Bruce Kidd

How the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics could heal a post-coronavirus world: U of T's Bruce Kidd

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:14:18 +0000

How the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics could heal a post-coronavirus world: U of T's Bruce Kidd

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/27/2020 - 09:14

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A student lights the Olympic flame during a ‘Flame of Recovery’ ceremony in Japan held the day after the decision was made to postpone the Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic (photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Bruce Kidd

Topic

Breaking Research

Coronavirus

Tokyo 2020

Bruce Kidd

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Olympics

The Conversation

U of T Scarborough

The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics should bring the world back together in a reinvigorated spirit of Olympism – the ideal that sport should be conducted at the service of humane social development, international understanding and peace.

While it’s often forgotten today in the preoccupation with medals and marketing, Olympism is the body of ideas that provides the essential rationale for the modern Olympic Movement. It was first articulated by Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century.

When I was chair of the Olympic Academy of Canada, we set out seven different aspirations of Olympism, including the beliefs that sport should be educational and that athletes and organizers should pursue excellence in all areas of their lives. We taught that the overarching goal of Olympism is international understanding, the commitment to respect and afford dignity to all peoples, regardless of political, religious and social differences.

Develop respect through sport

Coubertin developed his ideas for the modern Olympics at a time when the European powers were rapidly arming themselves for the catastrophe that became the First World War. He strategized that through international sport, and the co-mingling of athletes and spectators, people could develop respect for each other and hopefully create social networks that could work against groups that were promoting war.

At this time of new manifestations of xenophobia, when the border closings required to block the spread of the coronavirus have unleashed new hatreds in many parts of the world, the spirit of Olympism is needed more than ever before. The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics should be planned as celebrations and affirmations of internationalism and intercultural understanding.

I am confident that the Japanese Olympic organizers can do exactly that – they did it before in 1964. I know from personal experience.

I competed in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The Games were staged as the culmination of a multi-year plan to rebuild Tokyo and Japanese society after the devastation of the Second World War, two atom bombs and the subsequent U.S. occupation.

Revitalized sports across Japan

The organizers built beautiful new stadiums and parks, opened new highways and introduced dramatic new technology like colour television and the high-speed bullet train, put into service with initial speeds of 320 kilometres per hour. They revitalized sports, physical education and workplace fitness and recreation right across the country.

What I most remember was the pervasive spirit of Olympism. Every scoreboard proclaimed Coubertin’s famous quote about human effort: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Author Bruce Kidd competed in the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre events at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (photo courtesy of Canadian Olympic Committee, CC BY)

The organizers provided opportunities for every athlete to visit a Japanese family for dinner and learn about Japanese culture.

A new standard for artistic expression

The opening ceremonies were breathtaking, setting a new standard for artistic expression, employing fireworks, jet planes tracing the Olympic rings in the sky, thousands of balloons and pigeons and music – all for the first time.

I particularly remember the re-broadcast of a speech by Coubertin that was first played at the 1936 Olympics, a year before his death. I was most moved by the arrival of the Olympic torch. It wasn’t a celebrated athlete who ran up the steps to light the cauldron but 19-year-old Yoshinori Sakai, who had been born in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the atom bomb destroyed the city.

Wherever you went in Japan, someone would approach you, bow and say: “No more Hiroshima!” I felt very proud to be part of a movement that contributed to healing, regeneration and intercultural understanding.

Five interlocking Olympic rings created by jet planes drift over the stadium during the opening ceremonies for the 1964 Olympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Tokyo used its 1964 Olympics to show off a miraculous recovery from defeat in the Second World War (photo by AP Photo/File)

In recent years, that spirit has been lost in the global medal race and the understandable concern about costs, performance-enhancing drugs and security.

Instead of going to an Olympics to engage with athletes from other countries and learn about another culture, athletes fly in for their events, compete and go home.

Focus on performance dominates

As long ago as the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, I did a study of the extent to which Canadian athletes participated in the Olympic spirit and found that very few did. “I could have competed in Don Mills (a section of Toronto) for all that I learned about Korea,” one prominent athlete told me.

The focus on performance to the exclusion of everything else is even stronger today.

Many athletes seek something greater than sport in the Olympics. Double Olympic champion Rosie MacLennan tells me that all the time. That sentiment was the basis for the overwhelming call by Canadian athletes for a postponement of the 2020 Olympics on the grounds that sport should put its needs aside in the interests of a united fight against the pandemic. That’s why so many athletes volunteer for charities and community service both during and after their careers.

I am confident that if the Tokyo Games were repositioned as a celebration of Olympism, it would not take away from the athleticism of the Games.

To be sure, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) face daunting logistical challenges in rescheduling the Games, but if they provide the leadership, they have the power and the experience to re-invigorate the spirit of Olympism at the Games. They already do this in the Youth Olympic Games, where several days are devoted to intercultural exchanges, and at the International and National Olympic Academies.

When the pandemic runs its course, we need to rebuild all our societies in a humanitarian way. The IOC and IPC can inspire that commitment with Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics devoted to Olympism.

Bruce Kidd is a professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Do the Olympics still matter? Yes, says U of T's Bruce Kidd – and here's why

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 15:49:04 +0000

Do the Olympics still matter? Yes, says U of T's Bruce Kidd – and here's why

noreen.rasbach Tue, 02/06/2018 - 10:49

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Canadian moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury trains ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Bokwang Phoenix Snow Park in South Korea on Feb. 6 (photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Topic

With all the ethical and political problems facing the Olympics, do they still matter?

As someone who proudly wears his Olympic heart on his sleeve – I competed in the 1964 Games in Tokyo and have been involved in a variety of roles ever since – I get asked that question all the time, especially when another Games approach. And my answer is still in the affirmative.

While circumstances change, and I’d like to think I make a fresh calculation each time, I still believe the Olympics contribute a net benefit to humanity. I’m excited about the forthcoming Winter Olympic and Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For those of us who pursue and watch sports, it’s the only forum where the entire world gets to compete on a multi-sport basis. While it’s the polar countries that excel, the Winter Olympics and Paralympics will attract competitors from an estimated 90 national communities, representing more than two-thirds of the world’s population.

Read this article in Maclean's magazine

In an increasingly privatized sports place, with a hardening monoculture of fewer and fewer sports and competitors, the Olympics provide the greatest range of national and regional accessibility.

Provides support, visibility

For Canadians, it’s the primary place where athletes in the rarely publicized, but culturally important, sports of skiing, skating, luge, skeleton and bobsled have recognized opportunities – and, with few exceptions, the only time Canadian women and para-athletes get any significant support and visibility.

If it wasn’t for the Olympics to stimulate government investment in women’s and para sports and the worldwide coverage to attract advertisers, women and para-athletes would be even more underfunded and invisible in mainstream sports coverage than they are now.

So for those who believe in an equitable, broadly based and accessible sports system, the Olympics provide a very important incentive – and even legitimization.

It’s also fantastic sport, and gives us a chance to see remarkable athletes from all across Canada go up against the best from other countries, and represent Canada to the world. I’ll be glued to my television.

Author and former Olympian Bruce Kidd, seen here in a 1963 race in Philadelphia (photo by The Canadian Press/AP)

What’s more, the Olympics make a genuine effort to affirm and encourage humanitarian international and intercultural education and exchange – no mean contribution in this increasingly war-torn, nativist and xenophobic world.

Bringing people together

In my long experience, this is real and sets the tone for the millions of sporting exchanges between people of widely different backgrounds that occur around the world throughout the year.

The joint North and South Korean team that will march and compete together in Pyeongchang, and the resumption of communication that it has initiated, is just one example where the Olympics and international sport have brought bitterly divided people into the same room for peaceful exchange.

The Olympics contribute significantly to the development of sports around the world, especially among the poorest countries, distributing a big share of its television revenue – US$509 million from 2017-20.

One priority is sport for refugees. The very first Refugee Olympic Team, made up of athletes from refugee camps in four different countries, competed in Rio in 2016. Many Olympic athletes, such as Canada’s Rosie MacLennan, have been inspired by their experiences to contribute to sport for development across the Global South.

To be sure, the Olympics face a host of daunting challenges, including the ginormous costs of staging Games, corruption in governance, human rights abuses and doping.

Calgary is considering a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which would return the Games to the Prairies city for the first time since 1988. Here figure skater Brian Orser carries the Canadian flag at opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Calgary (photo by Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

The issues are so formidable that fewer and fewer cities are interested in hosting them, and in some liberal-democratic countries, voters have turned back bids. It remains to be seen whether Calgary will actually go ahead with plans to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Addressing many challenges

But I would also say the Olympic leadership is preoccupied with addressing these challenges. One solution to rising costs is to use existing facilities as much as possible, spread out new facilities, placing them where they are most needed as Toronto did for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, and reduce seating for spectators, recognizing that most of the world watches on television. The Olympics vigorously tries to prevent and punish doping, as the current spat with Russia readily indicates.

While the Olympics have introduced important reforms in recent years, including transparent financial accounting and an affirmation against discrimination based on an athlete’s sexual orientation, it’s not easy to introduce and implement progressive change in way that keeps the entire world together.

I am enraged by the Russians’ state-directed doping in Sochi and support Canadian Olympic leaders who call for them to be banned from Pyeongchang. Yet I have European friends who fear Russian isolation and applaud IOC president Thomas Bach’s diplomatic gymnastics to balance sanctions and representation.

A big-tent approach requires a low threshold if you want everyone there. If we only competed with countries that shared our values, we would have very few competitors indeed. But it makes the world of Olympic sports very difficult to govern.

I’m quite happy if people continue to be critical of Olympic practices or blind spots – I’m critical of some of them too – but to give up on the project because the international sports world is not perfect would be really short-sighted. It would also deny Canadians an opportunity to participate in, and contribute to, a humanitarian movement that’s still very important.

Bruce Kidd is vice-president of the University of Toronto and principal of U of T Scarborough.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

#Rio2016: Investing in the best can bring out the best in all of us

lavende4 — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 17:58:49 +0000

#Rio2016: Investing in the best can bring out the best in all of us

lavende4 Mon, 08/22/2016 - 13:58

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The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre represents the largest investment in amateur sport development in Canada and is the home of three Olympians (Ken Jones photo)

Bruce Kidd

Author legacy

Bruce Kidd

Topic

Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre

Subheadline

“When we fail to invest in public facilities, we shortchange those who cannot afford to pay out of their own pocket”: Bruce Kidd

The breakout performance of 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak and the success of our women’s swim team made Canadians proud during these Olympic Games.

For all Canadians – and especially those living in Ontario and in Toronto – there is a special element to Oleksiak’s stellar performance in which we should take particular pride. She achieved it while training in a state-of-the-art public facility that is open to people of all ages and abilities, not just elite athletes, and serves as a site for research and education.

Four years ago when we broke ground on the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus there were many skeptics. The $205-million price tag of the project raised eyebrows among those inclined to cut costs. But with the support of the city, province and federal government and $30 million from our own students at U of T Scarborough, we built a facility that is the envy of many.

The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre is co-owned by the City of Toronto and the University of Toronto, with the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario as the major tenant, and represents the single largest investment ever made in amateur sport development in Canada. Now it also is the home of three Olympic medalists – Oleksiak, U of T Varsity Blues swimmer Kylie Masse and Winnipeg native Chantal Van Landeghem, as well as other Olympians and Paralympians competing in Rio.

Five reasons why you can’t miss the 2016 Olympics – from U of T's Bruce Kidd

lavende4 — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:31:09 +0000

Five reasons why you can’t miss the 2016 Olympics – from U of T's Bruce Kidd

lavende4 Tue, 08/02/2016 - 14:31

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Statue of Christ the Redeemer gazes down at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Bruce Kidd

Author legacy

Bruce Kidd

Topic

There is no getting around it – the uncertain conditions, environmental challenges, reports of local corruption and even threats of violence, generate considerable anxiety – even cynicism, about the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

But let’s put this into perspective. This isn’t the first time the challenges of staging the Games have sparked worries and protests. We had them in Canada too, when we staged the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 and the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver/Whistler in 2010. Moreover, most of the world’s large urban centres face conditions not unlike those found in Rio. Most athletes know this, and have competed in similar conditions around the globe. The University of Toronto athletes and coaches who will be in Rio won’t be daunted — they’re very excited about competing there.

That doesn’t mean we should uncritically accept what isn’t right in our world. We should be dismayed by the cost to mount the Games, by the egregious example of doping and cheating that has rightly eliminated so many from competition, that what began as a project to advance international understanding has now to be protected by billion-dollar surveillance and security. It doesn’t have to be this way, and we need to accelerate efforts to find effective alternatives.

But during the Games, let’s put the contradictions aside and enjoy the Olympic and Paralympic spirit. I wish I could be there in person. I will wholeheartedly be there in spirit, glued to the media coverage.

Here’s why:

1. The global community comes together under peaceful auspices. Delegations from 207 national communities, including first time entrants Kosovo and South Sudan, will march in the Parade of Nations — a record. Where else does the entire world come together in celebration of excellence, humanity and diversity? At a difficult time for the world, with unrelenting wars, poverty and misery, the Olympics showcase the possibilities of an inclusive world, with international and intercultural respect and understanding.

2. Rio will be a feast of sport, with 306 sets of medals up for grabs in 28 Olympic sports, many of which are rarely broadcast in the mono-culture of North American television, such as water polo, canoe slalom, handball, and race walking. Obscure? Perhaps. Athletic? Decidedly. Compelling? You bet. And in almost every sport, the competitions will be genuine world championships (not the parochial ‘world’ of our North American leagues).

3. 313 Canadian athletes, including about a dozen from the University of Toronto, will give us lots to cheer about as they go up against the best of the world. If you got to know them during the 2015 Pan Am & Parapan American Games in Toronto, this is the chance to see them on the world stage.

4. Remarkable competitors from other countries, each with a moving story to tell. Two I will be following closely are Dutee Chand (100 metres, India) and Caster Semanya (South Africa, 800). Both women have been vilified in the media and ostracized by some members of the sports community for challenging track and field’s unfair sex test and both will no doubt face extra pressure in Rio. Yet they have persisted, kept their heads high and made the Olympic standard to qualify for Rio. They are such remarkable and courageous women, I will be cheering loudly for them.

5. Rosie MacLennan. She’s the Team Canada flag bearer, the defending Olympic champion in the trampoline, and a University of Toronto alumna and graduate student. As a budding social scientist, she’s becoming an insightful observer of international sport, as well as a gifted leader. I look forward as much to her comments as seeing her fly through the air.

As the Games begin, let’s stand together as the world is treated to the very best of sport.

Bruce Kidd is vice-president and principal of University of Toronto Scarborough. A former Olympian, he has written extensively about the politics of sport.

Bruce Kidd

How the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics could heal a post-coronavirus world: U of T's Bruce Kidd

Develop respect through sport

Revitalized sports across Japan

A new standard for artistic expression

Focus on performance dominates

Do the Olympics still matter? Yes, says U of T's Bruce Kidd – and here's why

Read this article in Maclean's magazine

Provides support, visibility

Bringing people together

Addressing many challenges

#Rio2016: Investing in the best can bring out the best in all of us

Read more about U of T at #Rio2016

Five reasons why you can’t miss the 2016 Olympics – from U of T's Bruce Kidd