The 5th World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture came to a
close on Tuesday after two days of fruitful discussion and debate
between some 700 experts on the opportunities and challenges faced
in these associated areas of work.
The World Forum, under the theme "Sport and a World of Harmony",
was hosted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), in
partnership with UNESCO. It is the first held outside Europe.
"The challenge of our Olympic Movement is to make the education
of youth through sport as relevant today as it was when Pierre de
Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee on this
principle over 100 years ago," IOC President Jacques Rogge told the
delegates at the close of the meetings.
"All of us who work under the Olympic rings have the social
responsibility to demonstrate by our example that sport teaches us
how to respect ourselves and one another, how to strive for
excellence in all that we do and, perhaps above all else, the
importance of friendship and peace.
"The theme of this Forum - 'Sport and a World of Harmony' -
articulates this perfectly, and your coming together to engage in
debate and learning is in itself an example of how the Olympic
Movement can pool the best resources and tackle important
issues."
Rogge expressed his delight at the number of recently retired
athletes who attended the Forum, commenting on how their
interventions helped connect the discussions in a truly relevant
way through the expression of personal experiences pertinent to the
issues of today, such as physical education and sport, education
for clean sport and post-career opportunities for athletes.
The IOC chief also said that the power of Olympic Games
organizers to use the platform of the Games to make the link
between sport and culture, thereby bringing educational value to
communities, was stressed.
"I am particularly thrilled that this Forum, the first to take
place outside Europe, has come to China. The bringing of Olympic
values to this, the most populous of nations, through the Beijing
2008 Games and its associated education projects, is unquestionably
one of the most exciting things for the IOC today," he said.
"It is nothing short of staggering to know that 400 million
children in 500,000 elementary and secondary schools will learn
from these projects. As we look to the future - Vancouver 2010,
London 2012 and beyond, the IOC is excited by the cultural
interchanges and learning that are to come."
Rogge emphasized his hope that the Forum's work would help lead
to a reinvigoration of physical education on school curricula;
continued and ever stronger education on the dangers and moral
wrongs of doping; and a strengthening of culture and education as
an integral part of future Olympic Games.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)