Teofilo
Stevenson - An Athlete in the true Olympic
Spirit
The
greatest boxer in recent history, Teofilo Stevenson won the gold at the 72, 76 and 80; in
the Munich, Montreal and Moscow games in that order. When asked why
he refused a five million dollar offer to go pro he replied,
What's five million dollars worth,
when I have the love of five million Cubans?
His
great skill as a fighter and his high ethical principles made him a
hero to millions upon millions across the globe, and he did much for
the dignity of African sports. His unchallenged success in the
ring, but what is more interesting is his impact as a role model and
symbol of the socio-economic spirit of his society.
His
ethical position has support in the academic community, witness;
"In this democratic application of sports and physical recreations
not only to the American peoples, but to the peoples of the world, certain
warnings of failures in the past can be applied to the present. There
is danger in professionalized sport. The Greeks underwent the experience
and the decay of the idealized Olympic Games took place when certain
individuals did nothing but prepare themselves to excel in sport because
of the great inducement for winning, thus inevitably making sports a
vocation instead of an avocation. There is danger, too, in spectator sport.
It is a symptom of loss of national vigor when once hardy citizens
content to merely to loaf and look. This was the experience of Rome.
When satiated by victories, slaves and bounties of war, triumphal processions,
and by free grain and shows, the Roman citizens sought the easy way
of living, their downfall was at hand."
A
World History of Physical Education Cultural Philosophical Comparative,
Van Dalen, Mitchell, Bennett
Van
Dalen, Mitchell Bennett concluded that sports should follow the credo
attributed to the founder of the contemporary Olympic movement Baron
Pierre de Coubertin.
"May
joy and good fellowship reign and may the Olympic Torch pursue its way
through the ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations for
the good of humanity."
