the Olympic Movement’s relation-ship with politics went through three major historical phases. The first started with Pierre de Coubertin’s noble idea to revive the Olympic Games up until a short time prior to the 2nd World War. The second phase started dramatically before the end of the 2nd World War and spans the years until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Without a doubt this was the most difficult period for the Olympic Movement. The third phase is what we have lived through over the last 30 years, with political interventions in the Olympic Games gradually ebbing and the IOC reversing what had previously been the status quo, to impose its own terms in this relationship between sports and politics.

Today the Movement is autonomous and imposes its might internationally in the pursuit of world peace - in which it is called upon to play an increasingly creative role. This is a new era for the Olympic Movement, with an enhanced role on the international political chessboard, which requires the Movement to impose its autonomy.

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Directory of National Olympic Academies

National Olympic Academies are an integral part of the International Olympic Academy, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement.

Οlympic Movement & International Politics: Facts & Thoughts

An introductory treatise was published by the International Olympic Academy in May 2016, by Professor and IOA Director, Dr Dionyssis Gangas, entailing many features relative to typical and substantive intervention of internal and international politics in Olympic Movement.

One of the most controversial and debatable subjects, which, curiously, only a few analysts of the Olympic Movement have investigated, are the different aspects in which the discipline of domestic and international politics has affected the development of Olympism, both in the content of its very philosophy, as well as in its practical implementation through structured sports and primarily, the Olympic Games. It is possible that this lack of systematic study and promotion of this phenomenon may be attributed to the fact that throughout the course of the Olympic Movement and mainly the development of the Games, the various events that have defined the interaction of sports and politics were dealt with individually and not as branches of the same tree which spread out gradually and covered all facets of the phenomenon of this relation.

The purpose of writing this treatise is to provide the students of the Postgraduate Programme in Olympic Studies, organized by the International Olympic Academy and the Department of Sports Organization and Management of University of Peloponnese, with the potentiality to observe more easily the relation between the Olympic Movement and its political exploitation, a subject that contains, by nature, many distinctive qualities.

This treatise will constitute the core of a textbook of the writer which will be published in 2017.

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Olympic Games "Athens 2004"
Assessment of the impact of the Games on society and the economy through a critical approach: Truth and myth (in Greek)

Dr Petros Synadinos, Architect – Town Planner, Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, President of the Hellenic Archery Federation.
Nikos Choutas, Political Scientist - Historian.

Editor
Dr Vassiliki Tzachrista, Archaeologist, International Olympic Academy
Foreword: Isidoros Kouvelos, President of the International Olympic Academy
Foreword: Adamantios Pepelasis, Economist – Professor at UCLA
cInternational Olympic Academy Athens 2016

Twelve years after the Athens Olympic Games, this study undertakes the first comprehensive assessment of their impact on Greek society, its institutions and the international profile of Greece. The combination of old and new information sheds light on various aspects of the greatest event ever staged in Greece, which (at that time) greatly changed opinions both in Greece and abroad about what Greece can do.

Specifically, the study examines, in detail, the effects of the Games on tourism, employment, on commercial activities of Greek companies and how they contributed to the modernization and improvement of public infrastructure in the sectors of sports, health, transport and telecommunications, culture, water resource management and the improvement of the urban landscape in terms of aesthetics and functional reconstruction. Based on the official announcements of the Olympic Games, it attempts a critical approach and aspires to take stock soberly of their impact and importance for the host city and the country generally.

The publication records the tangible and intangible benefits of the Games and each individual section investigates choices that were harmful and imposed (superfluous sports venues, additional extraordinary security measures, etc.); the defects and inertias in the preparation phase, which contributed to a certain degree in limiting gains from the success of the Games in the post-Olympic period. A detailed table with financial information is provided in an appendix, which lists the three project categories of the overall Olympic budget: mandatory Olympic projects, necessary/nationally chosen projects, parallel projects and classification per body and ministry with payments up to 2010. 

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50 years International Olympic Academy Inspirations and Memories (IOA 1961-2011).

On the occasion of the celebration of the International Olympic Academy's golden jubilee, the IOA issued an anniversary album with the personal reminiscences and stories of 50 friends and fellow travelers from all over the world who are only a symbolic sample of the thousands of friends of the Olympic idea who were involved in the IOA's educational work. The authors were invited to revisit the IOA's activities from a personal approach. Their stories eloquently reflect their sentimental ties to the IOA as they highlight the Academy's contribution to the Olympic Movement and Olympic education.

The publication contains photographs with the authors' memories, from their personal records or from the IOA's photographic archive. It also includes the traditional commemorative pictures of the participants from the IOA's archive, which cover its 50 years of operation and constitute an informal "directory".

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The International Olympic Academy
A History of an Olympic Institution

Forty-five years after the creation of the International Olympic Academy, on the initiative of then-President Nikos Filaretos and with funding provided by the IOC's Olympic Solidarity, a review of the IOA's work explores with a critical eye and in depth the character, the history and the activities of a cultural institution with an international presence and scope.

The thematic contents of this edition cover the background of the Academy's creation, the excavations of the German Archaeological School, the role of the IOC's Commission for the IOA, the National Olympic Academies, Ancient Olympia as a symbol of Olympism, the facilities in Ancient Olympia and cumulative information on the lectures and lecturers of its international Sessions. It is published in English and in Greek.

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Olympic Truce
Sport as a platform for peace

The International Olympic Truce Centre has published in cooperation with the International Olympic Academy a collection of articles on the concept and institution of the Olympic truce. Prominent researchers sign the articles of the book with the view to exploring the origins of the truce and identifying ways for its realistic enforcement today.

The publication includes photographs of paintings by Greek and Chinese artists that were presented in an exhibition under the title "From Ancient Olympia to Beijing: Greek and Chinese artists discuss truce, fair play, war and peace" that was shown in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games and in Athens in 2009.

Museum of the Modern Olympic Games The History of the Olympic Games reflected in the exhibits of the Museum at Ancient Olympia

This edition constitutes a detailed guide to the Museum of Modern Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia useful for its visitors as well as researchers. The museum's exhibits, valuable historic sports documents, bring to light interesting moments of the modern Olympic past, promoting the educational values of Olympism. It is published in English and in Greek.

Olympic Revival
The Revival of the Olympic Games in Modern Times

The present study focuses on the relationship between the reconstitution of the Olympic Games and the way in which the political and cultural identity of the modern Greek state was shaped and defined. It is an attempt to shed light on the role of Greek tradition in the revival of the Olympic Games - an aspect hitherto not given the attention it deserves in the literature in various languages. If we look closely at the new sources, we shall find that, so far from being the work of a single individual, Pierre de Coubertin, the reestablishment of the Olympic Games was in fact the result of very various intellectual trends and multiple factors in different countries. This approach, coming from a Greek, is not meant to belittle the part played by Pierre de Coubertin, who, as the bibliography shows, was the main inspiration of the notion of bringing back the Olympic Games in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

The new evidence called in to complement all previous research was located by systematic research among the texts and sources extant in various archives in Greece. The greater and most important part of these new sources comes from the unpublished archive of Demetrios Vikelas, first president of the IOC, which contains many texts relating to the first two operational years of the IOC. Furthermore, a lot of valuable unpublished information included in the archive of the Hellenic Olympic Committee as well as in other archives, was used as a basis in order to highlight unknown aspects of the Athens 1896 Olympic Games.

Special reference is made to the first attempts in Greece, the well-known Zappas Olympics, to revive the Olympic Games, the William Penny Brookes's ideas and efforts to create an Olympic Movement in England through the bodily and spiritual development of the British working class, and their contribution to the creation of a proper substructure for making the Olympic Games truly international. The personalities of Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, the way in which Greece received the proposal-wish of the 1894 Founding Congress for the first Olympic Games to be held in Athens and the efforts of all Greeks to meet the demands of such a task, as well as the idea of the permanent staging of the Games in Athens, are some of the issues also presented in the current study.

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Athens
Olympic City 1896 - 1906

The present volume is a collection of essays attempting to investigate the parameters which relate to the celebration of the Olympic Games by Athens in the past - specifically in 1896 and 1906. The main hypotheses have to do with how Athens hosted the Olympic Games of 1896 and 1906, how it functioned as an Olympic city, how it was seen by foreign visitors and athletes and what were their experiences, what were the consequences of these Olympic events for Greek domestic and foreign policy and for the image of the city itself, and what was the relation between the expectations of local people and foreigners and the reality, between the ideal and the real Athens.

Τhese questions presuppose interdisciplinary approaches which take into account demographic, social, economic, political and cultural parameters of the two Olympic events in Athens. Thus the history written in the chapters of this volume is not an "inside" and "introspective" history of the Games which contents itself with a record of the names of the athletes, athletic achievements, the nature of the events, and, in general, all those features which go to make up what is called the athletic side of the Olympic Games. The emphasis is put on the people (who traveled to Athens, who lived there, who attended or took part in the Games), on the place - real and invented - of the revival of the Games and on the festival (of athletics, but not only) itself.

All essays are based on original research conducted in the archives and the libraries of different countries and mainly in the Archives of the Hellenic Olympic Committee in Athens.

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Archives and History of the Hellenic Olympic Committee

This publication is meant to make known the richness of the Archives of the HOC, which were classified under the direction of Professor Christina Koulouri. An exceptionally analytic database was designed especially for the HOC archives in accordance with its particular needs and the research potential. This database is user-friendly and allows the researcher to pursue many lines of research, as well as the printing of catalogues of every type - thematic, chronological, etc. - in a rough form. For the period 1894-1936, the computer entry was carried out by document, while for the period 1937-1972 by folder.The HOC archives highlight the history of the Committee itself, as the oldest central athletic institution in Greece, on the one hand, and the history of Greek sport in general in combination with the political, social, economic and cultural changes that took place in Greece during the 20th century, on the other. The fact that the HOC was in charge of and managed the main sports grounds in the region of the capital (Panathenean Stadium, Velodrome and the Rifle Range at Kallithea) for many years strengthened the role it played in the organisation of sports events. At the same time, the holding of the Olympic Games every four years bestowed on the HOC an international role that other sports institutions did not have, like SEGAS (Union of Greek Gymnastic and Sports Clubs) and various sports federations, at least during the first half of the 20th century.The quantity and variety of subject matter contained in the Archives - and which go beyond the boundaries of the history of sport - cannot of course be reflected in a publication whose purpose is merely to try and make known an archival collection and shed light on the research avenues it offers. However, instead of the printing of a catalogue of themes that has been recorded during the indexing of documents, folders and boxes, the present publication uses the archives to selectively present some historical themes of the HOC and Greek sport. Consequently, the texts contained in this volume are short studies that combine the primary archival material with the existing bibliography without attempting to offer a complete and exhaustive presentation of themes.The choice of subjects was dictated by the desire to highlight the Greek side of the history of the Olympic Games, according to the availability of the Archives. That does not mean, however, that the approach is entirely Greco-centric. The aim was to gain deeper insight into the connections between Greece and the general history of the Olympic Games and the spread of the specific weight of 'Greekness' in the institutionalisation of the modern international Olympics - beginning with the revival and ending with the torch relay. For various reasons, therefore, it was decided to include a presentation of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens (1896), the Intermediate Olympics of 1906, the Balkan Games, the International Classical Games of 1934, the torch relay, the Berlin Games (1936) and the Greek Delegations to the Olympic Games (1900-1972).

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Keep the Spirit Alive

Is a booklet for people who work with children and youth. It builds a framework within any school program for the study of the values and traditions of the Olympic Games in order to give more quality to their lives.

It converts the Olympic message, which is the legacy of Pierre de Coubertin, into meaningful and easy to use activities which emphasize local and cultural background.

Join the hundreds of teachers throughout the world who use Olympic themes to motivate students in mathematics, sciences, writing and reading, the arts and physical education. Organize a mini-Olympic Games in your school or communities and use it to teach fair play and understanding. Build on the enthusiasm to encourage participation by both boys and girls in physical activity and sport. Help students affirm their own identity and diversity.

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