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Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra asks all Indians to join the Olympic Movement
India's first individual Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra strongly advocates "Olympism and its values" for all Indians and asks them to join the Olympic Movement
The recently concluded Tokyo Olympics 2020 ended up being the most successful for India in over a hundred years of its participation in the Games.
However, as admirers of sport and the many qualities we derive through it, what made this 16-day journey truly special was the way the athletes showed respect for moral principles even in the face of competition, serving as true ambassadors of the Olympic values whether in victory or defeat.
These values are the true legacy of the games for the whole society. As a country, we must come forward to embrace the values of Friendship, Respect and Excellence in our daily life, taking our learnings from the Tokyo Olympics.
To create more awareness and discussion, The Abhinav Bindra Foundation (ABF), in partnership with the Olympic Studies Center, German Sports University Cologne is all set to launch its educative webinar series 'Olympism and its values'.
The monthly series will see prominent thought leaders and experienced academicians from all over the world talk about the various ways through which the world can adopt the values of Olympism and how sports can address sustainable development goals.
International Olympic Committee is supportive of this effort in India (https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-studies-centre/conferences-calendar#)
To take the Olympism initiative to the Indian Audience, IISM has come forward as a sports education partner and GITAM University as an outreach partner for the long-term promotion of Olympism in India.
These sessions will open our society's horizons to understand the real impact of Olympism.
The inaugural episode is scheduled to be hosted at 3 pm (IST) on 23rd August, and is titled 'Olympic movement in the post-Covid era and its implications for civil society'.
The virtual 90-minute discourse will be held using a video-conferencing platform, with ABFT founder and India's first individual Olympic gold medalist, Mr. Abhinav Bindra also being a part of the session, which will be moderated by leading sports journalist - G. Rajaraman.
The registration link is as follows - zfrmz.in/WZKWNGp2YN3PzemI2c9l
The panellists for the first episode are leading researchers and academicians who have proved to be an important part of the Olympic movement through their work. The list of speakers is provided below:
- Dr. Jörg Krieger, Ph.D., Sports historian, Researcher, and author of "Sports in the post-covid era". Assistant Professor in Sport and Social Science in the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University.
- Alexandra de Navacelle Zolidis, 4th generation descendant of Pierre de Coubertin, President of the Pierre de Coubertin Family Association, Member of the Olympic Culture and Heritage Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
- Dr. Cora Burnett, Director of the Olympic Studies Centre (University of Johannesburg), Researcher on Sport for Development and Peace, Current President of the South African University Physical Education Association.
This discussion will be the first of its kind in India to promote Olympism, the real purpose behind the Olympic movement. The webinar will touch following key themes:
- The Importance of Olympism in fostering better citizens.
- Examples of excellence, friendship and respect from Tokyo 2020; and their impact on societies and communities around the world.
- The impact of the Olympic values on the journey of an athlete.
- Case studies of implementation and legacy of Olympism initiatives on society.
- The Olympic Movement in the context of India.