Morinari Watanabe, aspiring to preside the International Olympic Committee, was the most disruptive of the seven candidates who outlined their proposals at the 143rd IOC session, held Thursday in Lausanne. The Japanese, if elected IOC president, intends to transform the IOC into a “World Sports Organization. We cannot limit ourselves to organizing the Games every four years. Olympism must be present in people’s lives every day”. What changes would occur if there are Olympic Games, for example, every year?
He also suggests a non-stop, non-stop Olympics: “Olympism must evolve. Let’s imagine Games that last 24 hours, where the whole world can participate and follow them in real time from different places”. What would be the consequences and how compatible is this with the Olympic Charter and the Olympic Movement?
WHAT THE OLYMPIC CHARTER SAYS
Before starting to analyze what such modifications would entail, it should be borne in mind that the Olympic Charter defines the Games as a quadrennial event and encourages universality and diversity of sports. It is also based on a central venue hosting most of the competitions. Splitting the Games into multiple venues over 24 hours would break with this tradition and require a transformation in the way the event is conceived. Such radical changes would therefore require a major overhaul of the IOC statutes.
Watanabe’s proposals are the least continuist of all and rather than an evolution suggest a somewhat extreme change of model. I cannot imagine an Olympic Games without respecting the cycle of the Olympics (originally an Olympics is the period between one Olympic Games and the next). This would mean that instead of every four years for athletes (two years for amateurs counting Summer and Winter) it would be something more continuous and common, without that distinctive feature, nor exclusive.
To this hypothetical ‘Olympic wear and tear’ is added the greater organizational and financial burden, with fewer years of infrastructure planning and planning. That burden would no longer be on the IOC alone, but on the host cities.
AN OVERCROWDED SPORTS CALENDAR
Taking one’s head out of the Olympics, while continuing with sport, this transformation would suffer a collision with other sporting events that both International and regional Federations already organize. An annual Olympic Games could conflict with these events and force the restructuring of competition calendars, while there would be a constant friction in the calendar, planning of athletes and, surely, some competition would disappear to have less prominence or, directly, no prominence at all.
The spectator, for his part, would lose strength with respect to his following of the Olympic Games. Part of their global appeal lies in their rarity. Since they are held every four years, they generate a special expectation. If they were annual, that effect would be lost and they could generate less interest among the public, including a drop in audience with an already overloaded sports calendar. Perhaps some sports, in this case, are not interested in being included in an Olympic program.
24-HOUR OLYMPIC GAMES
Although the idea of an Olympic Games lasting 24 hours a day and being held in multiple locations is innovative, it implies coordinating competitions in different time zones, with constant media coverage and having to guarantee the best conditions for the athletes? It must be taken into account that fatigue and recovery are key factors in sports performance. It is also advisable to ask ourselves if the fan also needs that daily rest and disconnection in order not to suffer exhaustion a few days before the start of the Games.
WHAT WOULD PIERRE DE COUBERTIN THINK?
Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, had a vision of Olympism based on education and the improvement of the individual through sport. It is likely that he viewed these changes with skepticism, as he conceived of the Games as a quadrennial celebration to bring together the youth of the world in a single event. However, as an innovator, he would perhaps welcome some ideas, such as the further integration of Olympism into everyday life, but he would also warn against turning it into a commercial spectacle without preserving its core values.
Today, asking De Coubertin often leads to the right answer as to where the Olympic flame should be directed and, in this case, fundamental values seem to carry more weight than such disruptive ideas as those of Morinari Watanabe.