For the first time in the history of the Olympic Movement the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee is proudly presenting a systematic method for delivering the notion of an Olympic Education. The history and philosophy of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements, the preparations for the 2014 Winter Games and the particular nature of the 2014 Games in Sochi all feature on the curriculum of the educational and training programmes, which are to be deployed on three levels: popular, academic and professional.
Popular Education
Popular Olympic education programme deals with the history and philosophy of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements, and, first and foremost, with the Olympic and Paralympic Values.
Educational workshops (known as an “Olympic Induction” as they instill the fundamentals in participants) are being laid on, with great success, for the Sochi 2014 management, staff and partners, including Sberbank, Russian Railways, Rosneft and Ingosstrakh. In 2011 this list has been extended with Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble joining the pool. The Olympic knowledge has been also transferred to an autonomous non-profit organization Sports Broadcasting. Communicating the Olympic knowledge to Sochi 2014 Licensees is the next item on the agenda.
A dedicated educational programme aiming at large-scale involvement of Megafon staff is being implemented jointly with Megafon. A team of Megafon Volunteers has already been trained to disseminate the Olympic knowledge among the Megafon family across the country. A similar programme is worked through with Procter & Gamble.
The first multimedia version of the “Olympic Induction” was released in 2010. You can download the files for the programme, in which Olympic and Paralympic champions, leaders of the International Olympic and Paralympic Movement and world leaders discuss the history and philosophy of the Games, what it takes to prepare a Games, and what will be special about the Games in Sochi, at. This digital “quest” was well received when shown to the public (in particular, to more than 120,000 visitors to the Sochi 2014 Russian House in Vancouver in February 2010), to the Leadership of the Russian Federation, and above all, to the President of the Russian Federation D. Medvedev at the March 2010 session of the Council for the Development of Physical Exercise and Sport, and Sport of the highest levels of attainment, for the Preparation and Staging of the XXII Olympic and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi, and the XXVII Summer World University Games of 2013 in Kazan.
On the threshold of “1000 Days to Go” milestone the Organizing Committee initiated a series of celebrations and events to take place around the country. Among those there was an outstanding campaign known as “1000 Olympic Lessons”. Students and trainers from volunteer centers conducted Olympic lessons at schools. The volunteers from the Moscow University of Industry and Finance demonstrated a distinguished effort and conducted 1000 Olympic lessons in different parts of Russia for more than 40,000 schoolchildren. The climax of this campaign was the Olympic lesson conducted by Alexander Zhukov, Russian Olympic Committee President and Russian Deputy Prime Minister together with a four-time Olympic champion Alexei Nemov, a three-time Olympic champion Maria Kiseleva and Paralympic champion Mikhail Terentyev.
A record-breaking educational flash-mob arranged to coincide with the beginning of 2011-2012 academic year was imprinted in the history of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. On September 1, more than 1,500 lessons dedicated to the “Legacy of the 2014 Sochi Games” were conducted for above 50,000 school students from across 30 different Russian cities. The Olympic teachers were students from the 26 “Sochi 2014” Volunteer Centers, Organizing Committee staff and Partners of the Games – Procter & Gamble, Megafon, Rostelekom, Russian Railways, Volkswagen Group Rus, PwC, EF English First, and Microsoft Rus. All of them got special training in August that was organized and held in Moscow and Sochi with the support of the Russian International Olympic University. The mission of the lesson was to let schoolchildren know about the Sochi 2014 Games and the Games impact (infrastructure, volunteer services, environment, barrier free environment, etc.). It is worthwhile to say that the “Legacy of the 2014 Sochi Games” is the third teaching module in the Olympic Lessons Bank available on EDU website.
Soon, in order to spread Olympic knowledge further afield, an interactive educational project called “The Alphabet of Sochi 2014” will be launched. This project will brief online visitors on the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in an entertaining way, allowing anyone who so desires to upload documents, pictures and video clips for the “Alphabet”, or to test their knowledge and expertise about the Olympics and Paralympics.
Academic education
Academic education category is focused on developing programmes for educational institutions, schools and universities. These will encompass not only PE, history and geography lessons devoted to the Olympics and Paralympics in schools, but also the development of educational modules for students in higher education institutions.
11 teaching packages covering such disciplines as literature, history, geography, art, music, foreign languages etc. have been successfully tested at schools of Sochi and are now ready to be integrated into school curriculum across Russia.
In 2010 the Sochi Organizing Committee in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation held the first Russia-wide " Sochi 2014 Teacher" Contest. Memorable gifts from the Partners of Sochi 2014 were awarded to the winners of the contest at a ceremony with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation that took place on December 17, 2010. The Laureates of the contest united into a public teaching community “Sochi 2014 Teacher” and dedicated social networking websites were created to extend the geography of communications.
The second round of the Russia-wide Sochi 2014 Teacher Contest taking place in 2011 is featuring broader coverage. This time not only school teachers but also university and college teachers are welcome to participate. The participants can choose to compete for one out of four nominations announced by the Organizing Committee: "Activity – Philosophy – Profession", “My Choice”, "Journey around the countries participating in the Olympic Games" and “Courage, Equality, Determination, Inspiration”. The deadline for the submission of applications for the Contest is October 15, 2011.
The Organizing Committee has connected the leading Russian institutes and universities by initiating the signature of the Declaration in support of Russia’s first Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. In 2010 those who joined the Declaration submitted their bids for foundation of dedicated volunteer centers. Based on the results of the contest 26 institutes and universities were selected to become organization and performance centers for volunteers. Education Department played an active role in bringing in its expertise and organizing deep dives in Olympics and Paralympics for these institutes and universities.
Professional Education
Professional education is focused on training world-class experts in sports management whose knowledge will foster transformation of Olympic and Paralympic Games experience into unique solutions for sports industry.
To this end, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on August 8, 2008, the opening day of the 2008 Games in Beijing, by the IOC, the ROC and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee on the creation of a Russian International Olympic University in Sochi – a unique educational institution with no equivalent anywhere else in the world.
During the Vancouver Games the first official presentation of the University was held on February 25, 2010. By this time its strategic vision had been formed. And on June 7, 2010, during the Official Debrief on the results of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games of 2010, IOC President Jacques Rogge and the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, placed a time-capsule in the foundations of the University building, containing a message to future generations The University complex will open its doors to students and trainees in 2013. Questions concerning the Russian International Olympic University may be sent by e-mail to info@olympicuniversity.ru.
RIOU is continuing to build international contacts. To this end, at the forum “Russia – Sporting Power” on July 30, 2010 during a meeting between the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and the management of the International Federations, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Russian International Olympic University and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and International Rowing Federation (FISA) was signed. Also, in June 2010 the Russian International Olympic University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). By dint of this document, the University became an official operator of the “Sochi 2014 Excellence” Educational Programme, specially developed by IPC Academy experts for Sochi Games staff so as to maximize effective preparations for delivery of the 2014 Paralympic Games.
By now RIOU has already established relations with a number of leading sports institutes across the world and in Russia – for more information go to RIOU website.
From the foundation and in one year only more than 200 of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee’s employees have undergone training in more than 9 training programmes. On October 10, 2010 the University delivered a workshop for participants in the first European camp А Generation for Peace - youth leaders from 11 countries in Europe and Central Asia. The General Secretary of the International Ice Hockey Federation Horst Lichtner was a special guest.
In December 2010, a University module of training programmes on the theme of the Sochi Games, for regional sports leaders in all of Russia’s federal districts, got underway.
On February 2, 2011, Dmitry Chernyshenko, the President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, and Lev Belousov, the CEO of RIOU, signed a License Agreement on the transfer of the Olympic Games symbols to the University to be used on the territory of the Russian Federation.
On March 24-25, 2011 RIOU in liaison with the Russian Olympic Committee held a two day workshop for the leaders of the National Olympic Committees and Sports Ministers of CIS countries, Baltic States and East European countries.
On August 1, 2011, RIOU announced on its website launch of a landmark international course on Brand Building and Communications set to become one of the world’s leading Olympic-oriented education programmes for sports managers willing to enhance external communications of the organizations they represent with the target audiences: founders, sponsors, partners, fans, public communities and mass media. The team of renowned guest lecturers will include leading experts from Russia, and widely recognized sports journalist from the western world.
The first issue of a quarterly edition of the popular science magazine “RIOU Vestnik” was published in the end of August. Among the members of the Editorial Board there are also experts from the Organizing Committee. The magazine will promote the Olympic education and be the source of knowledge for those who are keen on sports industry. Besides the publications will be a good aid for educational and scientific projects run by the University.