Friendly Competition
The Olympics Movement was founded on principles of friendly competition to promote international goodwill. The current Olympic Charter describes the aims of the movement:
The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity. (p 10)
While the official rules state that “the Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries,” throughout history they have often served as venues in which international politics and social issues dominated the athletic competitions. This exhibit features reproductions and artifacts from Special Collections, which attest to the both celebratory and competitive facets of the Summer Olympic Games.
Images of the exhibit are available from Special Collections on Flickr.
Curator, exhibit design, and installation: Jennie Davy, Burger Archives Specialist.
