The term "Olympism" was first used by the Olympic pioneer Pierre DE Coubertin, but he never directly defined the term he had coined. Coubertin expressed it at different times and on different occasions, calling it "the powerful factor for the maintenance of world peace "(1896)," the strong body culture "(1908)," a doctrine founded on a philosophical and religious theory "(1929)," a school of noble purity, endurance and physical strength "(1931), etc. In addition, he called Olympism "a state of mind," "a creed," "the object of youth worship," and" based on the worship of struggle, the contempt of danger, the love of one's country, generosity, chivalry, knowledge of art and literature." 

  In practice, people often mixed Olympism with other similar but different terms, such as Olympic ideal, Olympic spirit and so on. People had different interpretations of Olympism. In 1974, the Romanian member of the international Olympic committee Sipoko proposed to give a clear definition of "Olympism" and incorporate it into the Olympic charter.

  After 10 years of debate, the term "Olympic spirit" has finally appeared in the Olympic charter, which came into effect on June 16, 1991. It was the first time that Olympism was endowed with a formal definition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC): Olympism is the body, mind and spirit of a balanced combination of a philosophy of life and make it improved. It combines sport with culture and education, and the path that Olympism seeks in life is based on the joy of the struggle, the educational value of good examples, and respect for the fundamental principles of general ethics.

  The central idea of Olympism : 1. The harmonious development of human beings. 2. Olympism emphasizes that the key to harmonious human development is the improvement of lifestyle. 3. Olympism regards sports as a way to realize the harmonious development of human beings. 4. In order to achieve the harmonious development of people, sports must be combined with education and culture. 5. Olympism emphasizes the role of Olympic athletes as role models.