The Olympics FINAL VERSION

 

The OlympicsNoah Nishihara Homegroup 909

Meaning of the Olympic Rings:The colours of the Olympic Symbol are from the left, blue, yellow, black, green and red. They represent the five continents. The colours are not officially directly related to any particular continent. The IOC has said that the only meaning is the joining and combining of the five continents that can be seen from the Olympic mark. Some people have tried associating continents and colours such as: blue is Oceania, yellow is Asia, black is Africa, green is Europe and red is America. The five rings were announced in 1914.The rings are interlaced to represent all the nations. The union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from around the world is represented by this symbol. The Olympic Movement is closely associated with the symbol. The rings are the visual representation of Olympism. All the colours on the Olympic Flag are seen on the various flags of the world.

One magic Olympic moment:1964 Tokyo Olympics ‘Witches of the Orient/The Oriental Witches’ was the nickname of the Japan national women’s volleyball team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. To the Westerners, short Japanese people beating tall and powerful Russians/Europeans was a miracle. It was magic. The moment of the gold medal victory on the final evening of 1964 Tokyo Olympics competition at the 4,000-seat Komazawa Gymnasium was a work of magic. They were famous for their new strategies, including the “receive and rotate” technique (direct translation: rotate and receive). The main team members would have retired if volleyball had not become an Olympic sport. There were high expectations and intense pressure on the team to win the gold medal. The team participated in a total of five games. They only lost one set out of all the matches. The final game was against the Soviet Union. The first two sets were won with ease. In the third set, the Soviet team took the lead in the beginning but were beaten after they received a penalty. Many people watched the final on their television sets. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics volleyball match is known by all Japanese people. It is one of the most famous events to occur in the history of the Olympics and Japan as well as volleyball.

Why have the Olympic Games?

·         Helps the host country’s economy

·         They are held in different countries to let as many countries as possible share the cultural, economic and world recognition that the Olympics may provide

·         Athletes can compare themselves with others on a global scale

What do the Olympic Games stand for/represent?

It represents Olympism. This is a philosophy for life that is widely accepted by many countries. The continuous hosting of the Games shows that the world still follows this philosophy. The philosophy is not the only thing that is represented by the Olympics.

3 things to consider whenever doing a presentation audience, form, purpose- what do I need to do (which topic)

 

Olympic Assignment:Sustainability

The Games of the XXXII Olympiad are to be held in Tokyo. Tokyo was chosen as the host city only after the Japanese government promised the world that the whole situation with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was under control. The government is thinking that the Olympics will help Japan recover from the 2011 tsunami/earthquake disaster despite increasing the debt of the country. Sustainability and the environment is no longer a major aspect in the current plan for the Tokyo Olympics. The Olympic Games are just an event based around sports, however host countries try to show its greatness, economic power and technology to the world.

Every Olympic event has a theme. Many people in Japan believe that the theme for the 2020 events is the idea of a compact and small, environmentally friendly Olympic Games. This theme was in fact used during the bid for the 2016 Olympics. Rio won the bid for the 2016 Games and many Japanese government officials thought that their theme had been declined. The theme had made possible a plan to make the Games cheap and ecological. All the main attractions would be gathered to one place and many old buildings would be reused. There was also another theme based on the fact that Japan had kept their peace for 60 years. It was called the ‘Peace Olympics’ and also disappeared after Rio won.

The famous unofficial theme for the 2020 Olympics is the hospitality and the spirit of welcoming people from overseas and the introduction of Japanese culture to the visitors. This theme is quite easily misused to spend money on elegant infrastructure. Currently, the plan is to keep everything within 8 km of the Olympic Village. The original environmentally friendly plan seemed to have been forgotten. One of the main reasons the International Olympic Committee chose Tokyo as the host city was because the Japanese government promised that they would promote sports to more than 10 million people in 100 nations between 2014 and 2020 through the SPORT FOR TOMORROW initiative. This is mainly focused around assisting developing countries (building gymnasiums and the introduction of sport into the curriculum etc.), creating the International Sport Academy (to teach Japanese sport culture and leading knowledge in the wide field of sports) and building an even stronger anti-doping capacity and network (e.g. spreading the complicated testing techniques and rules in developing countries). The spread of an unofficial theme throughout Japan and another government initiative that had little ambition in the field of sustainability caused Japan to waste their time creating controversies. These controversies are related to the logo of the event and the design of the new national stadium. There was no aim, purpose, principle or ideal for the Tokyo Olympics. This was the main reason why the designer Kenjiro Sano couldn’t come up with an original logo and also why a space ship design was chosen for the national stadium. At one point, the population of Japan questioned whether an Olympic event would even be able to be held in Tokyo.Only a few weeks ago, the official theme was chosen to be ‘Recovery Olympics’. The main focus will now be on solving existing problems and redeveloping the areas affected by the disaster. This theme will be used to allow several sporting events including rugby to be held a fair distance away from Tokyo’s surrounding areas. Future Olympic Games must be carefully planned to ensure enough time for the country to focus on important things. The ideal must be chosen and agreed to by the majority of the nation before any demolishing or planning.

Putting the grim past events aside, the Olympics are a great opportunity for new technologies and Japan’s advances in various fields to be shown to the world. Japan wants to show its greatness and importance in the world. The Olympics has the power to affect environmental awareness and studies. The city of Tokyo will reduce the burden (energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions) on the environment, plant trees and utilise sustainable design of buildings and communicate the importance of the environment. Most modern Olympic Games have shown various new ideas and solutions to the world. The Tokyo Olympics guideline/plan outlines 3 pages of measures to do with the environment. They want the world to eliminate all waste. Their model is the 5R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover Energy and Restore the Urban Nature).

The Olympics have in recent times pushed the world onto the path of a sustainable future. By using its global popularity it has created a link between the Olympics and the environment. However, countries that actually host the Games are not always following the guidelines and ideals of the IOC. One reason why the Olympics has been associated with sustainability and the environment is because of the effect that holding the Games had in the past on the natural surroundings and spaces inhabited by humans. The Winter Olympics are more destructive than the Summer Olympics as it is mostly held where there is more undisturbed nature.

Stadiums are built where houses used to stand. Traditional houses are demolished to avoid showing ‘poorness’. Hotels and the Olympic Village take up huge areas due to the vast number of people involved. Resources are wasted by constructing these large and unnecessary facilities. The environment is affected by the Olympic Games and therefore even more importance on sustainabilitymust be placed. Thorough consideration of the future usage and maintenance of infrastructure is required. There should be no negative aspects of the Olympics.

At present, it seems as though only a handful of countries are actually capable of hosting the events. Smaller events and cheaper costs should be promoted. Countries should reduce their attention to the showing off aspect of the events. This would allow more places to host the Games.

The whole world is eagerly awaiting the 2020 Olympics and Tokyo does not want to disappoint. Future events must learn from previous ones and should not make the same mistakes. Sustainable development and respect for the environment is the key to solving all problems. The environment affects sport and sport affects the environment. The IOC must teach the whole world the reason why the Games are held every four years. For improvement of the lives of all living things on Earth and nothing else.

Bibliography

“Environment” 2012, tokyo2020_candidate_entire_1_jp.pdf,Japanese Olympic Committee

“Overview” 2012, tokyo2020_candidate_entire_2_jp.pdf,Japanese Olympic Committee

“Planet: reduced environmental footprint” March 2013, Sustainability Management Plan: Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games, Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games

“Infrastructure” 2015 Feb, Tokyo_2020_Games_Foundation_Plan_JP,Tokyo 2020™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games                                                                   

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 2012, Tokyo 2020 Looks to Tomorrow on World Environment Day, http://tokyo2020.jp/en/news/index.php?id=185, Accessed Tuesday, 3 November 2015          

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