by H.E. Mr Mohamed Mzali (TUN), Member of the IOC
Olympism as a vision of the world, and the Olympic Games as a practice institutionalizing this vision, constitute what is certainly (for we can never repeat it often enough!) a major project for the civilization of our time. It responds to a fundamental need: a mental, collective, cultural need ...
For the Olympic Games, as a quadrennial event, are neither the simple unfolding of competitions nor a set of events which in themselves constitute a means to their own end. Throughout time, these Games have served as a support, a vector, an ideal which goes beyond, in breadth and significance, a boxing match, a chariot race, a pole-jumping competition or the fine performances of such-and-such an athlete ...
To evoke our debt towards Ancient Greece, and more precisely to Olympia, is not a simple reminder of historical origins. To evoke Greece is in fact both to refuel our resources, by going back to our antecedents, and to live again the birth of the movement; it is also to become aware of the mythical, ethical, and metaphysical roots in nature so as to liberate Man through Olympism. The oldest and most venerable literary texts are still there in the memory of all. Thus Ode XXIII of the Iliad (one of the longest in this epic poem, an ode which may be considered as the founding poem of Olympism!) is, as you know, devoted to the games given by Achilles in honour of the memory of his friend Patroclus. No less moving and just as beautiful are the recollections of the Games given in Phaecia, in the presence of Ulysses, in Ode VII of the Odyssey. Funeral celebrations in the first case, popular festivals in the other case, they constitute in different ways rites where the souvenir of the past, the great human values, the principles which guide life and found civilization are brought up-to-date by the scanning of the odes, the rhythm of the dances which alternated with the actual games to make - through their mingled movements - a more spacious ceremony and a total spectacle. Thus the athletic tournaments alternate with poetic ones and the human competitions with the divine. As for me, I remain, in this field, sensitive to the pertinent analyses made by Emile Mireaux. I think he is right when he interprets the chariot race, no doubt the highlight of the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, as a struggle between two divinities - Apollo and Athena. "The first, the protector of Eumeles, son of Admetus, made the whip fall from the hands of Diomedes at the most dramatic moment of the event. The second replaced her favourite's whip and broke the yoke of Eumeles's harness, so that he was then thrown to the ground, giving way to his rival. The same Athena made the son of Oileus slip in the dung of the sacrificial oxen during the footrace in order to ensure the victory of Ulysses. In an archery event it was the turn of Apollo to make Merion win".1 Thus the supernatural clings to the natural, men to gods, the present to the future, the sportsman to the politician. Hence, since Antiquity, the games have had this total character. Let us listen once again to Emile Mireaux develop his brilliant thesis: "The public games celebrated at fixed dates were in fact very likely intended to provide a renewal of that subterranean energy which ensures the perpetuation of life and presides over its regular restoration. This vital energy is normally embodied in the king ... at fixed intervals, then, it must be put to the test ... The public games were, without doubt, merely a means of experiencing periodically, on a primitive level, the physical strength, the vital power of the reigning king. Victorious, he began a new reign; beaten, he gave up his place to his conqueror".2
It is clear that things would have changed considerably since the Classical epoch, but the religious and political implications remain essential still. Competition, in fact, constitutes a total spectacle, and still remains linked to religious ceremonies: collective prayers, processions, public sacrifices. Thus the solemn procession of the great Panathenains who crossed the city bearing to the Acropolis the peplos embroidered by the young Athenian women for the statue of the goddess is immortalized by Phidias on the Parthenon frieze.
The Games were therefore a grandiose, popular celebration of men and gods. Consequently one can understand their power as a decisive factor which enabled the Greeks to become aware of themselves, to be aware of their cultural links and to emerge as an ethnic whole, the bearers of a common civilization. Professor Robert Flaceliore is quite correct in pointing out here that "The Hellenes were never united politically before the Macedonian and Roman conquests; they never formed a nation. It was at Olympia and at Delphi that they became aware of their ethnical and religious unity".3 The pursuit of glory and the feeling of honour (that famous Philotimia, so dear to the Greeks of olden times - and most assuredly also to those of today) constitute the axiological pivot of the games, which only makes sense within a lucid society, attached at the same time to grandeur, harmony, beauty and courage.
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However, this influence of the ethical and the ludic, this broadening of the lofty values of sport to the overall values which underpin an entire civilization, this total character of the games, are not solely their privilege. It seems to me, when all is said and done, that they are truly inherent to human nature. But the great merit of the Greeks is to have made of them an ideal, to have structured their civilization around this ideal and to have bequeathed it to us as a universal heritage which is the pride of all mankind. In fact, an analysis of other cultures shows quite obviously that the Greeks were right to postulate the universality of their ideal. An in-depth study of Negro African, Chinese and Indian cultural heritages would disclose the total and totalizing aspect. May I be permitted, for my part, to show how the Islamic civilization has also been a bearer of the same message.
In Islam, the conciliation of the body and the mind is a major fact. For straightaway Islam sites everything to do with the human body on an ethical level. Our bodies are only instruments which the Creator has generously put at our disposal.
They must therefore be carefully maintained and used to the maximum. The best thing a believer can do with his body is to exercise it, to train it, to master it, to make it supple, strong and beautiful. The ideals of strength, of virtue, of harmony and of beauty are all held to be essential duties in the eyes of the true believer. The Prophet Mohammed even established the child's right to the practice of sport just as much as education where his vital needs are taken care of. He liked to say, (as his best biographers, Moslem and Boukari report) that "children have a right to demand that their parents teach them to read and write, to swim and shoot with a bow and arrow, and leave them a good inheritance". He continually recommended to his companions that they learn to shoot with bow and arrow, to practise equestrian sports, swimming, and running, giving his personal example. He stood out amongst his entourage not only by his wisdom and his uprightness but also by his physical qualities, his feats, and the results which he obtained at sporting competitions in which he repeatedly encouraged those round him to take part.
So it is that following the example of the Prophet, a climate favourable to the development of sporting activities has developed in the Islamic world. Running, archery and games of skill, wrestling, swimming and equestrian sports have been elevated to the dignity of canonical games. But other games have been gradually encouraged. Naturally, a list has been drawn up which covers not less than 45 basic games. It would be tedious to go through this list now4. Let us just note that pelota, polo and their different variants have reigned in the Muslim East. Ball games and their derivatives have become a North American speciality. Wrestling has been practised almost everywhere, like horseriding5. What is most striking about all these games is the inventive spirit, the concern for physical form, the sense of loyalty and fair play during a competition, the skill of the athletes, etc.
It is the equestrian games which remain most closely linked with Islam, which has promoted a veritable equestrian civilization, especially amongst the Arabs.
The enormous interest which Arabs take in racing horses and the considerable role played by the horse in Muslim expansion explains the development of a true science and an interdisciplinary pursuit, of which the aim was the study, knowledge and highlighting of all the distinctive characteristics of this noble animal. Thus, philologists, historians and chroniclers, philosophers, doctors, and veterinarians, but also saddlers and armourers, happily put their knowledge, their experience and their technique at the service of the love of horses. The theologians were not to be outdone. A whole network of mythical traditions was built up making of the horse God's chosen mount, of supernatural origins, a gift made to Ismael, son of Abraham, and the ancestor of the Arabs. Hence this mythology of the winged horse mounted by angels, Solomon's pride in his horses, or the image of Al-Burak, the heavenly mount which bore the messenger of God, Mohammed, from Mecca to Jerusalem. The cult of the horse became, under these conditions, a constant factor in Arab culture. "This shows," notes an orientalist, "how much care and solicitude the Muslim rider must give his animal which, in times of food shortages, is more than that given his wife and family".6
The cult of the horse is linked of course to the chivalry which has developed to the point of being at once a technique in dressage, a game, a ritual and a moral science. Chivalric sentiments, and the ethic which is inherent in them, are essential. "The Prophet himself does not forbid races organized by breeders and encouraged the conservation and growth of livestock. During his life, he laid down rules for them, attempting by his advice to set up open competitions, by standardizing riders and fixing the distances to be covered according to the age of the horses involved. He himself donated large prizes to these competitions and entered his own horses".7
In fact the art of riding a horse is one of the most precise physical exercises of skill, one of the most accurate, the most rigorous and the most exciting that exists. It involves taming oneself as well as taming one's horse, paying attention to both bodies at the same time; that of the horse and that of the rider, to achieve permanent balance.
For the training of a horse goes hand in hand with the training which a rider must acquire in order to live to the rhythm of his body and that of his mount, without relaxing his vigilance when in the presence of his rivals. The equilibrium (ta'dil) between the forelegs and the hind quarters, the handling of the bit, (talk allidjam) have been closely analysed many times. "The secret of riding", according to many treatises, "lies in the firmness of seat (thabet) and the reins (taswiyat al'inen). This sureness is acquired by riding bareback (ela al'ari), the engagement being made through the pressure of the thighs"8. All Arab "furusiya" try through this art to master themselves and their own bodies, as much as their mounts. In the last analysis, it consists of showing that one is capable of understanding the animal and its movements, while at the same time transcending animality and its implications thanks to the virtues which one must embody.
It was not long before Arab chivalry had ethical repercussions. "The Faris took up arms to defend first his country, then his religion; he protected the weak, the widow, the orphan and the strays. He had to act in a completely unselfish manner to increase his prestige; he sent his lady courteous verses; he only used force to beat the enemy, had a very high awareness of his dignity (H'ilm), despised wealth and was content to provide for his subsistence".9
An interesting institution, the "Futuwa", was grafted onto Arab chivalry; it characterizes both the material organization of young people and the moral code from which they must take inspiration10. The heroic connotation is inseparable in physical demands: abnegation, bravura, generosity, a sense of humour, faithfulness, respect for promises made, the quest for inner peace, the cult of quality in work accomplished, professional conscientiousness. While experts have continued for many years to bring to light new relationships between "Futuwa" and youth organizations, physical exercise, professional corporations, even mysticism, it is the chivalric spirit which is at the heart of a total spirit, "Cultivate one's strength in order to dominate it better". "To master one's own body to put it in the service of a higher cause and an ideal", these are the fundamental rules. Sports activity thus encompasses all sectors of existence. The lighthearted and the serious, the physical and the moral, power and serenity, are judiciously placed in perspective to reach a common goal. In different terms, with original connotations and in a specific social and cultural context, Islamic civilization has brought into place a practice and a concept of physical education which is akin to man aspects of the Olympic ideal.
In truth, the Islamic civilization owes part of its grandeur to the value given to the body. It has been able to rediscover the Greek sense of beauty and strength. Asceticism, which was often developed in Islam through lack of culture, and also under the influence of certain Christian trends, remains limited, if not foreign to the genius of Islam. Those excesses to which asceticism gives rise have been and still are a sign of decadence, to the point that every attempt to reform Islamic civilization must begin by a rehabilitation of the body and by Man's acceptance of his globality.
I am sure you will forgive me for this detour into Islamic culture. It will, I hope, have given you proof that between this culture and that of the Greek world (that is to say, the roots of Western culture) there are more than a few family links and convergent points. I am certain that research into other cultures would come to interesting conclusions which would be very useful for the promotion of understanding. I sincerely hope that they will be undertaken, for it is in this way that one may justify the true universality of Olympism.
Allow me to stress this word "universality". For it is a key word in Olympism and one of the foundations of our current work. However, "universality" is not uniformity and still less standardization and levelling. Universality implies differences and agreements, different but convergent developments, diversified but collective contributions, varied but frank and sincere offerings. In short, it aims at being a combination of all men with their specific contributions with a view to making concrete a common ideal.
Must it be recalled that it was exactly in this spirit that Baron Pierre de Coubertin conceived the revival of the Olympic Games and that he opted, from the beginning, for their universality.
Pierre de Coubertin's stroke of genius was to understand that contemporary civilization, which was then in its early stages, and which has seen considerable growth since then, was to be a great consumer of sport. Just as, without delay, he understood that a single idealistic concept, universalizing and educational, of physical activity is capable of saving mankind. By analysing the present, he knew how to tie the present with the past and mark the way for the future.
Within the framework of the Olympic Academy we have often evoked this epoch and it is enough for me here to confine myself to what I consider essential: the moral or chivalric aspect of Olympism. Bernard Gillet has thrown much light on the importance of Coubertin's journey in 1888 to the furthermost bounds of Wales where he was present at "games" organized for the previous forty years by Dr W. P. Brooks. "Coubertin was captivated by the veil of poetry which enveloped these games and by the odour of antiquity which emanated from them; he added to them some of the chivalric customs borrowed from the Middle Ages".11
In the circular of 15th January 1894, sent to all French and foreign societies, Pierre de Coubertin did not hesitate to write that the important thing above all is to retain the noble and chivalric character of athletics, by which it has been distinguished in the past, so that it may efficiently play the admirable role which has been attributed to it by the Greek masters in the education of modern peoples".
Thus the resurrection of the Olympic Games was made on a deliberately universal basis, with an ethical goal and in a climate of solidarity and human brotherhood. Fair play, the grandeur of the soul, surpassing oneself, generosity (all features common to Greek Olympism, Arab "furusiya" and Western chivalry!) are also at the basis of this gigantic modern Olympic work, the undeniable and ever-growing success of which attests to the fact that it remains one of the greatest assets of our time ...
1 Emile Mireaux, La vie quotidienne au temps d'Homore - Hachette, p. 238-239.
2 Ibidem p. 239-240.
3 Robert Flaceliore, Les jeux grecs. In: Histoire des spectacles. La Pleiade, p. 299.
4 Cf. Mohamed Kamel Alaoui. Al riedha al badanya'inda al'arab (sport amongst the Arabs) Cairo 1947, p. 155-163.
5 Ibidem, p. 164.
6 F. Vire, article Faras. In: Encyclopedie de l'Islam. 2nd edition T.II, p. 804 - see also Faris, p. 818 - there are more than a hundred books or treatises in Arabic devoted to the horse, its characteristics and the good uses to which it can be put.
7 Encyclopedie de l'Islam, art. T.II, p. 175.
8 Ibidem, p. 975.
9 Ibidem, p. 918.
10 ????????
11 Bernard Gillet, Historique des jeux olympiques, in Jeux et Sport. La Pleiade, p. 1198.