By Rui Jin, PhD student

Growing up in China, I saw the Olympic Games as extraordinary. Watching athletes compete, I admired their discipline, determination and pursuit of excellence. I imagined that entering the Olympic world meant becoming an athlete. Years later, I arrived in Olympia by a different route: as a doctoral researcher at the University of the West of Scotland, attending the 33rd International Seminar on Olympic Studies at the International Olympic Academy (IOA) in Athens. I had come not to compete, but to explore what the Olympics might mean for education.