Felix Tetteh (Ghana) on Using Social Media Ambassadors to Spread Olympic Values
August 6, 2012
The Olympic values—respect, excellence, and friendship—as defined by Pierre de Coubertin have gained a significance that transcends sports. These values can have a great effect in the twenty-first century, based on our interpretation of the values and how we promote them. I will therefore share what I think these values mean for the contemporary world and how we can realize them.
The ultimate form of respect is to pay regard to every human’s rights and freedoms. This means treating everyone equally regardless of his or her nationality, skin color, or ethnic group. Respect teaches us to maintain the highest form of integrity and ensure that others are also ethical. Moreover, we should remember to respect our planet by protecting it and emphasizing green initiatives for the sake of future generations. I also believe excellence involves setting high standards for ourselves and celebrating the achievements of others. To be excellent in the competitive and globalized world, we should find a niche and be the masters of our art through deliberate practice. This requires that we all embody entrepreneurial and leadership skills so we can make an impact through our work.
Finally, I believe friendship means ensuring world peace and democracy starting from our societies and families. This means we should celebrate diversity and differences as a key component to development, show compassion to those around us, and help eradicate poverty. Also, it is necessary to ensure the healthy use of social media to maintain relationships and networks.
To realize these values, I suggest we promote them through social media, since a greater part of the youth, who are our world’s future leaders, are online. We should make use of Twitter and Facebook for this, organizing a one-week online competition where anybody can tweet or share a twenty-word sentence or a photo of what Olympic values means to them. This will be tracked with a mention on Facebook and a hashtag on Twitter. We will then shortlist twenty applicants based on their entries and the finalists will send in a 50-word essay on a real life experience that reflects any of the Olympic values. The top five winners will then be sponsored to attend the Olympics and become ambassadors of the Olympic values. The ambassadors will organize a seminar in their respective schools, societies, or organizations on what they learned at the Olympics and the importance of promoting the Olympic values for global development. This competition can have a different theme every time the Olympics are held. I believe this competition will create a huge impact, given that a lot of people are online and will want to participate in such an easy competition with an amazing prize. The values will eventually sink into people’s heads because of the publicity it will gain, and everyone who participates will learn to personalize these values.
Finally, I believe friendship means ensuring world peace and democracy starting from our societies and families. This means we should celebrate diversity and differences as a key component to development, show compassion to those around us, and help eradicate poverty. Also, it is necessary to ensure the healthy use of social media to maintain relationships and networks.
To realize these values, I suggest we promote them through social media, since a greater part of the youth, who are our world’s future leaders, are online. We should make use of Twitter and Facebook for this, organizing a one-week online competition where anybody can tweet or share a twenty-word sentence or a photo of what Olympic values means to them. This will be tracked with a mention on Facebook and a hashtag on Twitter. We will then shortlist twenty applicants based on their entries and the finalists will send in a 50-word essay on a real life experience that reflects any of the Olympic values. The top five winners will then be sponsored to attend the Olympics and become ambassadors of the Olympic values. The ambassadors will organize a seminar in their respective schools, societies, or organizations on what they learned at the Olympics and the importance of promoting the Olympic values for global development. This competition can have a different theme every time the Olympics are held. I believe this competition will create a huge impact, given that a lot of people are online and will want to participate in such an easy competition with an amazing prize. The values will eventually sink into people’s heads because of the publicity it will gain, and everyone who participates will learn to personalize these values.
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