The Olympic & Paralympic Movement
The Olympic and Paralympic Movement
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the largest peacetime gatherings on the planet — and behind the competition, medals and ceremonies lies a philosophy that has guided international sport for over a century. Understanding the Olympic movement means knowing its founding texts, its symbol and its values — because these are directly assessed and must be recalled precisely.
Pierre de Coubertin and the Olympic Creed
The modern Olympic Games were revived in 1896 by the French educationalist Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He believed that sport could foster international understanding and peace. The philosophy he articulated is preserved in the Olympic Creed:
“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” — This creed is attributed to Bishop Ethelbert Talbot (1908) and was later adopted by Pierre de Coubertin as the guiding philosophy of the Games.
The Creed emphasises participation over victory, effort over outcome, and the character built through competition over the result itself. It is particularly relevant to athletes who finish outside the medal positions but who have competed to the best of their ability — a quality the Games celebrates through ceremonies such as the Best of the Games awards at Paris 2024.
The Olympic Symbol: Five Interlocking Rings
The Olympic symbol consists of five interlocking rings in blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background. Designed by Pierre de Coubertin and first used in 1913, the rings represent the five continents of the world — Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania — whose athletes come together at the Games. The interlocking design expresses unity and the crossing of borders through sport.
A common misconception is that each ring represents a specific continent or that the ring colours match specific regions. In fact, the five colours (plus white) were chosen because every nation’s flag contains at least one of these six colours — the rings do not individually represent specific continents. The symbol is the most recognised sporting logo in the world and is a protected trademark of the International Olympic Committee.
The Olympic movement is built on three core values. The first is Excellence — the pursuit of being the best in body, mind and spirit; striving to perform at the highest level and to give of one’s best in whatever one undertakes. At Paris 2024, athletes who prepared carefully for competition embodied this value before reaching the start line.
The second is Respect — respect for oneself, for other athletes, for the rules, for the environment and for the spectators. It is shown in post-race handshakes, in athletes challenging unfair calls through proper channels rather than confrontation, and in competitors carrying an injured rival across the finish line (as happened memorably at a 2019 World University Games race).
The third is Friendship — using sport to build bridges between people of different backgrounds, nationalities and beliefs. The Olympic Village at Paris 2024 housed athletes and staff from 206 delegations in one location, creating connections across borders. Friendship is also seen in dual-nationality partnerships, mixed-relay events that pair athletes from different countries, and the tradition of trading national badges and pins.
Olympic values (three): Excellence, Respect, Friendship. Paralympic values (four): Courage, Determination, Inspiration, Equality. These are closed lists — they must be reproduced exactly. Students who mix them up or paraphrase them lose marks.
The Four Paralympic Values
The Paralympic movement has its own set of four values that reflect the distinctive experience of athletes with a disability competing at the highest level. The first is Courage — the bravery to compete, to push physical limits, and to confront any stigma around disability in public life. The second is Determination — the relentless effort needed to reach elite level, often against greater obstacles than non-disabled athletes face in access to coaching, funding and facilities.
The third is Inspiration — the power of Paralympic athletes to change attitudes toward disability in society, encouraging people with disabilities to participate and encouraging non-disabled people to reconsider assumptions about what the human body can do. At Paris 2024, British blind triathlete Dave Ellis and guide Luke Pollard’s gold medal was widely cited by UK disability charities as inspiring a wave of enquiries to para-triathlon clubs. The fourth is Equality — the belief that all people, regardless of disability, deserve equal opportunities to participate and compete in sport at every level.
Olympic and Paralympic values are not just abstract principles — they are embedded in specific campaigns and initiatives at local, regional and national level. At local level: a community sports club that runs a ‘have-a-go’ session for young people with disabilities is putting Equality and Inspiration into practice. At regional level: a county sports partnership that brings together athletes from rival clubs for a joint values day puts Friendship and Respect at the centre. At national level, British Wheelchair Basketball’s “Inspiring a Generation” programme encouraged people to play wheelchair basketball with Sport England and National Lottery support.
Schools can also embed these values through curriculum sport: competitive house events that reward Determination as much as results, or team challenges that deliberately mix year groups to build Friendship. The specification asks students to recognise examples at all three levels — so think local, regional and national when answering.
Students frequently swap the two sets of values. A common error is writing “Courage” as an Olympic value (it is Paralympic) or writing “Friendship” as a Paralympic value (it is Olympic). The simplest memory aid: Olympic values have three items (Excellence, Respect, Friendship); Paralympic values have four items (Courage, Determination, Inspiration, Equality). If you are asked for both sets in one question, list them separately with the correct heading.