The Olympics — The language of sportsmanship and unity
On Friday night, millions of people all over the world sat and watched the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil. We all witnessed 206 countries coming together in a celebration of sport and culture. Each having their own backgrounds cultures and languages but all uniting with one goal in mind.
You can imagine that with so many countries competing, the languages spoken would be numerous. However, the International Olympic Committee of the Games only actually work officially in English, French and the language of the host country.
The question that is on most people’s minds, well mine especially, is why is a worldwide event the size of the Olympics, only spoken in three languages?
Out of all the European languages why French?
So firstly, French was chosen as an official language due to the founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, being well and truly French. It was created in the 1890’s and is mainly based in Lausanne, the french speaking part of Switzerland.
English is in the top 5 most spoken languages in the world, spoken by more than a quarter of the world’s population. It is considered by some as the “language of the world” so I am guessing that is one of the reasons why it is one of the official languages of the Olympics.
The other languages in the top five that should potentially be considered are; Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi-Urdu and Arabic. This, as a result, could increase the audience, media, sponsors etc. for the games, the athletes and their countries.
After the London 2012 game there was confusion surrounding the fact that the official website had only been translated into French and English. How were people, who are unable to speak either language, able to navigate the site?
The Olympic Games were originally created to bring countries together to promote peace and unity through sport. Surely the lack of languages of such an incredibly international event is preventing this unity?
Despite this, the Rio Olympic Games have already seen many symbolic moments of unity. We were able to see the first ever Refugee Olympic team enter the stadium, signifying the world uniting to overcome global issues, such as the current 59 million people seeking refuge.
Another touching moment — the iconic selfie between North and South Korean gymnastics is a significant moment that has stood out to me. Despite the conflict between their countries, it shows the two of them coming together through sport. It has been considered ‘the picture of the olympic games’.
Overall, it seems that the ‘unofficial’ language of the Olympics is sportsmanship and sport itself.
Image copyright: Fotolia
