Olympic Diploma of Merit Olympic Diploma of Merit The Olympic Diploma of Merit (not to be confused with the Olympic Diploma awarded to athletes) was an award given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to recognise outstanding services to sports or a notable contribution to the Olympic Games. By 1974, the last time the awards were granted, just 58 people had received the award. Pierre de Coubertin, the originator of the modern Olympic Games, created the honour during the Brussels Olympic Congress of 1905 for those who had made outstanding services to sports or to those who had a major contribution in promoting the
Colonialism and the Olympic Games made the connection between cultural appropriation and commodificaton, "arguing that it dishonoured the traditional functions of inuksuk and risked turning them into commodities that could be sold for tourist consumption." Though the 2010 Winter Olympic Games did consult with indigenous people more than in past Canadian Olympic Games, that collaboration does not seem to have extended to resolving outstanding land treaties nor addressing the marginalization of indigenous people in Canada. Circassian organisations have also spoken out against the 2014 Olympics, arguing that the Games will take place on land that had been inhabited by them since the beginning of recorded