Darbe atskleidžiamos Lietuvos olimpinės akademijos ištakos, analizuojami pagrindiniai veiklos bruožai, olimpinių žaidynių rezultatų mokslinis vertinimas, aptariamos moksleivių olimpinio švietimo problemos. Laikotarpis (10 metų) po Lietuvos tautinio olimpinio komiteto teisių sugrąžinimo Berlyne yra svarbus sporto istorijai, tampa nuoseklaus tyrinėjimo objektu. Įvertinus Olimpinės akademijos veiklą šiuo laikotarpiu, galima teigti, kad olimpinis švietimas, sporto mokslas atveria naujas galimybes. Olimpizmas, kaip svarbus kultūros reiškinys, didelis intelektualinis potencialas, ieško naujų veiklos būdų, teorinių ir praktinių išdėstytų problemų, temų, susijusių su žmogaus sveikata, fiziniu pajėgumu, sportininkų meistriškumo tobulinimu, sprendimo. Ateityje olimpinis švietimas turi būti artimai susijęs su olimpizmo vertybėmis, kurias būtina skleisti visiems Lietuvos gyventojams.

Straipsnyje apibendrinami XXVII olimpiados žaidynių, vykusių 2000 m. Sidnėjuje, Australijoje, rezultatai. Pasibaigę 2000 m., paskutiniaiXXamžiaus metai, nusinešė į istoriją didžiulę sporto šventę, kuri vyko tolimajame Sidnėjuje. Olimpinės žaidynės įnešė didelį indėlį į pasaulio tautų bendradarbiavimą, taikos stiprinimą, tikėjimą šviesesne pasaulio visuomenės ateitimi. Siame straipsnyje plačiai nagrinėjami 2000 m. Sidnėjaus olimpinių žaidynių socialiniai, politiniai, ekonominiai, organiza ciniai ir etiniai ypatumai. Pažymima, kad šie ypatumai turėjo svarbią reikšmę sportiniams rezultatams. Šiose žaidynėse dalyvavo rekordinis šalių (200) ir dalyvių (10500) skaičius. Buvo kovojama dėl 300 medalių komplektų, buvo pasiekta daug puikių rezultatų. Olimpinės žaidynės Sidnėjuje vėl sustiprino tarptautinio olimpinio sąjūdžio prestižą, sporto politinio veiksnio reikšmę. Jos pademonstravo didėjančią konkurenciją sportinėje arenoje.

Tarptautinis olimpinis sąjūdis, Tarptautinis olimpinis komitetas, Lietuvos tautinis olimpinis komitetas propaguoja šiuolaikinį olimpizmą ir vienija organizacijas, sportininkus ir kitus asmenis, kurie vadovaujasi Olimpine chartija. Olimpizmo koncepcijà suformulavo Pierre de Coubertinas (Pjeras de Kubertenas), įvardijęs ją kaip gyvenimo filosofiją, išaukštinančią ir sujungiančią į subalansuotą visumą kūno, proto ir dvasios komponentus. Dabartiniu metu olimpizmas siekia, kad sportas tarnautų harmoningam žmogaus ugdymui, prisidėtų prie kūrimo taikesnės visuomenės, kuri rūpintųsi žmogaus garbės ir orumo saugojimu. Šią koncepciją toliau plėtoja aštuntasis Tarptautinio olimpinio komiteto prezidentas dr. Jacques Rogge (Žakas Rogas), kuriam gegužės mėnesį viešnagės Lietuvoje metu buvo suteiktas Vilniaus universiteto ir Lietuvos kūno kultūros akademijos garbės daktaro vardas. Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas Valdas Adamkus apdovanojo jį ordino „Už nuopelnus Lietuvai“ Didžiuoju kryžiumi. Šiandieninis tarptautinis olimpinis sąjūdis, kaip olimpinį švietimą koncentruojanti ašis, turi mokomuosius, moralinius, etinius ir tarptautinius tikslus, kurie praplečia olimpinių varžybų sąvokos supratimą ir ragina olimpizmą suvokti platesniu ir net globaliniu mastu. Humanistinė sporto pozicija suvaidino svarbų teigiamą vaidmenį pasaulio istorijoje, kurią per tūkstantmečius kūrė idėjų ir pasaulėjautos srautas iš antikinės Graikijos. Ateities olimpinis sportas ir mokymas turi remtis savirealizacijos principu, dvasingumo, patriotizmo, kultūros ir sporto integracija. Tai olimpizmo pagrindas, olimpinio sporto raidos orientyras.

Nowadays Olympism, Olympic sport and Olympic education in their natural development grew into the cultural life of independent Lithuania and become an essential source of physical and spiritual education of our nation. P. de Coubertin believed that all people and in all stages of their life are able to pursuit for sport excellence. While reviving Olympic Games he aspired for the supporters of Olympism to make the world a good place to live. Alongside to the fair play, idea of peace is crucial today, and it stimulates specific cultural understanding of other nations. P. de Coubertin also designed and presented conception of harmonious overall development of human being, with special emphasize on education, directed not only towards intellect, but also body. Thus, Olympic education means physical as well as mental education. It gives young people knowledge on the fact that doing sports during all oneÿs life is necessary complementation to the other activity areas, helping to develop and maintain sense of identity. Summarising scientific trends of Olympic education development in the world we maintain that Olympic movement, Olympic Games, Olympic education are crucial for development of harmonious human being, for the consolidation of sport and culture, science and health, good role models and respect to the Olympic principles. So, role of sport is extremely important in personality shaping, embedding truth and spirituality as eternal values, respecting moral culture, ethical norms, human dignity and creativity. Main objective of Olympic education is linking sport and culture.[...]

The article emphasizes the need of Olympic education as the program related to health, environment, intercultural awareness and young people’s social behaviour in school curriculum. More widely, a demand is to link the school to the local community and its institutions by emphasizing the humanistic and ethical dimensions of Olympism. Concrete programs of Olympic education that were created by separate Olympic Games Organizing Committees are being represented in this article. These programs go with their aims such as initiating a strong volunteering movement that would cover all the facets of young people social life, promoting Olympic ideal, encouraging to explore other cultures, etc. The great part of this paper represents a survey that reveals problems of implementation of Olympic education programs within the Olympic Movement and stages proposals for solving them. The results of research proved that Olympic education is accepted as necessary in most countries that implemented such programs. Olympic education programs are growing into an important activity with a strong impact on a range of permanent aspects of global education. The school should draw upon this wealth of knowledge, experience and representations that students of all ages bring from their life, their family, the environment in which they live, which should be combined with those included in the curriculum. Although Olympic education programs contribute to changes that improve school’s efficiency, many of these programs cannot be integrated into educational system. This is due to a series of problems arising during their implementation in the educational process. Finding ways of integrating the innovations offered by Olympic education programs in education will require mobilization and allowance their inclusion in school system of each country. If this is not guaranteed, then Olympic education programs will be implemented outside the framework of national educational institutions, on a limited scale and remain without proper recognition on the sidelines of the curriculum.

Olympism, Olympic sport and science of Olympic education in nowadays situation gradually grow into the cultural life on independent republic of Lithuania, become an important source of nation’s physical and spiritual strength education while naturally developing together with common national culture. Experiencing twenty years long activity of Lithuanian Olympic Academy - it is a real academe and we must draw wisdom from it. This experience encourages us to reflect who we are, were we are from, what consolidates us, where is our place in Lithuania and in the World. Activity trends of Olympic Academy are integrating into sport science, environment of Lithuanian sport society, nation’s scientific and cultural life that affirms the values of truth and spirituality including moral, cultural and ethical norms, respect for human’s individuality and his creativity. The needs and possibilities of the nation can be perceived only through the development and deepening of Olympism ideas. Olympic education integrates sport with culture, science, education and human’s welfare. Olympic education is acknowledged on international level and is being integrated into school programs. Lithuanian Olympic Academy has been spreading the Olympic spirit and Olympic ideas for 20 years already. Its activity reveals that we do live valuable creative and spiritual life. The most important in the future is to maintain and develop links between Olympic education and the World because new possibilities open in the brotherhood values world where the prestige and appreciation of the nation are important to enhance. Beautiful and majestic Lithuanian’s personality must be educated according to the program of Olympic education which we have to create and improve. We will be able to evaluate our future as long as we can reflect the experience of the past.

Purpose of the research was to analyze pupils‘ attitude towards Olympic movement and Olympic values. 114 respondents were analyzed (62 boys and 52 girls), the range was made in a convenient way. Pupils of Kaunas city and Kaunas district took part in the research. A questionnaire was used for the research which had been used in Belgium, Czech, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Hungary by researching the attitude towards Olympic movement and Olympic values (2002). The questionnaire consisted of 28 questions aimed to evaluate the pupils‘ level of the knowledge about Olympic movement, to evaluate Olympic ideals and „Fair play”, to analyze the pupils‘ attitude towards Olympic education. The research material was analyzed by applying methods of mathematical statistics. The reliability of differences between the results obtained was calculated according to the criterion of chi square (χ²) which is used to check hypotheses about the distribution of a variable in the population. The reliability level chosen is α=0,05. The difference between the results was taken as significant in case p<0,05. After performing the research, it became clear that 88,24% of respondents knew the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens. One third of the respondents knew the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. 81,8% of the respondents think the modern Olympic Games are different from the Olympic Games to take place in the ancient times. Only 13,46% of the girls and 22,58% of the boys indicated they had heard of Pierre de Coubertin. 27,51% of the respondents indicated they had heard of Olympic ideals. More girls (79,92%) than boys (59%) indicated they knew what the symbol of five Olympic rings meant. 36,5% of the girls and 51,61% of the boys indicated they had heard of the Olympic spirit.[...]

Olympism is a set of principles, ideas, visions and challenges. Coubertin described it in not completely systematic terms as a philosophy of life with the principles of a cult of effort, eurhythmics and a love of exercise, but also as a state of mind (Naul, 2009). Consequently, as far back as the end of the 19th century, in his philosophical, psychological and educational musings, Coubertin already understood that sport and exercise were becoming important actors in culture as well as a means of educating and communicating across of different civilisations. Besides the original ideas of Pierre de Coubertin, Olympism is enriched by other ideas and objectives in the Olympic Charter. These comprise reflections on the development of the Olympic Movement, sport and culture as well as their mutual relationships (Georgiadis, 2003). Nonetheless, they also include reflections on applying the results of academic research. Two different approaches have been pursued in incorporating Olympism into curricula at Czech universities for training experts in physical education and sports. At other universities and faculties, the implementation of Olympism is not yet systematic, and is influenced by specialists operating in the fields of philosophy, sociology, ethics, aesthetics, etc. In cooperation with NOAs and OSCs, universities should focus part of their research and educational capacities on current issues concerning the Olympic Movement. Olympism, the principles, values, and relationship of Olympism to sport and culture should be an integral part of professional training for future teachers, coaches, managers, etc. The results of research activities in Olympism should be subsequently a predicate of education programmes and systematically developed in university concepts of Olympic education programmes. They may be applied as a separate educational subject or as a set of selected Olympic themes included in the content of education for social science and sports subjects. Cooperation between Olympic institutions and universities is beneficial not only for the development of a deeper and more comprehensive interpretation of Olympism in historical and contemporary reflections, but also for the development of sports and social sciences as well as for sport itself and its relationship with culture. Today, without the ideas and principles of Olympism, it is not possible to assess sport in its complex and rapid development or to assess the evolution of society in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The importance of Olympic Education had grown consistently since the concept was first mentioned in International Olympic Academy’s session in 1970s. What is more, the establishment and development of National Olympic Academies is still growing worldwide. Lithuanian National Olympic Academy as one of the leaders among the 143 National Olympic Academies, in twenty years of existence has reached a lot of goals, yet more are to be reached in the future. The aim of the work was to analyze the system of Olympic Education in Lithuania by presenting its background, current situation and potential development. Lithuania can be characterized as an active member of the Olympic Movement. Since the establishment of the National Olympic Committee in 1924 and re-establishment in 1988, Lithuanian athletes have proudly represented the country in International sport events, NOC has been working to ensure best conditions for athletes, also cooperated with NOA towards organization of conferences, seminars and lectures in order to ensure the overall development and spread of Olympism and Olympic Movement in the country. Olympic Education program for formal education institutions was created in the year 2000 and is one of the successful projects that are being implemented in Lithuania. 82 schools are voluntarily participating in Children and Youth Olympic Education project. The existence of the project was extended until 2015 by the organizing institutions. Formal education institutions actively involve themselves into Olympic Education and care to spread Olympic ideals to the pupils. In the future number of schools involved should grow up to 200 and sport schools, summer training camps could become a part of the project. As a part of project management theory internal evaluation is implemented by schools, external evaluation should be established for further improvements.

It was established that one of the most important factors for successful Olympic Education program implementation in Lithuanian schools of general education is a positive change in pupils’ behaviour, which manifests itself in pupils’ higher activeness, acquisition of organizational skills, increased level of self-perception, expressed through perception of public spirit, nationality, moral behaviour in sport. Other factors to stimulate Olympic Education program implementation were as follows: program unites school community, appears perception of meaningfulness of Olympic Education program activities, share of good practice, growth of teachers’ self-evaluation. The results of the research disclosed the factors of negative influence on Olympic Education program implementation being weak pupils’ motivation for learning, dull family members’ participation in project activities, teachers’ worry about unknown activity, teachers’ distrust in own competence, as well as first wrong opinion about Olympic Education program.