Olympics and Olympism

PROFILE AND PERCEPTION ABOUT THE USE OF ELECTRONIC GAMES FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS: RELATIONS WITH PHYSICAL EDUCATION
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Abstract
In the present times of Information and Communication Technologies it is possible that the school might be a suitable place for the enlightened and creative appropriation of Electronic Games. The objective of this research was to identify the profile of the use of Information and Communication Technologies for elementary school students and the relation between the values perceived by these students in the practice of Electronic Games with the values developed in the Physical Education classes. A questionnaire validated by two physical education teachers with doctorate and two specialists in Informatics area was applied to 348 students. The results showed the insertion of Information and Communication Technologies use in the culture of the students, and the values perceived by these students in the practice of Electronic Games were related with the values of sport developed in the practice of Physical Education. The results seem to suggest a possibility of developing sport values integrating the practice of physical education with Electronic Games that are part of these students’ culture.
Keywords: New technologies for teaching; Electronic games; Physical education; Values; Human development.

This text aimed at examining the relations between the Student Paralympics and the Olympism in the academic and scientific publications written in Portuguese - Student Paralympics is a Brazilian sport event in which children and young people participate; it relates to Olympism as long as it connects culture and education ideals, acknowledging sport as a life philosophy. In order to discuss the study object, there was a search in national periodicals, the databases Scielo, Lilacs, Medline and Scopus, and the Periodical Portal of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (Coordination for the Development of Higher Education Personnel), using clippings until 2019. The search still occurred in the annals of academic and scientific events organized by the Brazilian Paralympic Committee. “Student Paralympics” and “Student Paraolympics” were the descriptors used for the search. We organized the studies into categories through thematic content analysis. The papers showed relations between the Student Paralympics and the Olympism, identified in publications that placed values on this paralympic event, such as respect to human diversity, cooperation, socialization, determination, cultural exchange, peace, among others. Programs, projects, and actions of the Brazilian student paralympic sport became categories that provoked the discussions about the investigated object, bearing in mind the existence of interrelations in the different initiatives of sport for students with disabilities in Brazil, considering its historical and compositional process in the federal, state and city ambits. The results validated sport as a cultural asset and a right to everyone, as a potential element for transformation and social inclusion in terms of people with disabilities. Moreover, the consulted references presented the scenario of the Brazilian student paralympic sport as a potential opportunity to renew the paralympic athletes in the country. That way, this study concludes that the relations established with the study object assemble ideals of education, personal training, and high performance in the paralympic sport.

This is the final manuscript version of the essay published as:
Gold, J.R. and Gold, M.M. (2017) ‘Olympic futures and urban imaginings: from Albertopolis to Olympicopolis’, in J. Hannigan and G. Richards, eds., The Handbook of New Urban Studies, London: Sage, 514-34.

In May 2011, more than a decade after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) abandoned sex
testing, they devised new policies in response to the IAAF’s treatment of Caster Semenya, the South African runner whose sex was challenged because of her spectacular
win and powerful physique that fueled an international frenzy questioning her sex and legitimacy to compete as female. These policies claim that atypically high levels
of endogenous testosterone in women (caused by various medical conditions) create an unfair advantage and must be regulated. Against the backdrop of Semenya’s
case and the scientific and historical complexity of “gender verification” in elite sports, we question the new policies on three grounds: (1) the underlying scientific
assumptions; (2) the policymaking process; and (3) the potential to achieve fairness for female athletes.We find the policies in each of these domains significantly flawed
and therefore argue they should be withdrawn.