XX Olympic Winter Games Monument, Torino
XX Olympic Winter Games Monument, Torino
XX Olympic Winter Games Monument, Torino
2006
Torino

XX Olympic Winter Games Monument, Torino 2006

XX Olympic Winter Games monument, Torino 2006 / proposal

 

The Olympic ideal

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential in life is not conquering but fighting well". This has been fundamental to the Olympic credo since 1908 and is invariably quoted every time the Games are held. The bond between athletes symbolizes the solidarity of all people and of all nations worldwide – an ideal expressed in sport, comradeship and fair play.

 

Deciding what constitutes fair play and monitoring adherence to it is an important requirement, perhaps even the mainstay, of the Olympic ideal. The ideal itself is inviolable, but the way people go about striving for it is subject to dynamic change.

 

Olympic blood

The amateur status of all who took part in the Olympics used to be considered essential for fair play. Nowadays the emphasis has shifted to a requirement on all athletes to have the same biochemical constitution. Keeping pace with sport itself, dope testing has grown into a scientific and technological discipline that can never rest on its laurels. Testing programs are intended to eliminate unsportsmanlike practices and thus to underwrite the athletic performance. Yet despite all effort expended on testing, drug-taking scandals continue to mar the image of competitive sport.