Child Abuse in the Canadian and American Olympic Movement: Reforming Institutional Oversight of Amateur Sports

For many years, sexual abuse of young athletes quietly festered throughout amateur sport organizations in Canada and the United States. However, the veil has recently been lifted by the highly publicized testimonies of athletes sexually abused as minors by disgraced former USA Gymnastics (“USAG”) physician and Michigan State University professor Larry Nassar. The troubling details of these stories spurred investigations seeking to identify the causes behind the institutional failures to intervene in Nassar’s perpetration of abuse. The evidence gathered by these investigations alongside independent academic research reveal that unfettered predatory behaviour is a pervasive issue across the institutions responsible for overseeing the American Olympic movement and amateur sports. In addition, similar patterns of unchecked abuse have since been identified as plaguing Canadian Olympic and amateur sport organizations. This paper examines the institutional failures to address child sexual abuse occurring under the oversight of Olympic and amateur sport organizations in Canada and the United States. In both countries, efforts are currently underway to reform governance of these institutions to better protect minors participating in amateur sports. Accordingly, this paper also analyzes the policies implemented thus far and makes substantive recommendations on ideal federal level initiatives.

Child Abuse in the Canadian and American Olympic Movement: Reforming Institutional Oversight of Amateur Sports

For many years, sexual abuse of young athletes quietly festered throughout amateur sport organizations in Canada and the United States. However, the veil has recently been lifted by the highly publicized testimonies of athletes sexually abused as minors by disgraced former USA Gymnastics (“USAG”) physician and Michigan State University professor Larry Nassar. The troubling details of these stories spurred investigations seeking to identify the causes behind the institutional failures to intervene in Nassar’s perpetration of abuse. The evidence gathered by these investigations alongside independent academic research reveal that unfettered predatory behaviour is a pervasive issue across the institutions responsible for overseeing the American Olympic movement and amateur sports. In addition, similar patterns of unchecked abuse have since been identified as plaguing Canadian Olympic and amateur sport organizations. This paper examines the institutional failures to address child sexual abuse occurring under the oversight of Olympic and amateur sport organizations in Canada and the United States. In both countries, efforts are currently underway to reform governance of these institutions to better protect minors participating in amateur sports. Accordingly, this paper also analyzes the policies implemented thus far and makes substantive recommendations on ideal federal level initiatives.

The role of discipline "Olympic Education" in training specialists of "Physical Culture and Sport" in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan makes a significant contribution to the development of physical culture and sports in the Olympic games and as such, there is an urgent direction to study the prospects for the development of the educational services market and conduct research on consumers of educational services. The purpose of our study was to study and analyze the activities for the organization and implementation of work, related to the massive introduction of the ideas of Olympism and Olympic education in the daily life of both Kazakhstani specialists in the field of physical culture and sports, and the entire sports community. The study collected data through a survey involving 347 respondents working in the field of physical culture and sports in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Data was analyzed using percentages and content analysis. From the study, it was concluded that Olympic movement and Olympic education make the younger generation much smarter, more humane, more aesthetic and more tolerant. Keywords: Education; Olympic; physical culture ; sports; Olympic movement.

Medicine and athletics evolution

The article discusses the most popular type of Olympic movement — athletics. All stages of athletics formation and development are highlighted and described.A connection from ancient athleticism to modern Olympism is described, including the problem of globalization of sports and medical supervision.From the very beginning, athletics has established itself as an international sport in which men and women from all over the world participate.New trends of the late XX — early XXI century have a serious impact on various areas of modern life, including the sports industry and the Olympic movement.The communication revolution has brought not only benefits, but also created new problems. Based on the study of athletics development, it has been established that the Olympic movement remains an important international institution working to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between peoples.Further, the International Olympic Committee notes the expansion of educational work to spread the Olympic values and ideals of sport.The article is devoted to topical issues of the Olympic movement, which have a significant impact on social processes.

Politics and Sport don’t mix – or do they? National Identity and New Zealand’s Participation in the Olympic Games

<p>Sports matter. Today sport is one of the most enduring social events that humans from across the world participate in, no matter their race, religion or gender. Moreover, the biggest of all those sporting events is the Olympic Games, which is held every four years. The modern version of the Games was founded by Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin and first took place in Athens in 1896. New Zealand first competed alongside Australia as Australasia in London 1908 and Stockholm 1912. Following the games of 1916 which were cancelled due to World War I, New Zealand has competed as a sovereign nation since Antwerp 1920. Since 1908, over 1200 New Zealanders have competed at the Olympic Games, winning more than 100 medals. That performance in itself makes New Zealand one of the most successful nations in Olympic history on a per capita basis. That statistic alone underscores the relationship between the Olympics and national identity, as an embodiment of New Zealanders believing they ‘punch above their weight’ on the world stage. Benedict Anderson wrote about the imagined community, where the nation is imagined because it is impossible for every citizen to know each other.¹ This research has found that sporting teams like the All Blacks and the New Zealand Olympic Team are perfect avenues to help create this imagined community. New Zealand’s national identity is not fixed, it has evolved, but the one mainstay of that identity is the sense of being an underdog on the world stage. The research has found that over the past three decades New Zealand governments have increasingly woken up to the importance of high-performance sport and following the disappointment of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, funding was increased, which has led to better results and more medals. Today New Zealand athletes are funded on a per-capita basis just as well as many other nations we would compare ourselves with. New Zealand politicians have been quick to associate themselves alongside sportsmen and women and often speak about the close link that exists between sport and identity in New Zealand. However, unlike Australia, New Zealand does not have a national sports museum, and also unlike Australia, and the United Kingdom, New Zealand legislation does not allow for free-to-air television coverage of games of national significance. New Zealand does not adequately showcase its sporting history, and this has the potential to negatively affect the importance New Zealanders place on sport and the Olympic Movement as an important part of its national identity. Ultimately this research has found that the New Zealand Olympic Team epitomises what it means to be a New Zealander and has found that across multiple levels of analysis, the Olympic Movement has significantly contributed to the development of New Zealand’s national identity. More broadly, the Olympic Games have become a key avenue in which that national identity can be projected to the world. ¹ Benedict Anderson, ‘Imagined Communities,’ (London: Verso, 2006), pp.6-7.</p>

European trends in the development of physical education and sports and their impact on the inhabitants of Bukovina (second half of the nineteenth - early twentieth century.)

Highlighted and analyzed European trends in physical education and sports and their impact on the inhabitants of Bukovina. It is considered and proved that the theoretical and practical achievements of scientists and specialists-practitioners of Western European countries, the presence of separate gymnastic systems influenced the development of physical education and sports throughout Europe and, accordingly, in Bukovina. The intensification of activities in the direction of organizing physical culture and health activities and competitions and the development of organizational forms of modern sports life - sports clubs, sections and sports associations (federations, associations, unions) as another trend that influenced the development of physical education of children and youth. Bukovina of the early twentieth century. It is proved that the presence of theoretical and methodological principles of physical education, the formation of national gymnastic systems, including school, their spread in different European countries; restoration and genesis of the Olympic movement, the formation of sport as a social phenomenon and the development of organizational forms of modern sports life - federations, associations, unions; the emergence of professional sports publications are distinguished by European trends that influenced the development of physical education of the population of the region.

Retrospective of Competition and Festival Events and the Emergence of the Musical Olympic Movement in Ukraine in the 20s of the XX century

The purpose of the article is to carry out a scientific analysis of works aimed at studying the socio-cultural, organizational, methodological, and musical-creative aspects of the competition-festival movement, as well as individual groups of art history and historical and cultural works devoted to the creative biography and biographies of prominent figures of Ukrainian musical culture, whose initiative and organizational activities led to the emergence of the Olympic musical movement in Ukraine. The methodology consists of the use of source study and historiographic methods in the development of scientific literature, as well as historical-cultural, historical-musicological, comparative-historical, and biographical methods to determine the contribution of Ukrainian composers and outstanding musicians to the development of the competitive and musical Olympic movement in Ukraine. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the implementation of a comprehensive art study of the origin and development trends of the musical Olympic movement in Ukraine. Conclusions. The paper analyzes the research and publications of authors in the field of the competition and festival movement in modern Ukraine, summarizing works on the history of Ukrainian music, which cover the mid-1920s - early 1930s, i.e. the period of the emergence and active development of the musical Olympic movement in Ukraine, the continuity of times from the origins to the revival of the All-Ukrainian Musical Olympiad is shown.

THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT AS A TOOL FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA: PROBLEMS OF FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The article analyzes the process of institutionalization of the Olympic Movement in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the formation of the normative base of great achievement sport and its role as an instrument of foreign policy and a factor of soft power of the Moldovan State. In this regard, the author examines the continuity in the development of sports, in accordance with the two historical and political periods of the Moldovan statehood - "Soviet" and "Post-Soviet", through a comparative analysis of specific sports achievements. In this context, the author examines the main reasons for the slowdown in the development of the Olympic movement, including through the prism of content analysis the leaders of this structure, as well as the admission of systemic errors associated with insufficient funding of Moldovan sports, the lack of a legal framework for sponsoring performance sports, and the loss of the system for training highly qualified coaches.