Citius, Altius, Fortius

The Olympic Games started on Friday. You can watch them on TV, watch them online (e.g. on YouTube), follow results and schedule times on a mobile app, and you might even follow the event results from spoilers available on news and social media websites before the event airs. The “Digital Era” portion of the Olympic Ceremony honored Tim Berners-Lee, who is widely known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. It seems that he even tweeted live from the stage:

From Tim Berners-Lee's Twitter:  http://twitter.com/timberners_lee/

The World Wide Web, no doubt, has made so much possible as it has allowed immediate access to newly shared information. Some have even been frustrated by this access during the Olympic Games due to the spoilers. They say it has changed the spectator experience from the traditional way of broadcasting the Olympic Games. It seems the best way to avoid this frustration is to avoid the spoilers, and I think we enjoy the Olympics for more than the results of the events.

The Olympic Games are certainly about results of competitions, but  there are other celebratory purposes of the Olympics and Paralympics. The London 2012 Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee have formulated the motto specific to the 2012 Olympic Games as “Inspire a Generation.” Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, and Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organizing Committee, reveal their messages behind the motto in the London 2012Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Media Guide.

Rogge says:

“For the thousands of athletes participating at London 2012, the Games represent the culmination of years of dedication, sacrifice and training. Athletes are the true heart of the Olympic Games, and this is their time to shine, to put in the performances of their lives and to inspire a generation.”

Coe says:

“We want the Opening Ceremony and the Games to leave the world with moments and memories of joy, and of what’s possible, as athletes from more than 200 nations – more than the United Nations – come together in the Olympic stadium to participate in the world’s greatest peaceful gathering of nations, and inspire a generation. An extraordinary journey is about to begin. Thank you for sharing this with us and the world.”

Thus, we should understand the motto, “Inspire a Generation,” as an expression celebrating the exemplification of Olympic qualities of the participating athletes: sharing the world, dedication, sacrifice, training, the joys of high performance, and the creation of moments in front of the world that share and explore the possibilities of harmony between performing well as an individual and performing peacefully.

Those Olympic qualities represent expressions of the principles and general motto of the Olympic Games, “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” which translates in English as, “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” Pierre de Coubertin deemed this phrase the motto of the Olympic Games when he founded the International Olympic Committee, which organizes the Olympic Games. According to The Olympic Museum Educational Kit, Hope: When Sport Can Change the World, the Olympic maxim, “Encourage effort,” is derived from the Olympic motto and olympism, a philosophy of life that bases “exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind” on the joy of effort and will to share the world.

It is easy to see the embodiment of these Olympic qualities in the athletes who trained for and compete in the Olympics. We can also see celebrations of these qualities and the development of them in some of the commercials aired during the 2012 Olympic Games. Consider the following examples:

Ryan Lochte, "Warming Up": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0e6q4vm4Rc&feature=relmfu

Allyson Felix, My Journey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGzMA-7SiRg&feature=plcp

I hope we are all inspired by the athletes competing in the 2012 Olympic Games, but I also hope that we don’t have functional fixedness about Olympic values and qualities. You don’t have to be an Olympiad to experience the joy of effort geared towards improvement of mind and body. Improving yourself towards being a balanced whole of qualities of body, will and mind does not require beating Phelps or Lochte in a swimming pool. Consider Nike's commercial, Find Your Greatness. 

Aside from realizing that greatness is wherever there is joy of effort towards some sort of improvement, we should also realize that your event(s) need not be athletic. Your event could be learning, teaching, designing, helping, building an application, starting a non-profit, or even organizing the Olympic Games. Whatever your event(s), it must involve you being active. GE didn't build advanced imaging technologies that support biomechanical explanations of human motion by passively sitting around. The World Wide Web didn't appear from nothing. It began with Tim Berners-Lee actively trying to make it happen at some point. Joyful effort must have a beginning, like the swimmer in the Kelloggs commercial:

This video is from the KelloggsUS Youtube Channel.

As we watch the Olympics, we can be inspired by their qualities, accomplishments, and participation in events that celebrate joyful effort to develop faster, higher, and stronger, together.