Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-07-Speech-4-032"
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"en.20000907.1.4-032"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, sport is, of course, being discussed by a wide range of people and social groups right now, as the Olympic Games begin in Sydney. The reports we have before us also provide a basis for debate. The question that inevitably comes to mind is this: what has happened to the idealistic image of sport which is still being portrayed? It is all too easy to be complacent and attribute a very important social and unifying role to sport, where fair play is held up as a model for our interaction with each other, be it at work, in politics or whatever.
However, both reports show very clearly that sport has become a powerful and extremely tough economic force, and sportsmen and women are its tools. They are programmed to achieve peak performances on particular days and during particular weeks, with ever shorter gaps in between, and they have to function like machines. In order to overcome human weaknesses, which cannot always be calculated, and to achieve perfect functioning, people resort to doping substances, and it is now becoming harder and harder to detect their use.
In this way, young sportsmen and women cause damage to themselves, to their health, to their personal development and, last but not least, to sport as an ideal. Top sportsmen and women are a role model for thousands of young people and thus have a very strong impact on popular sport, which, as I see it, is the level of sport that most needs to be encouraged. A sense of fair play and social interaction are still easy to find at this level. But bad examples such as violent incidents, doping scandals, million-dollar contracts and bankruptcies are also destructive at this level.
We need to create legal bases to stem these negative trends. I welcome the fact that the WADA is now active, and that it is there to combat the worldwide problem of doping. Measures are needed against violence and racism in sport, in order to guarantee that sportsmen and women and sports fans are protected against rampaging hordes of hooligans and racists. There is also scope for top sportsmen and women to do more on their part and to make it clearer than they have until now that they want nothing to do with ‘fans’ like these.
It should be our job to give sport a new role in a changed society, with new and modern technical and medical facilities, and in this way to preserve its values. I believe that a European Year of Sport could stimulate this debate and make a substantial contribution here."@en1
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