Strategic Sports Event Management

The importance of the role of sports event management is reflected in these short declarations, taken by an athlete and judge from the home nation at the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games. The oaths themselves have developed over time and are indicative of the importance of flexible management. At the ancient Olympics, athletes swore that they had trained properly and that they would abide by the rules of the Games. The importance of the oath is reflected in the fact that the trainers, brothers and fathers of athletes would also make such declarations. In more recent times, the oaths have been changed to accommodate social trends and in order to protect the integrity of an event that is seen by many to be at the pinnacle of the sports event industry. In 1920, when the first modern Olympic oath was taken, a ‘spirit of chivalry’ rather than sportsmanship was required and, in 2000, at the Sydney Olympics, for the first time, a commitment to participation without doping and drugs was deemed a necessary addition and a reflection of the times.