Beyond excellence, friendship and respect

Olympic education stakeholders’ priorities for values in a changing world

Bibliographic Data

ID19491019
AuthorsYannis Theodorakis (0000-0002-5768-2060, State University of Physical Education and Sport, corresponding author), Charalampos Krommidas (State University of Physical Education and Sport), Mary Hassandra (0000-0001-8046-3547, State University of Physical Education and Sport), Konstantionos Georgiadis (University of Peloponnese)
Year2026
Volume8
Pages1823613-1823613
Publication date2026-06-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Sports and Active Living (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2624-9367 • E-ISSN: 2624-9367
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fspor.2026.1823613
PMID42311484
OpenAlexW7163156548
LanguageEN
References cited34

The emergence of new governance priorities in sport has become a central concern for the Olympic Movement, whose activities are fundamentally grounded in the Olympic values. Traditionally, the Olympic Movement has emphasized three core values—excellence, friendship, and respect. However, contemporary global sports governance and policy challenges call for a critical re-evaluation and possible expansion of this value framework. In response to evolving societal needs, the present study examines the attitudes of Olympic education stakeholders toward a broader set of Olympic values. These include priorities that reflect current global and educational concerns, such as peace, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and gender equality. By exploring these perspectives, the study seeks to assess whether and how the Olympic value system can adapt to better address the demands of a rapidly changing world. Two-hundred and eighty-six participants ( N = 286), aged 18 to 79 years and drawn from international summits and seminars, completed attitude scales assessing the perceived importance of seven Olympic values: excellence, friendship, respect, peace, social inclusion, gender equality, and environmental protection. The results demonstrated consistently high ratings across all values and strong positive intercorrelations among them. Peace emerged as the highest-ranked Olympic value, followed closely by respect and friendship. Multiple linear regression analyses with bootstrap estimation indicated that the traditional core values were strongly interconnected with the proposed contemporary values. Gender-based analyses revealed that all Olympic values were rated higher by females than by males. In contrast, no significant differences were observed with respect to participants’ age or educational level. Based on these findings, the study argues for the enrichment and reconsideration of the Olympic value framework through the formal integration of contemporary values into Olympic education and governance agendas, adapted to the challenges posed by the difficult global circumstances facing our planet. By documenting how Olympic education stakeholders prioritise values in a changing global context, the study offers empirical insight into emerging educational and policy directions for Olympic values education frameworks, including OVEP and Olympism 365

Corporate governance · Friendship · Human values · Set (abstract data type) · Social value orientations · Value (mathematics) · Doping in Sports · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts