Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (born January 1, 1863 – died September 2, 1937) was a French pedagogue and historian best known for being founder of the modern Olympic Games. He was a founding member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving as its president from 1896 to 1925. He was then succeeded by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour. Then in 1936, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. De Coubertin remained Honorary President of the IOC untill a fatal stroke in 1937.
Biography
Early life
Pierre de Coubertin was born in Paris, France, into an aristocratic family. He was the third child of Charles Louis de Frédy and Agathe-Gabrielle de Mirville. He spent many of his summers in the family Château de Mirville, near Le Havre in Normandy, where his family was originally from. His father and mother, an artist and a musician, tried to raise their children in noble spirit, and had entrusted in young Pierre the importance of education.
De Coubertin refused the military or political career that was planned for him by his family. Instead he involved himself with the question of education, making a determination to revive French educational system. He believed that education was the key to the future of society.
Educator
De Coubertin was an active sportsman. He practiced several different sports, including boxing, fencing, horse-riding, rugby, and rowing. He believed that sport was essential for the development of human character, and that through sportsmanship one develops one’s moral energy. He thus saw sport as an important part of the personal development of young people and regarded it as a consistent part of general educational strategy for France.
De Coubertin was inspired by his visits to German, British and American colleges and universities, where he witnessed physical education as a constituent part of school activities. He became particularly fond of rugby and was the referee of the first ever French championship rugby union final on March 20, 1892 between Racing Club de France and Stade Français.
His attempts to introduce the educational reforms and get France more interested in physical education and sport were met with little enthusiasm. He, however continued to work on his goal, and in 1890 founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). He never achieved any greater success in educational reforms.
Birth of the idea of Olympics
De Coubertin envisioned an international competition to promote athletics. A growing interest in the ancient Olympics, fed by recent archaeological finds at Olympia, gave birth to a plan to revive the ancient Olympic Games. At a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris in 1892, Coubertin openly declared his plan:
- ”Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realize, upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games”[1]
His plan at first inspired little enthusiasm, since de Coubertin was not the first who proposed such idea. Before him, philanthropists Evangelis Zappas in 1859 and William Penny Brookes in 1860, tried to organize something that looked like Olympics. They however failed to propagate their ideas and it has never evoked greater interest. De Coubertin was however the first one who had connections and who was persistent enough to follow his plan through and raise it to international level.
Beginning of the Olympics
Despite initial skepticism, de Coubertin managed to assemble 79 delegates from 9 countries to attend the international congress, held on June 23, 1894, at the Sorbonne University in Paris. The congress had a goal of the re-establishment of the ancient Olympic Games. Among the others, the attendees were from Belgium, Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.
The congress led to the establishing of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), of which De Coubertin became the general secretary, with the task to organize the games. It was also decided that the first modern Olympics would take place in Athens, Greece and that they would be held every four years. Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was selected to be IOC’s first president. The 1896 Olympic Games proved a success, and De Coubertin took over the IOC presidency when Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics.
De Coubertin believed that through Olympic Games can be promoted world peace. He said:
- "Peace could be the product only of a better world; a better world could be brought about only by better individuals; and better individuals could be developed only by the give and take, the buffering and battering, the stress and strain of free competition." [2]
Struggle
Despite the initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Olympics in Paris and 1904 Games in St. Louis, were both swallowed by World's Fairs, and received little attention. Besides, political intrigues, like when the U.S. team refused to lower the Star and Stripes before the King of England, confirmed the fears of de Coubertin that the spirit of the Games would became tainted by nationalism.
This changed for the better after the 1906 Summer Olympics, and the Olympic Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Olympics.
During the World War I, de Coubertin became disillusioned in the possibility of world peace, as he saw young people dieing in the trenches. He even applied, at the age of 53, to serve in the French Army, but was declined. After the war de Coubertin and his family, wife and two children, moved to their new villa, Mon Ropes in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Later life
De Coubertin subsequently stepped down from his IOC presidency after the 1924 Olympics in Paris, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in that city in 1900. He was succeeded as president by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.
In 1936, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but did not receive it.
De Coubertin remained Honorary President of the IOC until he died of a stroke in 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was buried in Lausanne (the seat of the IOC), although his heart was buried separately in a monument near the ruins of ancient Olympia.
Legacy
Pierre de Coubertin is considered the father of modern Olympic Games. He designed the symbol of the Olympics - the five interlocking rings. He also made up the Olympic Charter and Protocol, including the procedures for the opening and closing ceremonies which are still used today. In addition, he wrote the athlete's oath.
The Pierre de Coubertin medal (also known as the De Coubertin medal or the True Spirit of Sportsmanship medal) is an award given by the International Olympic Committee to those athletes that demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship in the Olympic Games. The Pierre de Coubertin medal is considered by many athletes and spectators to be the highest award that an Olympic athlete can receive, even greater than a gold medal. The International Olympic Committee considers it as its highest honor.
Publications
- Coubertin, Pierre de. 1970. The Olympic idea. Discourses and essays. Lausanne: Editions internationales Olympic.
- Coubertin, Pierre de. 1979. Olympic memoirs. Lausanne: International Olympic Committee
- Coubertin, Pierre de. 2000. Olympism: Selected writings. Lausanne: International Olympic Committee. ISBN 9291490660
- Coubertin, Pierre de, & Isabel Florence Hapgood. 1897. The evolution of France under the third republic. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- A History of the Olympics. On About.com. Retrieved on June 15, 2007, <http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000a.htm>
- Callebat, Louis. Pierre de Coubertin. Fayard. ISBN 221302149X
- Capture the Olympic Spirit: Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Retrieved on June 15, 2007, <http://www.edgate.com/copernedit/html/summergames/inactive/olympic_spirit/baron_pierre.html>
- Kristy, Davida. 1995. Coubertin's Olympics: how the games began. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co. ISBN 0822533278
- Lombardo, Antonio. 2000. Pierre de Coubertin: Saggio storico sulle Olimpiadi moderne, 1880-1914. RAI ERI. ISBN 883971104X
- MacAloon, John. 1984. This Great Symbol: Pierre De Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226500012
- Müller, Norbert, & Otto Schantz. 1991. Bibliographie Pierre de Coubertin = Bibliography Pierre de Coubertin = Bibliografía Pierre de Coubertin. Lausanne: Comité international Pierre de Coubertin. ISBN 3885003287
- Pierre de Coubertin: A life dedicated to the revival of the Olympic Games. On http://www.olympic.org. Retrieved on June 15, 2007, <http://www.olympic.org/uk/passion/museum/permanent/coubertin/index_uk.asp>
External links
- The International Pierre De Coubertin Committee (CIPC) – Website of the committee in Lausanne, Switzerland
- Olympics before Pierre de Coubertin – On the history of Olympic Games
- Pierre de Coubertin – Biography on BookRags.com
- Pierre de Coubertin – Biography on Olympic.org
- Pierre de Coubertin – Biography on Spartacus Schoolnet
- Pierre de Coubertin and his Relation to the Catholic Church – From W. Schwank & A. Koch (ed.): Begegnung. Schriftenreihe zur Geschichte der Beziehung zwischen Christentum und Sport (2005)
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
