FREE ESSAY ON OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

Multicultural Participation
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world
by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the
Olympic spirit which requires mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair
play.
Multiculturalism is a policy based on rights and responsibilities, which has been
endorsed by Australian governments for managing a unified nation, which is culturally
diverse. It is a policy that relies on mutual respect, whereby members of Australia's
diverse communities respect each others' differences.
Sydney's Bid for the 2000 Olympic Games promoted the city's cultural diversity.
In September 1993, SOCOG Board Vice President and Sydney's Lord Mayor, Frank Sartor, was
Quoted:
A Sydney Games in 2000 could provide the platform for a millennium of multiracial and
multicultural harmony. Australian's policy of encouraging the maintenance of cultural
diversity in a harmonious society, which was nevertheless united in its patriotism, could
be a blueprint for the way the whole world should conduct itself in the next millennium.
Australia, whose immigration policy in recent years has encouraged migrants from all over
the world, is living proof that harmonious diversity is as achievable as it is desirable.

Australia's Multiculturalism
? Australia is considered the most multicultural country in the world.
? Currently there are people from over 160 countries living in Australia.
? Over 70 languages are spoken, not including Aboriginal dialects.
? Forty per cent of the Australian population are migrants or are the children of
migrants.
? At 30 June 1995, 23 per cent of the Australian population was born overseas, while 13.7
per cent of Australians were born in non-English speaking countries.
Multicultural Affairs Program
SOCOG has recognised the significance of the multicultural community to the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games by establishing a Multicultural Affairs program, to support the MAC and to
work across SOCOG and the Paralympic Games in implementing policies which embrace all
Australians.
The Multicultural Affairs Program is responsible for:
? developing an overall multicultural action plan for SOCOG, which has been approved by
the SOCOG board. The committee looked across all program areas of SOCOG and the
Paralympic Games and developed strategies which will enable the multicultural community
to play a vital role;
? consulting with other State and Territory Ethnic Affairs Commissions and their
equivalents to ensure appropriate multicultural representation in SOCOG and
Paralympic-generated events;
? working with SOCOG's Volunteer Program to ensure that among the volunteer intake there
will be representation from the many diverse communities, maximising the various language
skills and cultural knowledge that those groups can bear as volunteers;
? arranging a series of multicultural community consultations both in NSW and other
States and Territories at which SOCOG will inform and involve all communities; and
? ensuring that SOCOG now conducts regular briefings with Australia's ethnic media
organisations.