A comparative study of the results of Arab athletes in athletics in the Olympic Games Sydney in 2000 AD and the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 AD

Nidhal Hashim Ghafil Al-Attwani^1* and Salima Abdullah Alwan^2
*Correspondence: Nidhal Hashim Ghafil Al-Attwani, Ibn Rushd College of Education/Humanities, University of Baghdad, Iraq, Email:

Keywords

Arab athletes. Olympic games. Sydney.

Introduction

The Olympic Games or Olympiads are the largest international sporting event, as the Olympic Games take place every four years (Veal et al., 2012). And different countries of both sexes participate in them. The Olympic Games are global friendship and peaceful cooperation, and the athletes repeat during the opening field of any Olympic tournament the Olympic oath, which is an oath that we are accepted as honorable perseveres (Chalkley & Essex, 1999). So, we seek to participate in it with magnanimity for the honor of our country and respect for its laws and for the glory of sports (Al-Mansha, 2007). The merit of the emergence of the Olympic Games goes back to the French Baron (Birdie Coubertin) when he put forward his idea for an international sports conference that was held in the amphitheater of the Syrian University in 1894 AD, by establishing an Olympic tournament that brings together world champions and athletes to compete with each other (Brownell, 2008). The founding states of the sessions have agreed to entrust the organization of the first Olympic Games to Greece two years after this conference (Tomlinson & Young, 2006).

History is like a memory for the individual and society, documenting the societies’ past and their experiences in their present path, and the influence of the past in making their present and the stability of their future (Alwan, 2022). Therefore, history has been receiving great attention from men of thought, science, politics, and society in all ages, ancient and modern. History, in the eyes of researchers, is issues and solutions. In the past a solution that can become a causative factor in the future (Kavetsos & Szymanski, 2010).

Therefore, the importance of the research was in the ability to find a comparative study of the results of Arab athletes in athletics in the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 (Alwan, 2022). As for the problem of research, the researcher looked at the sources and historical research, and the researcher found that there is no documentation of the participation and results of Arab athletes. Within these athletics courses (Mohammed, 2018).

Documenting the participation and results of athletes can be an important source in the future for researchers to refer to. As for the objectives of the research, they are to identify the sporting events of athletics in which Arab athletes participated in the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 (Abdul-Amir, 2013). And to identify the sporting events of athletics in which Arab athletes participated in the Olympics Athens in 2004 (Younes & Amin, 2020). Knowing the results of Arab athletes in athletics at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 (Taresh & Alwan, 2022). Also knowing the results of Arab athletes in athletics in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. Comparing the results of Arab athletes in the two Olympic Games (Sydney and Athens) and conducting a solid scientific analysis of the progress reached by the athletes. For the records in the Sydney Games compared to the level of progress achieved by the athletes in the Athens Games. Table 1 shows the participation of Arab countries in the Olympic Games (Table 1).

Methodology

The researcher used the historical method to suit the nature of the study problem, while the research sample included the Arab Olympic athletes in two Olympic Games Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, participants in various activities of athletics. The researcher used Arab and foreign sources for European figures and personal interviews. and the international Internet. As for the steps of the research progress, where the researcher worked hard to collect the results of Arab athletes in two sessions and studied each session separately and the athletes participating in it and their results and analyzed these results and then made a comparison between the results of the two sessions with determining which of the two sessions is more advanced in the results and give a scientific analysis.

Results and Discussions

Presentation of the results of the Sydney session in 2000 With the dawn of the twenty-first century and the third millennium, Australia dazzled the world with the opening ceremony of the twenty-seventh Olympic Games in Madam in mid-September of the year 2000 with the rumbling participation of 11 thousand male and female athletes from specifically 199 countries, including all Arab countries without exception. The opening ceremony, as well as the closing ceremony, included spectacular, folkloric and artistic paragraphs of great magnificence and beauty. Iraq participated with a small delegation consisting of four members. For the first time, the Iraqi girl participated in the Olympic Games, and this honor was for the runner Issa Hussein and the swimmer Noura Basil (Mohamme, & Kzar, 2021).

It is difficult to describe the capabilities that Australia used to make this session a success, the equipment it prepared, the facilities it built, and the facilities it provided in order to appear with this wonderful and high level of organization and mastery. And the reliable references and interviews that the researcher found were able to put the participation of the athletes in this session who achieved advanced positions and medals within the first three positions (Mohammed, 2018).

Athens’s Session Results in 2004

On July 13, 2004, the wonderful opening ceremony began in Athens. The world witnessed that this great event returned to its cradle and to the arms of its motherland in Athens, which witnessed in 776 BC the establishment of the ancient Olympic Games (Heater, 2003). and the revival of the modern Olympic Games in 2004 (Apostolopoulou et al., 2010). In Athens, the meanings of morality were manifested. Virtue, olive branches, peace, and lofty Olympic ideas. The celebrations returned to the motherland after an absence of 108 years, and after 16 days of excitement and fun. After the closing ceremony was full of joy and happiness, the Greeks witnessed happiness for their success in organizing these Olympiads, after doubts hovered about their ability to organize the Olympics and the distinction of the ceremony. The closing is in its traditional folk style, as it is followed by arbitration panels and digitals, with Nani singing paragraphs, while fireworks exploded in the sky of the Olympic stadium. It was one of the most beautiful and sweet closing ceremonies in the history of the Olympic Games. It was like a dream, and thus the Olympic dream ended in Athens.

We can put these results for the two periods in a linear curve called (the historical development curve), as shown in figure 1 (Figure 1). In terms of looking at this historical linear curve for the two sessions, the researcher decided to place the participants in the form of a continuous line. As for the activities in which there were no participants, she placed them intermittently. Arab athletes outperformed the results and participations achieved by Arab athletes in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, so there was an effective participation of Arab athletes in the Sydney Games in the activities of 400m, 800m, 1500m, 400m, hurdles, 3000m, 5000m, and the triple commandment while the participation and results achieved The Arab athletes in the Athens tournament are very few and not at the required level, as the events in which they achieved results are 8000m, 5000m, and 10000m, and the results were for the players from the West Maghreb country, as it is a poor participation compared to the Sydney tournament, and thus the researcher believes that the results of the Sydney tournament for Arab athletes are The best comparison with the Athens tournament, and this researcher knows this progress in the Sydney tournament due to the participation of the largest number of Arab countries and the various events of athletics as a result The high technical and sports level that qualifies them to participate in such courses at the Arab level, in addition to that, the economic situation of the countries was in the best condition during that period.

As well as the presence of the administrative and training staff of the sports teams with good scientific experience, as well as the participation in the free card (a player and a player) granted by the International Olympic Committee to countries that did not achieve the qualifying numbers set by them, as the experience does not come only from training, but from participation Formal and friction with competitors owners of high levels.

The achievement of every achievement in the sports field is linked to a set of requirements and conditions that must be clear to those who are based on the training process and in the field of planning to obtain the achievement High-level athletes (Khaled, 2010). Among the reasons that led to the failure in the results and participation of Arab athletes in this session, and through the interviews conducted by the researcher, she found that as a result of the successive discovery of doping cases, the number exceeded more than 12 athletes, male and female athletes, and this is one of the important and serious reasons that athletes were exposed to, which led to Keeping them away from participation, and thus the feedback was also negative results on this course. She also attributes the reason for the poor level due to the political, economic, technical and administrative conditions that some countries are going through, including Iraq after the Gulf War, which led to the deterioration of the infrastructure and the weakness of the economy. This had a negative impact on Arab sports.

Conclusions

The level of achievements and records of the Arab champions in the Sydney Games in 2000 were higher than the achievements and records of the Arab champions in the Athens Games in 2004. The number of medals won by Arab athletes in the Sydney Games is more than the number of medals won by the Arabs in the Athens Games and the participation of the largest number Of the Arab athletes in the Sydney tournament compared to the number of Arab athletes in the Athens tournament and the level of physical preparation and skills of the Arab athletes in the Sydney tournament advanced in all aspects of physical – psychological-social-quality of nutrition compared to the level of preparation of athletes in the Athens tournament and the presence of qualified trainers with good scientific training experience And their ability to prepare the players at the required level, and this is what happened in the Sydney tournament compared to the Athens tournament. As for the recommendations, the recommendations were to develop the infrastructure of stadiums to represent such courses and provide the necessary equipment and tools for the athletes for training and prepare a special training plan to prepare for such Olympic sessions and reach the required level and hold courses A special training course for trainers with a solid scientific curriculum led by an international training staff with good scientific experience and support They are morally and financially motivated in order to raise the level of the athlete and set a special diet for the athletes during the training period and the participation of the athletes in the training camps residing in the course or the neighboring countries in order for the player to know the nature of the stadiums and the weather conditions so that he is ready to represent these courses and conduct continuous periodic checks for the players to ensure their safety and conduct Similar research was conducted on other sports in order to compare the decline or improvement in the results of the athletes.

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