ABSTRACT
The importance of the role of sports event management as a whole is reflected in these short declarations, taken by an athlete and judge from the home nation at the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games. The oaths themselves have developed over time and are indicative of the importance of flexible management. At the ancient Olympics, athletes swore that they had trained properly and that they would abide by the rules of the Games. The importance of that oath is reflected in the fact that the trainers, brothers and fathers of athletes would also make such declarations. In more recent times the oaths have been changed to accommodate social trends and in order to protect the integrity of an event that is seen by many to be the pinnacle of the sports events industry. In 1920, when the first modern Olympic oath was taken, a spirit of chivalry rather than sportsmanship was required, and in 2000, for the Sydney Olympics, the commitment to participation without doping and drugs was deemed a necessary addition and a reflection of the times. It is useful to highlight the importance of these oaths for the widest of contexts. Abiding by the rules is important for the success of the event, but it may take more than a declaration to ensure such compliance. The development of the control of sport by governing bodies in their creation and application of rules is therefore important. Events also provide the best vehicle by which to exercise this control, as they can be implemented and controlled as they happen. The glory of sport may represent two perspectives: the individual success of sporting achievement and the encouragement that this achievement gives to others to then participate themselves. This is the essence of sports development, and the role that events play is clearly significant in putting both the participants and the event as a whole in the shop window. The linking of the glory of sport and the honour of teams (formerly country) is an important social and cultural aspect of the athletes’ oath. The honour at this level has been seen to have a bearing on national pride and identity, manifested in large television viewing figures of key moments and providing dominant conversation topics, if only in the short term. Many host cities show even greater faith in the ability of major events to assist in the development of socio-cultural legacies by declaring them long-term event objectives. These oaths, said in ceremony, may also indicate a long-term perspective that implicates a wider view of the role of event management – a role that is responsible for the implementation of an event that has wide-reaching and long-term impact. That is not to say that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has any greater aim than the provision of a successful event and athlete experience. Indeed, Jacques Rogge, former president of the IOC, declared that a successful event for both spectators and athletes is its priority (2002). There are no IOC objectives that are concerned with the development of long-term commercial and physical legacies for Olympic host cities, and yet these have developed, in recent years, as key municipal objectives, with the event being seen as a catalyst for their achievement. The IOC has recognized this requirement in the continued development of its Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme, and previously in staging its own Symposium on the Legacy of the Olympic Games in Lausanne in November 2002. It has begun to acknowledge the need for its own strategic understanding of host cities and their requirements for a return on investment, an investment that invariably expects wider benefits that extend long after an Olympic event itself.
