Olympics, Art, and Intellect
Some Thoughts on a Recent NY Times Piece
I thought I knew a lot about the Olympics. I’ve reflected often on the meaning and purpose behind the Olympics, and I consider myself pretty familiar with the Olympic Games today and the history behind them. Flipping through the New York Times a few days ago, however, I was surprised to learn that I had missed a key bit of Olympic history. Apparently the modern Olympic Games, founded in the late 1800’s by Pierre Coubertin, once included art. Yes, that’s right. Coubertin’s vision was for the Olympics to include not just athletics, but artistic or intellectual endeavors. I highly recommend reading the whole article here, but it’s worth highlighting and reflecting on some of the most interesting tidbits:
‘For decades, beginning with the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, the Olympics included competitions in painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature — a “pentathlon of the Muses,” as Pierre de Coubertin, the founder and leader of the modern Olympics, called them.’
‘“From now on they will be part of each Olympiad, on a par with the athletic competitions,” Coubertin said.’
‘Like the Greeks, Coubertin believed that the Olympics should be about both body and mind.’
‘“Deprived of the aura of the Arts contests,” he (Coubertin) once declared, “Olympic Games are only World Championships.”’
‘“The coming generation will know mental workers who will at the same time be sportsmen,” Coubertin said.’
Reading this piece, I was struck by how closely the original vision for the Olympics aligned with my own reflections on both the tension and the complementarity between sport and intellectual endeavors.
I tackled some aspects of this subject in my college thesis on sport in the Christian life, in which I explored sport’s relation to the Christian vision of action and contemplation. (You can view my presentation of a paper based on that thesis here.)
I’ve also had to grapple with this subject in my life decisions and daily endeavors. I became a serious athlete at a young age, but my parents ensured that my schooling remained a top priority. I have always believed it is possible to excel in both athletics and academics. However, I have also discovered that in order to excel in both, you may need to make some unusual decisions and even prioritize one over the other during particular seasons of life. For me, that meant homeschooling in middle school and high school so I would have the flexibility to train and also pursue academic excellence. I took an extra year to complete high school so I could keep up with my training schedule and also complete advanced courses in math and science. I deferred college for four years so I could continue skating and go to the Olympics. And, finally, I chose to give up my skating career at the age of 22 so I could develop my intellectual gifts in college, grad school, and a new career.
While I wish it were possible to “have it all” - to be in peak athletic and intellectual condition at the same time - I think that most people will find, as I did, that they need to prioritize one or the other, depending on the season of life. Coubertin’s vision of the Olympic athlete-intellectual may have been a bit unrealistic; however, I do think he was right to see the need for sport and intellectual endeavors to be combined. Human persons are body-soul composites, and human excellence involves seeking the perfection of both. Not everyone is called to become a world-class athlete or earn a Ph.D., but we are all called to care for both body and mind. Those who do pursue either sport or an intellectual endeavor at a very high level are well-served by “cross-training” in the other area. The fact that the Olympics once recognized the importance of the intellectual life is a beautiful reminder that we are all called to integrate excellence of both body and mind in order to develop our full humanity.
Realistically, I doubt the Olympic Games will ever include the arts again - the IOC has its hands full without trying to restart a portion of the Games that never worked in the first place. Call me biased, but I console myself that figure skating, that quintessential Winter Olympic sport, is both artistic and athletic - a small reminder of the full glory of the Olympic Games and of the human person.