IN PRAISE OF AMATEURISMBY DENIS OSWALD*

A new section entitled “Debate”will in future be used to discuss orexamine a topic of common inter-est. Denis Oswald opens proceed-ings with a tribute to amateurism,and Jacques Rogge replies with anapologia for professionalism.What is extraordinary is the factthat Denis Oswald and JacquesRogge are continuing by corre-spondence the debate started backin Budapest at the IOC Session.

For many people, the OlympicGames symbolize amateur sport. It istrue that for a long time Olympiccompetitions were strictly reservedfor amateurs and that certain IOC

leaders, such as Avery Brundage, hadno hesitation in barring from theGames athletes who were found guil-ty, or even suspected, of makingmoney from their sport. It is thereforeworth remembering that since the1981 Baden-Baden Congress, theOlympic Charter no longer containsreferences to amateurism. Indeed, theIOC acknowledged that the situationvaried so greatly from one sport tothe next that a single set of rules im-posing amateurism on every one ofthe Games‘ participants was no long-er appropriate. It therefore left it upto each International Federation todecide the conditions under whichathletes could take part in the Olym-pic competitions in its jurisdiction. Asa result, we now find highly profes-sional footballers, basketball players

and tennis players rubbing shoulderswith rowers, fencers, judokas andarchers who still play their sport asamateurs.Rowing has been on the OlympicsGames programme since the Gamesre-started in 1896, and it has re-mained one of the symbols of ama-teur sport.On reflection, this is slightly paradoxi-cal, because the origins of modernrowing are purely professional. InGreat Britain, where the sport wasborn, rowing a boat was for a longtime one of the best ways of gettingaround. In the 16th and 17th centu-ries, 40,000 boatmen were known toearn their living on the Thames. Thebest way for them to advertise, natu-rally, was to offer a fast service, withthe result that a spirit of competition

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IN PRAISE OFAMATEURISMgradually developed among them, tothe point where regattas were orga-nized in which everyone could showtheir skills and win prizes’ in kind.Later on, the young people of Eng-land, students in particular, set out tochallenge the professional boatmen,and thus rowing took root in the col-leges and universities, and in purelyamateur clubs.Before analysing the virtues and theweaknesses of amateurism as com-pared to professionalism, it is natural-ly useful to define these notions. Inmy opinion, it is not merely a ques-tion of money or of the time devotedto a sport. Indeed, the rules of ama-teurism do not exclude all financialcompensation. The InternationalRowing Federation’s rules, for in-stance, allow athletes to be reim-bursed for loss of earnings due totraining and taking part in competi-tions, as well as for expenses linkedto their activity. I therefore believe itis above all a question of spirit, ofmotivation and of interest.The term “amateur”, which is used ina fairly universal way in numerouslanguages, comes from the Latinverb “amare”, meaning “to love, tocultivate just for pleasure, to be con-tent”.When we talk about amateur or vol-untary activity in the field of sport, es-pecially at the level of administrationor coaching, we often speak of “vol-unteers” or, in French, “bénévoles”,words in which you can feel the Latinorigin expressing will. German iseven more precise in this respect, sin-ce its term is “freiwillig”, in which thenotion of freedom (frei) is added tothat of will (willig). We can thus con-clude that amateurism characterizes,above all, an activity that you engagein freely, on the basis of a personalchoice, because you love it and be-cause you find pleasure in it. It is pre-cisely here that, in my opinion, ama-teurism’s richness lies.This is not to claim that you cannottake pleasure in carrying out a profes-sional activity. If that were the case,moreover, it would be really sad,since most people have no choice but

to carry out some activity at a profes-sional level to earn their livelihood.Yet we find certain ethical and peda-gogic values in amateurism that wedo not come across in professionalactivity.Two great principles dominate all am-ateur activity: freedom and indepen-dence.Amateurs are as free to put an end totheir activity as they were to take itup. They have no boss; they are their

shared. Indeed, in the amateur thesearch for material advantage is total-ly lacking. Amateurism is the king-dom of freely-given effort that youimpose on yourself because it is per-sonally gratifying, because it allowsyou to exploit your skills ever better,to push back your own limits, to sur-pass yourself and to know yourselfbetter. In rowing, for example, therowers struggle more against them-selves than against their opponents.

own masters. No contract requiresthem to produce certain results or tocarry out their activity for a specifiedtime. What they do, they do not forsomeone else but for themselves, forthe enrichment it brings to their per-sonality and for the moral satisfactionit gives them. Economics has showntime and again the difference be-tween people who work for them-selves and people who work forsomeone else. To some extent, ama-teurism is the free enterprise of sport.The amateur’s motivation is also verydifferent from that of the professional,even though many elements are

This generates a very good relation-ship among competitors.There is no need to demonstrate thepedagogic value of effort and contri-butions made with no idea of materialrecompense, and it is important thatthere continue to be people in oursociety who are ready to get involvedin all kinds of areas voluntarily andwithout seeking material advantage.Thus we find many amateur sports-men, including many rowers, in re-sponsible posts and offices, workingfor the good of all, in numerous com-munities. This is also certainly one ofthe reasons why, very often, amateur

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sportsmen, at the end of their career,are prepared to hold office in clubsand in national and international fed-erations, in order to allow the nextgeneration to enjoy the same experi-ences as them and to build a careeras amateur sportsmen. In a sport likerowing, all administrative offices areheld by former rowers, often top-notch ones. Not only do they holdthem voluntarily but they are also of-ten ready personally to meet part of

less in the truly amateur sports,where material reward is absent, thanelsewhere. It is easy to understandhow much greater the temptation tocheat may be for an athlete who canmake a great deal of money out of agold medal than for an amateur whois only seeking the personal satisfac-tion of victory. If this victory is wonbadly, it will have no value for theamateur. Similarly, for the amateurathlete, the sporting ethos takes prec-

the expenses they incur, for example inattending competitions and meetings.Because amateur sportsmen carry outtheir activity on behalf of themselves,they pursue quality. They want toachieve something of which they canbe proud, for whereas you can leavethe employer for whom you play orrun, or the club that employs you,you cannot leave yourself: you haveto live with your actions, your behavi-our and your past until the end ofyour days.This is without doubt one of the rea-sons why cheating, and one of itsmost hateful forms, doping, occurs

edence over any other consideration.All of these factors help to create achivalrous spirit in which respect forothers and friendship take pride ofplace.It is important to point out that ama-teurism is not a barrier to achievingthe highest performances. In rowing,for instance, amateurs are clearly thebest rowers, insofar as no profession-al organization exists. But even in ab-solute terms, they figure among theathletes who are most demanding ofthemselves and who have the greatestphysical capabilities. They have nohesitation in devoting around four

hours a day to their training and, interms of physiological performance,they rival the best professional sports-men in any sport whatsoever.In the public mind, too, the amateurhas a different image from the profes-sional, because ordinary citizens canfar more easily see themselves in theamateur than in the professional. Theamateur’s performance is closer tothem and hence more motivating.They can more easily identify withamateurs because they belong to thesame world; perhaps they do amateursports themselves.Rowing has always been an amateursport in which the individual takesfirst place. Its pedagogic role has in-spired its administrators from thestart. The International Rowing Feder-ation has always upheld the values ofamateurism and the philosophy thatfollows from it.Everyone in life sets their own prior-ities and acts in accordance with theirown motives and convictions. I havethe feeling that, in our days, a greatmany people still attach importanceto the values inherent in amateurism,even though these are tending to getlost, or perhaps because they aretending to get lost. It is therefore im-portant that, in a multicultural societysuch as ours, the vast choice of sport-ing activities offered to the publicshould at least include the option of apurely amateur sport and its ethicalvalues. Rowing would like to be thatoption for as long as it meets a de-mand.Finally, no one has ever been forcedto choose an amateur sport, andthose who take this path must reallyfind satisfaction there, because theycontinue on it. For them, moral satis-faction is worth more than materialadvantage .Rowing is thus a purelyamateur sport. It is proud to be andto offer this option to all those whobelieve that this path offers them thebest chance of building their charac-ter and achieving fulfilment.

* Member of the International Olym-pic Committee and President of FISA,the International Rowing Federation.

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