Olympic Study Day 2025 in Münster attracts many (international) attendees
The Olympic Study Day 2025 at the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Münster, organized by the Willibald Gebhardt Institute in cooperation with the Department of Education and Culture in Sport, was very well received. Over 100 participants attended in person or online to listen intently to the two speakers’ fascinating presentations on the topic of “Asian Perspectives on the Olympic Movement.” Representatives of the German Olympic Academy (DOA) also joined the event. The event also attracted interest from representatives of the Olympic Study Center at the IOC in Lausanne.
After an introduction by WGI Vice President Michael Krüger, guest speaker Prof. Dr. Andreas Niehaus from the University of Ghent (Belgium), Professor of Asian Culture and History, explained how diverse and differentiated Asia is as a continent. According to Niehaus, Asia as a concept is also a social construct of Europe. The approaches of countries and nations such as Japan, Korea, and China to Olympic sports are correspondingly diverse. These three countries, or rather their major cities, have already hosted the Olympic Games: first Japan in 1964, then Seoul in 1988, and Beijing in 2008. Due to the coronavirus crisis, Tokyo made an extraordinary effort to host the Summer Games again in 2021.
India is now poised to bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics with the metropolis of Ahmedabad. This was reported by Cand. phil. and Visiting Fellow Yoonky Song, who represented the Willibald Gebhardt Institute at the Olympic Congress in Ahmedabad in January 2025. Ahmedabad, a city of six million people, is located in western India in the state of Gujarat, the home of Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary founder and fighter for India’s independence. At the congress, Yoonkyu Song spoke about Germany’s and Munich’s experiences with the 1972 Games and Seoul’s experiences with the 1988 Games. For both cities in Europe and Asia, the Olympic Games in their respective countries marked the dawn of a modern society of the future. India, as an emerging nation of growing economic, cultural, and geopolitical importance, also hopes to achieve this by hosting the 2036 or 2040 Games.