Olympic Mystifications: The Reception of Classical Culture According to Pierre de Coubertin
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
In this paper, I argue that the modern Olympic Games are based on myths originating from the European Victorian bourgeoisie, who saw the appropriation of the so-called “Classical Culture” as the perfect occasion to universalize their ideals and values, which to this day has meant a conception of Olympism in Eurocentric, colonialist, and imperialist terms. The first myth I seek to dismantle is one that identifies the function of Olympism with the promotion of peace and harmony among all peoples. The second is the myth of the marathon, and thirdly, I show that Coubertin’s Olympic project was nested in the British imperialist pedagogical project that saw in sport the perfect occasion to instill in children amateurism, respect for hierarchies and order, values central to British expansionist interests. Thus, I argue that a close look at the gestation of modern Olympism in Coubertin’s work is indispensable to remove all those values that promote exclusion, particularly of underrepresented groups from today’s sport.
- Olympism
- Coubertin
- Philosophy of Sport
- Appropriation of Classical Culture
- Bourgeoisie
- Imperialism
Allinson, F. (1931). The original “Marathon Runner”. The Classical Weekly, 24(19),152. https://doi.org/10.2307/4389590 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4389590
Angel, J. L. (1944). A Racial Analysis of the Ancient Greeks: An Essay on the Use of Morphological Types. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2(4) 329-376. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330020402 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330020402
Aristides. (2016). Discursos. Gredos.
Aristóteles. [Ath. Pol.]. (2012). Constitución de los Atenienses. CSIC.
Arnold, T. (1834). Rugby School. Quarterly Journal of Education, 7, 234-249.
Bacchi, A. (2021). Why does the Hellenistic Period Matter Today? Dismantling Racist and Sexist Ideologies. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 37(2), 167-170. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfemistudreli.37.2.16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/jfemistudreli.37.2.16
Baldassaro L. y Johnson, R. (2000). The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity. Southern Illinois University Press.
Barthes, R. (1957). Mythologies. Éditions du seuil.
Bell, D. (2003). Mythscapes: Memory, Mythology, and National Identity. The British Journal of Sociology, 54(1), 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/0007131032000045905 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0007131032000045905
Biblioteca Mitológica. [Bibl. Mit.]. (S.f.). Gredos.
Boas, F. (1916). Tsimshian Mythology. Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Routledge.
Bowie, E. (2013). Marathon in the Greek Culture of the Second Century AD. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, (124), 241-253.
Brohm, J-M. (2006). La Tyrannie Sportive : Théorie critique d’un opium du people. Beauchesne.
Campbell, G. (2021). Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth. Oxford University Press.
Coubertin, P. (1892). Le Rétablissement des Jeux Olympiques [conferencia pronunciada el 25 de noviembre de 1892 en la Sorbona]. https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/471847/le-retablissement-des-jeux-olympiques-discours-fondateur-restoring-the-olympic-games-founding-speech?_lg=en-GB
Coubertin, P. (1896). La Première Olympiade. Comité International Olympique.
Coubertin, P. (1897). Souvenirs d’Amérique et de Gréce. Hachette.
Coubertin, P. (1909). Une campagne de vingt-et-un ans. Librairie de L'éducation physique.
Coubertin, P. (1931). Mémoires Olympiques. Bureau International de Pédagogie Sportive.
Coubertin, P. (1972). Pédagogie Sportive. Vrin.
Coubertin, P. (2000[1888]). Letter to the Members of the Société de'Économie Sociale and of the Unions de la Paix Sociale. En N. Muller (Ed.), Pierre de Coubertin 1863-1937 Olympism: Selected Writings (pp. 75-77). International Olympic Committee.
Coubertin, P. (2000[1894]). The Neo-Olympism Appeal to the People of Athens. En N. Muller (Ed.), Pierre de Coubertin 1863-1937 Olympism: Selected Writings (pp. 533-541). International Olympic Committee.
Coubertin, P. y Müller, N. (2000). Olympism. International Olympic Committee.
Déclaration de Solidarité avec Paris. (2024, junio, 26). NOlympics LA. https://nolympicsla.com/fr/2024/06/26/declaration-de-solidarite-avec-paris/
Diódoro de Sicilia. [D.S.]. (2016). Biblioteca Histórica. Gredos.
During, S. (2021, September, 2). ‘Whiteness’ and the Humanities: An Impasse. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/whiteness-and-the-humanities
Dussel, E. (2000). Europe, Modernity and Eurocentrism. Nepantla: Views from the South, 1(3), 465-478.
Elias, N. y Dunning, E. (1986). Deporte y ocio en el proceso de la civilización. F.C.E.
Epigramas Funerarios Griegos. [Ath.] (2016). Gredos.
Estrabón. [Geog.]. (2016). Geografía. Gredos.
Filóstrato. [Gym.]. (2016). Gimnástico. Gredos.
Filóstrato. [VD]. (2016). Vidas de los Sofistas. Gredos.
Flegón de Trales. [FGrH]. (1996). Paradoxógrafos griegos. Rarezas y maravillas. Gredos.
Gardiner, E. (1930). Athletics of the Ancient World. Oxford University Press.
Gleason, P. (1992). Speaking of Diversity: Language and Ethnicity in Twentieth Century America. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Golden, M. (1998). Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. Cambridge University Press.
Habermas, J. (1992). The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures (G. Lawrence, Trad.). MIT Press.
Haley, B. (1978). The Healthy Body and Victorian Culture. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674284746 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674284746
Harrison, J. (1954). History of the Working Men’s College 1854-1954. Routledge.
Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., y Perraton, J. (Eds.). (1999). Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. Stanford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333981689_2
Heródoto. (1989). Historia. Gredos.
Hoberman, J. (2011). The Myth of Sport as a Peace-Promoting Political Force. The SAIS Review of International Affairs, 31(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2011.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2011.0001
Hobsbawm, E. (1992). Nation and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521439612 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521439612
Holt, R. (1981). Sport and Society in Modern France. Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04448-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04448-1
Honko, L. (1984). The Problem of Defining Myth. En A. Dundes (Ed.), Sacred Narrative. Readings in the Theory of Myth (pp. 41-52). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520352131-005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520352131-005
International Olympic Committee [COI]. (2011). The Olympic Charter. https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Olympic-Studies-Centre/List-of-Resources/Official-Publications/Olympic-Charters/EN-2011-Olympic-Charter.pdf
Irigoyen Rascón, F. y Palma, J. M. (1995). Rarajípari: La Carrera de la Bola Tarahumara. Ayuntamiento del Estado de Chihuahua.
Isócrates. (1979). Discursos. Gredos.
Jenofonte. [Xen. An.]. (2016). Anábasis. Alianza
Kirk, G. (1984). On Defining Myths. En A. Dundes (Ed.), Sacred Narrative. Readings in the Theory of Myth (pp. 53-61). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520352131-006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520352131-006
Kreft, L. (2015). The Radical Critique of Sport. En M. McNamee y W. Morgan (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Sport (pp. 218-237). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203466261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203466261-16
Kyle, D. (2015). Sport & Spectacle in the Ancient World. Wiley Blacwell.
Lämmer, M. (1982). The Peace Philosophy of the Olympic Movement: A Historical Perspective. Stadion, (8-9), 47-83.
León-Portilla, M. (2013). La visión de los vencidos. Relaciones indígenas de la conquista. UNAM.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1966). Structural Antrophology. Basic Books.
Lorenz, K. (1963). On Agression. Hasrcourt, Brace & World.
Lucas, J. (1980). The Modern Olympic Games. Thomas Yoseloff Ltd.
Luciano. (2016). Obras III. Cómo ha de escribirse la historia. Gredos.
Malinowski, B. (1926). Myth in Primitive Psychology. Reeditado en R. Redfield (Ed.) (1948), Magic, Science, and Religion. Doubleday-Anchor.
McLeod, H. (2017). Muscular Christianity. En D. Hempton y H. McLeod (Eds.), Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World (pp. 195-210). Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198798071.003.0011
Mechikoff, R. (2019). A History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education. From Ancient Civilizations to the Modern World. McGraw Hill.
Nobili, C. (2021). Between Stone and Song: Deinomenid Victories in Agonistic Epigrams and Epinician Odes. En L. Reid y V. Lewis (Eds.), Pindar in Sicily (pp. 51-73). Parnassos Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1prsrfx.8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1prsrfx.8
Non au Saccage2024 ! (2024). Saccage 2024. https://saccage2024.noblogs.org/
Ornelas, J. (2022). Auge y caída de las actividades atléticas en la Antigua Grecia: en busca del origen de la filosofía occidental. Praxis Filosófica, (55), 11-50. https://doi.org/10.25100/pfilosofica.v0i55.12380 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25100/pfilosofica.v0i55.12380
Ornelas, J. y de Hoyos, A. (2023). Filosofía como forma de vida: ¿en busca de la consistencia filosófica? (primera parte). Synthesis, 30(2), e141. https://doi.org/10.24215/1851779Xe141 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24215/1851779Xe141
Pausanias. (1994). Descripción de Grecia. Gredos.
Perelman, M. (2021). 2024 Les Jeux Olympiques n’ont pas eu lieu. Du Détour.
Píndaro. [O.]. (1984). Olímpicas. Gredos.
Plutarco. [Plu. De glor. Ath.]. (1992). La gloria di Atene (I. Gallo y M. Mocci, Eds.). D'Aura Editore.
Plutarco. [Them.]. (2008). Vidas paralelas. Temístocles. Gredos.
Potter, D. (2021). Roman Games and Spectacle. Christian Identity and the Arena. En A. Futrell y T. Scanlon (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in The Ancient World (pp. 182-193). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.31 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.31
Radcliffe-Brown, A. (1952). Structure and Function in Primitive Society. The Free Press.
Reid, H. (2006). Was the Roman Gladiator an Athlete? Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 33(1), 37-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2006.9714689 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2006.9714689
Reid, H. (2015). Olympism - A Philosophy of Sport? En M. McNamee y W. Morgan (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Sport (pp. 368-382). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203466261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203466261-25
Riess, S. (1980). Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era. Greenwood Press.
Romano, D. (1993). Athletics and Mathematics in Archaic Corinth: The Origins of the Greek Stadion. American Philosophical Society.
Schiller, F. (2000[1795]). Poesía ingenua y poesía sentimental y de la gracia y la dignidad. Ediciones el aleph.
Shaw, P. (1997). Message to Sparta: The Route of Pheidippides before Marathon. Geographia Antiqua, (6), 53-78.
Simonović, L. (2011, julio, 2). Homosexuality [Blog]. Ljubodrag Duci Simonović. https://ljubodragsimonovic.com/homosexuality/
Sinn, U. (2000). Olympia: Cult, Sport, and Ancient Festival. Markus Wiener Publishers.
Stanley, J. (2018). How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Random House Trade.
Tokio-2020 costó un 20% más de lo declarado, según auditores. (2022, diciembre, 22). SWI swissinfo.ch. https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/tokio-2020-cost
Toohey, K., y Veal, A. (2000). The Olympic Games. A Social Science Perspective. Editorial Cabi.
Tullius Geminus. (S.f.). Epigrammaticus [Tull.Gem.] v. Anthologia Graeca.
Vance, N. (2010). The Sinews of the Spirit: The Ideal of Christian Manliness in Victorian Literature and Religious Thought. Cambridge University Press.
Wachsmuth, C., y Hense O. (Eds.). [Stob. Anth.]. (1884–1912). Ioannis Stobaei Anthologium (5 vols.) Berolini, Apud Weidmannos.
Wallace, J. (1997). Shelley and Greece. Rethinking Romantic Hellenism. Plagrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373952 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373952
Young, D. (1983). Professionalism in Archaic and Classical Greek Athletics. Ancient World, (7), 45-51.
Downloads
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
De acuerdo con nuestra política (Licencia Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) los artículos presentados y sometidos al proceso editorial en la revista Praxis Filosófica no tienen costo alguno para sus autores ni retribuciones económicas para la revista. El artículo de carácter inédito, producto de investigación o de algún proyecto que se presente a Praxis Filosófica, no podrá estar sometido a otro proceso de publicación durante el proceso que se lleve en nuestra revista.