Pierre deCoubertin

Pierre Fredy de Coubertin, Baron de Coubertin (Paris, France, January 1, 1863-Geneva, Switzerland, September 2, 1937), was a French educator and historian, founder of the Modern Olympic Games and Modern Pentathlon.

Biography

Early Years

His father, Baron Carlos Luis de Coubertin, wanted him to be in the military, but his sensitive temperament clashed with the harsh discipline of the Saint-Cyr Military Special School. He decided to dedicate himself to pedagogy, where he felt fulfilled by his ideals. He moved to England to perfect his studies, where he knows the "unique" doctrine of muscular Christianity: the search for spiritual perfection through sport and hygiene. He is one of the most prominent followers of this ideology.

He began to spread these methods throughout France: He created athletic societies in the institutes that were associated with the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques. He founded the first magazine dedicated to sport: the Revue Athlétique , getting the French government to agree to include it in its programs for the Universal Exposition of 1889.

The Minister of Education sends him to the United States to continue his research on teaching methods. The sport began to be taken seriously. From being practiced by minorities or in schools, it becomes fashionable and arouses enthusiasm.

Founder of the Olympic Movement

Pierre begins to dream of uniting athletes from all over the world in an extraordinary competition, under the sign of union and brotherhood, without profit and only for the desire to achieve glory, compete to compete, as Says Ethelbert Talbot's phrase "The important thing is not to win, but to participate", a phrase misattributed to Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin's idea seemed insane and met with much incomprehension.

Trying to convince everyone, he traveled the world speaking of peace, understanding between men and union, mixing everything with the word Sports. Finally, in the last session of the International Congress of Physical Education that was held at the Sorbonne in Paris, on June 26, 1894, it was decided to establish the Olympic Games.

In England, this idea is not well received and public opinion decides to stay out of it. Germany reacted by trying to boycott the games. Greece is opposed, and its head of government, Tricoupis, wanted to prevent it from being carried out, since that mess was very expensive for his country.

Coubertin got the Crown Prince of Greece, the Duke of Sparta, to intercede with Kaiser William, Emperor of Germany, his brother-in-law, convincing the English and his own government. The prince gets a series of commemorative stamps issued to raise the money for the games. He also creates a public subscription with such good results that he gets Jorge Averof, a Greek millionaire who immigrated to Alexandria at a very young age, to bear the cost of rebuilding the Athens stadium.

On March 24, 1896, Easter Day, the Duke of Sparta, after a speech, unveiled the statue of patron Jorge Averof. King George of Greece utters the ritual words for the first time: "I declare open the First International Olympic Games in Athens." This modest beginning would be the origin of the modern Olympic movement.

President of the International Olympic Committee

Coubertin took over the IOC presidency when Demetrius Vikelas resigned after the Olympic Games in Athens. Despite initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 and 1904 Games were absorbed into the World's Fairs in the same cities and received little attention.

The 1906 Intercalated Games revived momentum and the Olympic Games have become the world's greatest sporting competition. Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Olympic Games, subsequently resigning his IOC presidency after the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. He was succeeded as president, in 1925, by the Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.

One aspect of his tenure that has caused controversy is that he was against female participation in sporting events. Coubertin argued that female participation in sports was unsightly, impractical, uninteresting, and incorrect. Furthermore, Coubertin once said that "Women have only one job in sport: to crown champions with garlands".

Scouting

In 1911, Pierre de Coubertin founded the scouting organization Éclaireurs Français (EF), which later merged to form Éclaireuses et Éclaireurs de France.

Personal Life

In 1895, Coubertin married Marie Rothan (1861-1963), the daughter of family friends. His son Jacques (1896-1952) fell ill after spending too much time in the sun when he was a small child. His daughter Renée (1902-1968) suffered emotional disturbances and never married. Marie and Pierre tried to console themselves with two nephews, but they were killed on the front lines in World War I. Coubertin died of a heart attack in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 2, 1937, and was buried in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery in Lausanne.

Legacy

The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger) was proposed by Coubertin in 1894 and has been official since 1924. The motto was coined by Henri Didon, a friend of Coubertin, for a meeting of young people.

The Pierre de Coubertin medal is an award given by the International Olympic Committee to those athletes who demonstrate sportsmanship at the Olympic Games. This medal is considered by many athletes and spectators as the highest award an Olympian can receive, even higher than a gold medal. The International Olympic Committee considers it their highest honor.

A minor planet, 2190 Coubertin, was discovered in 1976 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh and is named in his honor.

The street where Montreal's Olympic Stadium (which hosted the 1976 Olympic Games) is located was named after Pierre de Coubertin, giving the stadium the address 4549 Pierre de Coubertin Avenue. It is the only Olympic Stadium in the world to be located on a street named after Coubertin. There are also 2 schools in Montreal named after Pierre de Coubertin.