Qualitative Research Methods
Michelle_Michy
ProposalProposalIFinal2.docx1
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What are the perceptions of former and current Greek Olympic Athletes and Administrators towards Olympism? Olympism refers to the philosophy of the Olympic Games, while its fundamental principles are included in the Olympic Charter. Olympism seeks to create a way of life by blending sport with culture, education, international co-operation, and human greatness and possibility (Arnold, 1996). The names of Olympism and Olympic Games have received their name from a Greek town known as Olympia that is located in southern Greece (Reid, 2017). The origin of the Olympic Games’ culture at its birth in ancient years and its transition to the modern era until today will be researched. The research will be based in Greece where Olympic culture was born. In addition, the Hellenic Olympic Committee’s approach towards building the Olympic culture as well as the International Olympic Committee’s approach towards Olympism will be researched. Olympic Games originated in ancient Greece in 776 B.C. and were first organized by Elida community (Kouril, 2013).
Modern Olympics were reborn on Orthodox Greek Easter Sunday of 1896 in Athens, Greece (Cardinal, 2016). In the modern era, the Olympic Games bring the world community together in order to inspire understanding and peace through athletics. During the Olympics, almost all world countries gather for the most remarkable cultural experiment to a captivating association of ultimate respect and extreme nationalism for people from different cultures (Segrave, 2000). The modern Olympic Games are part of the world history and culture that reflected on the economic crises, political tensions, technological developments, and cultural flowerings. The Olympic symbols, including the flag, the national anthem, the flame, and the oath, are always displayed during the Games. The importance of this study will be to understand how those directly involved with the Olympics in Greece perceive the contemporary Olympic movement in comparison to the original Olympic ideals that evolved out of Ancient Greece.
Description of Epistemology
A subjectivist epistemology will be used to research athletes and administrators’ consciousness and perception towards Olympism. Crotty (1998) describes subjectivism as the meaning that human minds assign to their actions without any contribution of the object. Hence, there is no underlying true reality that exists interdependently of perception (Crotty, 1998). Understanding how athletes and administrators connect their inner self and overall actions with the ancient symbols of Olympic Games is of great importance to my project. Subjectivism will aid me in comprehending how the ancient world revived an expressive evolution in conception, belief, and thought. The Olympics may be fundamentally characterized as an exploration for knowledge. It is through subjectivism epistemology that reality can be expressed in many ways and shaped to fit individuals' purposes. The epistemology of subjectivism will facilitate an understanding of why and how athletes and administrators imply the standards of rational belief. Therefore, I feel that subjectivism would be the most appropriate and effective epistemological stance for specific research question, as it conceptualizes the nature of knowledge. In addition, it facilitates the human exploration of the mind and explains how different meanings are interpreted. Hence, the beliefs of athletes and administrators guiding their actions will be understood too. The subjectivism epistemology will facilitate comprehending why the latter tend to have specific rational beliefs regarding Olympism.
Literature Review
The literature review of the specific research study is divided into three parts, which are given below.
The Olympic Ideals of Ancient Greece
The first part outlines the Olympics’ ideals of Ancient Greece. According to Mares’ (2019) stance on the practical role of philosophy in sports, the procedure of philosophical inquisitive has the control to form the way people think and their respective way of life. There are various forms of connection between sport and philosophy. For example, travelling back to ancient Greece, where the Olympic Games are originated, athletics were a prevalent action not just between normal citizens, but also amongst the philosophers (Mares, 2019). Philosophers like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle viewed physical activities in the Olympic Games as being part of human life, and, thus, they included such activities in their philosophical education. The thought was that through reasonable sporting practices, athletes attain positive qualities and various types of education. Hence, they turned to become moral residents of the polis, which is the characteristic structure of a community in the ancient Greek world. There are various relationships between philosophy and Olympic sporting described by the philosophers in ancient Greece (Mares, 2019). For example, sporting activities should be considered to have a formative dimension to help human beings develop into good and responsible citizens. In addition, there are plenty of books and articles in ancient Olympic Games, writing about the histories of ancient athletics (Bromberg, 2013).
However, a gap exists among the population of former and current Greek athletes and their respective perception towards Olympism. Undoubtedly, the meaning of Olympism has changed through the years in people’s minds. It would be interesting to research how Greek athletes and administrators perceive Olympism against other nations’ citizens, taking into consideration that the Olympic Games were born in Greece. Then, the perceptions and desires of Greeks towards Olympism today, is of outmost importance.
The Hellenic Olympic Committee
The Olympic Flame is always relayed under the supervision of Hellenic Olympic Committee, but in recent years debates have arisen from the International Olympic Committee, which challenges the ownership of the ritual (MacAloon, 2012). Chatziefstathiou (2007) wrote that Baron Pierre de Coubertin claimed that modern Olympism was conceived by him between 1894 and 1937. On the contrary, the Hellenic Olympic Committee declares that Olympic Games and Olympism idea were born and developed in Greece (Hellenic Olympic Committee, 2015).
Olympism and the International Olympic Committee
The third part outlines the Olympism and the International Olympic Committee. In the modern tough economic conditions that are being faced by many nations, the London Olympic Games can be considered to be the most positive and important international affair of 2012. The modern Olympics developed to be a main universal happening due to provision from big multinational companies, multinational media companies, national governments, and international organizations who are the key facilitators of globalization (Pop, 2013). These organizations have increased protracted interests in comparison to national organizations because they conduct international agendas and have a collective influence on universal system management.
Farrell (2004), together with a group of other authors, believes that athletes' perceptions are motivated by some special Olympics. Through a study conducted, it was noted that factors that enhance competence, autonomy, and relatedness are mainly connected to the inspiration of participants in Different Olympics programs (Farrell & Crocker, 2004). These factors included learning skills, positive feedback, demonstrating ability, fun, and choice. Social sustenance from significant others is a considerable aspect linked to participation encouragement. Different Olympic programs offer competitive sports’ possibilities for athletes. Hoge and Dettillo (1995) stated that the programs tend to meet the need for organized physical activities, even for those individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Participation in the Olympic programs is mainly connected with improved self-confidence, self-esteem, overall social capability, and encouraging self-perception (International Olympic Committee, 2020). Participation motives encompass factors that influence start, persistence, and extraction from physical activities and sports. Sport has been credited with teaching positive values and building characters. On the other hand, participation has been criticized for being overly focused on performance enhancement and being indifferent to both the role of sports as a cultural practice and the physical and psychosocial consequences for the athletes (Farrell & Crocker, 2004). This embraces behaviour fundamentals such as intensity, current participation, persistence, and perception, as well as obligation and expectation for the future.
Olympism is a way of life, which is combined and exalted in the qualities of will, mind, and body. By combining sport with education and culture, the Olympic Games pursue in making a life built on happiness; the latter is found in exertion, the instructive worth of moral example, and reverence for worldwide essential ethical principles. Due to this reason, most Olympic Movements focus on, and contribute to structuring a better and more peaceful world. They enlighten youth through sporting activities practiced without discrimination in the Olympic life-force, which needs communal thoughtfulness with solidarity, fair play, and spirit of friendship. Parent et al. (2014) found out that the Youth Olympic Games have focused on creating events that balance sport, culture, and education for young people.
The knowledge of the Games’ experience originates mainly in festival literature that includes setting, people involvement, and management that influence the event experience of athletes (Parent et al., 2014). The facilities’ physical aspect also impacts the experience of the Games, especially for the volunteers. According to Jensen et al. (2014), Olympic Games are regularly defined by athletes as a crucial moment in their future professions. In Sport Psychology literature, the Olympic Games have been highlighted to be very demanding events. Athletes experience restricted freedom, increased media attention, stressed managers and coaches, and mixed choices. Also, being members of multi-sport national teams contributes to the burden and pressure. Most athletes go through unmatched potential distractions such as immense attention from sponsors and media and offers to a variety of sponsored and social events; they are probable to have a substantial effect on the Olympic debut because there are no other major sporting events that match the Olympic Games in scope, significance, or size (Jensen et al., 2014). The special environment faced by the Olympic Games has encouraged practical sport psychology experts to endorse that the Olympics’ preparation be perfected for the distinct challenges and specific events the athletes are most probable to encounter, and that psychological procedure be modified for the precise setting (Arnold, 1996). It is also stressed that no matter the level of preparations undergone for the Games, unpredicted incidents, and events must be anticipated and that athletes have high chances of responding to challenges and situations in ways they did not expect (Arnold, 1996). Therefore, the practical sport psychology mentor should be an integral part of the Olympic support side.
Moreover, Gould et al. (2002) focused on media influences and believe that the Olympic Games are the highpoint in sporting success and achievement for any athlete’s career. The modern athletes do not play a significant role in the general heritage of what the Olympic Games have advanced into over the last 100 years. It has been noted that today there are more media personnel attending the competitions than athletes, broadcasting the Olympics and any related news or issues. The media, in a way, has changed the perceptions of the Olympic culture. Media coverage portrays athletes as a form of entertainment, which could affect the audience's perceptions concerning the importance of the Games. For example, if media reporting before the Olympic Games of 2012 involved outrages and sensationalism of British athletes, it would not be irrational to imagine the participants to feel bitter about the coverage of the media and have undesirable outcomes on their concentration, inspiration, and performances. Also, encouraging reporting by the media can be negative to athletes' perceptions and emotions by amplifying pressure to perform at high levels. Currently, there are no confirmed studies that have been presented to have surveyed athletes' understanding of such positively implied media exposure. According to Phua (2010), the media does not only have some impact and influence on the public, but also on the athletes. For example, the public's use of media, the technique of access, and the supporters’ identification with their team's success and failure influence their collective self-esteem. This is because most sports’ enthusiasts recognize their team’s performance and internalize the athletes within the follower’s social media collection.
Based on the research results, indication shows that athletes are all projected to contest in the Olympics having different individual motives, perceptions, and emotions towards Olympism. My dissertation will research all aforementioned subjects and will attempt to enlighten the idea of Olympism through the eyes of Greek athletes and administrators.
References
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