A different dimension in the Modern Olympic Games: The marriage of sport and art

The association of art and sports dates back to the ancient Olympic Games. Athletes, philosophers, scholars, poets, musicians, sculptors, and high- profile leaders displayed their talents in the ancient games. Also in these games, Trumpeters announced the winners, sculptors crafted statues of the victors, victory chants were composed, and historians once again announced their various works to the public here. In the establishment of the Modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, who consistently imitated ancient times and complained about athletes' inability to form a proper sentence, has emphasized the development of the "spirit.'' one of the three fundamental elements of Olympism, since the early days. This emphasis aims to encourage athletes to transcend mere athleticism and embrace the concept of art in order to foster the growth of the Olympic spirit. It was impossible for Coubertin to not to emphasize the concept of art because his ancestors and the members of the family in which he was born were also artists. Moreover, the role of art in education could not be denied. In this context, went beyond the idea of art merely embellishing and supporting sports; he worked towards the inclusion of Olympic Art Competitions in the Modern Olympic Games and successfully achieved this. The winners of these competitions were rewarded with Olympic Medal just like athletes. Because of the various issues, mainly the violation of the amateurism principle, this process came to an end with the 1948 London Olympic Art Competitions and was replaced by Olympic Art Exhibitions. The aim of this study is to present the history of the Olympic Art Competitions chronologically. Therefore, readers will comprehensively observe the Olympic Art Competitions, which occurred seven times over 36 years, in various chronological stages, including formation, initiation, process, conclusion, and post-conclusion phases.