Olympic Versus Sokol Movement
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Studia Sportiva |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://journals.muni.cz/studiasportiva |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/StS2022-2-20 |
| Keywords | Olympic; the Sokol movement; performance; mass culture; Sport |
| Description | Contemporary sport in all its many-sided forms and levels is in the first line determined by global dynamic development of consumerist society oriented to economic prosperity, top performance, personal success, social admiration and unique incomparable experience. The many-sided world of sport strongly reflects the prevailing ethos of global drift, as well the local cultural development of given society. An essayistic comparison of the Olympics as the reflection of top level of global sport on one side and the value-oriented ethos of Sokol movement of the other side, is a specific contribution to a better understanding of different value roots, sense and objectives of sports in our cultural context. In the contemporary time of postmodern society, the Olympic Games are the most unique and most watched twoweek sporting event of the best athletes in an ever-expanding range of traditional and new sports in the world. In the context of the growing commercialization and scientification of sport, it is worthwhile to confront the ideological emphases and ethos of both the founders of the initiators of the modern Olympic Games, as well as the founders of the unique physical education Sokol movement. Miroslav Tyrš and his followers at the time (Kožíšek) rejected competitive sports. Competitive performance sports and participation in the Olympic Games were not in the spectrum of Sokol’s interest. The Sokol values principles rejected the one-sidedness of the sports specialization with the pursuit of performances and victories. However, the later development of Sokol agreed with Coubertin’s principle that Olympism is not a formal system, but a state of mind, a certain conception of life, a unique philosophy of life, a balance of physical fitness, will and spirit. Thus, in the development of Sokol and Olympism, there were culturally different emphasis on values, which today took the position of discussions about the meaning and mission of the top media-attractive elite sport, embodied primarily by the Olympic Games on one hand, and the movement for a higher mass of sport in the sense of the sports for all principle on the other hand. |