For LSD, Michel Pomarède tells the history of the Olympic Games as a field of confrontation first between cities in the ancient period then between nations since their renovation in 1894.
“ At a certain level, sport no longer has anything to do with fair play. It brings into play hatred, jealousy, boasting, contempt for all the rules and the sadistic pleasure that the spectacle of violence provides: in other words, it is nothing more than a war without shots fired. . “. Said George Orwell, in December 1945 about the Moscow Dynamo tour of Great Britain which allowed Soviet players to compete against British athletes.
Well before Orwell – in the 2nd century BC – Pausanias in his “Description of the Greece” chronicles the athletic exploits as a preparation of the Greek citizen for war against the rival cities of Athens. This is what Pierre de Coubertin ignored when he renewed the Olympic Games from 1894 with the utopian project of peace between nations through sport. Objective: use the Olympic Games as a sounding board for the power of states. Athletes are asked to respect the Olympic charter which imposes strict neutrality on them. Silence in the ranks !
A documentary series of Michel Pomarèdeproduced by Yvon Croizier.
Bibliography
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Exhibitions:
OLYMPISM, A HISTORY OF THE WORLD – From the first Olympic Games in Athens 1896 to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 /April 26 – September 8, 2024/ Palais de la Porte Dorée
Olympism, a modern invention, an ancient heritage – The Louvre/April 24 – September 16, 2024
