East to Olympia: Recentering Olympic Philosophy Between East and West‪.‬

Introduction By going to Beijing in the summer of 2008, the Olympic Games may seem to have ventured farther than ever from their cultural origin in ancient Olympia, Greece. (1) This can be viewed as a triumph--but a triumph of what? Some may see it as a victory for Western cultural imperialism; others as a victory for Olympic multiculturalism. But it is best seen as a unique opportunity--an opportunity for the Eurocentric Olympic Movement to counterbalance its Western values and ideals with those of China and the East, (2) thereby re-centering its philosophy between East and West, and redirecting Olympism back toward its origins in ancient Greece. This process does not require changes in the language of the "Fundamental Principles of Olympism"--the Olympic Charter's official declaration of the Movement's foundational philosophy--but rather an expanded understanding of how that language may be understood from diverse cultural perspectives. The effort by Easterners and Westerners alike to "re-center" our understanding of Olympic philosophy will serve the Movement well as it tries to find common ethical and philosophical ground among diverse cultures in this age of globalization.