2011 AVRUPA GENÇLİK OLİMPİYATLARI GÖNÜLLÜLERİNİN OLİMPİYAT ALGILARININ METAFOR YOLUYLA ÖĞRENİLMESİ

This research stemmed from the need to determine the volunteers’ points of view on the Olympics before Trabzon 2011 European Youth Olympics. The overall objective of the study was to explore the perceptions of volunteers who participated in the Olympic Games, by studying the metaphors they used. 480 participants randomly selected among volunteers of the European Youth Olympics held in Trabzon in 2011 took part in this study. Metaphors, used in relation to the concept of Olympics, were examined with content analysis method, metaphors’ frequencies were specified and the categories were created. In this context, the analysis and interpretation of the metaphors was carried out in four phases: determination of the metaphors, classification of the metaphors, development of categories, ensuring the reliability and validity. Volunteers in this study used 131 metaphors for the concept of Olympics. In this study, following Olympic categories were established: the Olympics as an interaction, the Olympics as communication, the Olympics as an organization, the Olympics as informative and educational, the Olympics as periodic or continuous events, the Olympics as harmony, the Olympics as reflective and the Olympics as a guide. Key words: The Olympics, Metaphor, Perception