| （1.Department of Physical Education，Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics，Nanjing 210016，China；2.Department of Physical Education，Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology，Beijing 102617，China） Abstract: Basing their theoretical foundation on the principle of historical materialism of Marx, the authors ana-lyzed the causes for the decline of ancient Greek Olympic Games and potential crises in the modern Olympic movement from the perspective of polity, economy and culture. The causes for the decline of ancient Greek Olym-pic Games include defects in the polis political system, instability of agricultural economy, and disappearance of competitive spirit. Problems occurred in the modern Olympic movement include over politicization of sport, two extremes in economic development, increased difference between the rich and the poor, and negligence of ethical standard and competitive spirit of athletes. The authors derived the following enlightenment from comparing the an-cient and modern Olympic movement: narrow economic difference; increase investment; perfect systems; strengthen policy execution; boost the return of humanistic spirit.
Key words: ancient Olympic Games；modern Olympic Games；Olympic development |
