Editing Pierre de Coubertin

{{short description|French educator and historian (1863–1937)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[His Excellency]]
| name                = The Baron de Coubertin
| image               = Pierre de Coubertin Anefo.jpg
| caption             = Coubertin by the mid-1920s
| office              = 2nd [[President of the International Olympic Committee]]
| term_start          = 10 April 1896
| term_end            = 28 May 1925
| predecessor         = [[Demetrios Vikelas]]
| successor           = [[Henri de Baillet-Latour]]
| office2             = Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee
| term_start2         = 28 May 1925
| term_end2           = 2 September 1937
| predecessor2        = ''Position established''
| successor2          = ''Vacant'', next held by [[J. Sigfrid Edström]] (1952)
| birth_name          = Charles Pierre de Frédy
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=yes|1863|01|01}}
| birth_place         = [[Paris]], [[Second French Empire|France]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1937|09|02|1863|01|01}}
| death_place         = [[Geneva]], Switzerland
| resting_place       = [[Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Marie Rothan|1895}}
| children            = 2
| alma_mater          = Paris Institute of Political Studies
| signature           = Pierre de Coubertin (Signature).svg
}}
{{MedalTableTop | name = no | medals =
{{MedalCompetition | [[Olympic Games]] }}
{{MedalSport | [[Art competitions at the Summer Olympics|Art competitions]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1912 Summer Olympics|1912 Stockholm]] | [[Art competitions at the 1912 Summer Olympics|Literature]] }}
}}

'''Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin''' ({{IPA|fr|ʃaʁl pjɛʁ də fʁedi baʁɔ̃ də kubɛʁtɛ̃|lang}}; born '''Pierre de Frédy'''; 1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937), also known as '''Pierre de Coubertin''' and '''Baron de Coubertin''', was a French educator and historian, co-founder of the [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC), and its second [[President of the International Olympic Committee|president]]. He is known as the father of the modern [[Olympic Games]]. He was particularly active in promoting the introduction of sport in French schools.

Born into a [[French aristocratic]] family, Coubertin became an academic and studied a broad range of topics, most notably education and history. He graduated with a degree in law and public affairs from the [[Sciences Po|Paris Institute of Political Studies]] (Sciences Po).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sciencespo.fr/executive-education/128-ans-plus-tard-pierre-de-coubertin-de-retour-sciences-po |title=128 ans plus tard... Pierre de Coubertin de retour à Sciences Po |website=Sciences Po Executive Education |language=fr |access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref> It was at the Paris Institute of Political Studies that he came up with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.archimag.com/archives-patrimoine/2014/06/26/archives-pierre-coubertin-rejoignent-sciences-po |title=Les archives Pierre de Coubertin rejoignent Sciences Po |work=Archimag |access-date=29 January 2018 |language=fr}}</ref>

The [[Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy]] and the [[Pierre de Coubertin Medal]] are named in his honour.

== Early life ==
[[File:BlasonCoubertin.svg|thumb|Arms of the House of Coubertin]]
Pierre de Frédy was born in Paris on 1 January 1863, into an aristocratic family.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=5}} He was the fourth child of Baron [[Charles Louis de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin]] and Marie–Marcelle Gigault de Crisenoy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://roglo.eu/roglo?lang=en&m=A&i=2804697&v=7&sosab=10&siblings=on&notes=on&src=on&t=T&bd=0&color= |title=Ancestry of Pierre de Coubertin |publisher=Roglo.eu |access-date=9 October 2011}}{{unreliable source?|sure=y|reason=self published on a genealogical website |date=May 2019}}</ref> Family tradition held that the Frédy name had first arrived in France in the early 15th century, and the first recorded title of nobility granted to the family was given by [[Louis XI of France|Louis XI]] to an ancestor, also named Pierre de Frédy, in 1477 but other branches of his family tree delved even further into French history, and the annals of both sides of his family included nobles of various stations, military leaders and associates of kings and princes of France.{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|pages=8–10}}
[[File:The young Pierre de Coubertin with his sister.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pierre de Coubertin as a child (right), with one of his sisters, painted by his father [[Charles Louis de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin]] (detail of ''Le Départ'', 1869).|alt=A portion of a painting showing a young girl in a red jacket and pleated black skirt with her arm draped over the shoulder of a young boy, who is dressed in a blue tunic and black pants and looks back over his shoulder at the viewer.]]

His father Charles was a staunch royalist and accomplished artist whose paintings were displayed and given prizes at the [[Salon (Paris)|Parisian salon]], at least in those years when he was not absent in protest of the rise to power of [[Louis Napoleon]]. His paintings often centered on themes related to the [[Catholic Church]], classicism, and nobility, which reflected those things he thought most important.{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|pages=17–19}} In a later semi-fictional autobiographical piece called ''Le Roman d'un rallié'', Coubertin describes his relationship with both his mother and his father as having been somewhat strained during his childhood and adolescence. His memoirs elaborated further, describing as a pivotal moment his disappointment upon meeting [[Henri, Count of Chambord]], whom the elder Coubertin believed to be [[Legitimists|the rightful king]].{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|pages=24–28}}

Coubertin grew up in a time of profound change in France: defeat in the [[Franco-Prussian War]], the [[Paris Commune]], and the establishment of the [[Third French Republic|Third Republic]]{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|page=21}} but while these events were the setting of his childhood, his school experiences were just as formative. In October 1874, his parents enrolled him in a new Jesuit school called ''Externat de la rue de Vienne'', which was still under construction for his first five years there. While many of the school's attendees were day students, Coubertin boarded at the school under the supervision of a Jesuit priest, which his parents hoped would instill him with a strong moral and religious education.{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|pages=32–33}} There, he was among the top three students in his class, and was an officer of the school's elite academy made up of its best and brightest. This suggests that despite his rebelliousness at home, Coubertin adapted well to the strict rigors of a Jesuit education.{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|page=37}} As was common in the French educational system at the time, Coubertin studied ancient Greece and Rome, which led to an appreciation of the Olympics at an early age.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Richard |title=The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions |publisher=Trafford |year=2000 |isbn=1-55212-606-4 |pages=3 |language=English}}</ref>

As an aristocrat, Coubertin had a number of career paths from which to choose, including potentially prominent roles in the military or politics but he chose instead to pursue a career as an intellectual, studying and later writing on a broad range of topics, including education, history, literature and sociology.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=5}}

== Educational philosophy ==
[[File:Pierre Frédy Baron de Coubertin.png|thumb|Coubertin in his middle-age.]]
The subject which he seems to have been most deeply interested in was education, and his study focused in particular on physical education and the role of sport in schooling. In 1883, at the age of twenty, he visited England for the first time, and studied the program of physical education instituted under [[Thomas Arnold]] at the [[Rugby School]]. Coubertin admired [[Thomas Hughes|Thomas Hughes's]] novel ''[[Tom Brown's School Days]] (published in 1857)'', which was set at the Rugby School. He referenced both the Rugby School and the novel as helping him to appreciate the role of athletics in education, saying that students who learn about fair play and morality on the sports field will be able to apply those lessons in various aspects of their adult life.<ref name=":0" /> He credited Arnold's methods with leading to the expansion of British power during the 19th century and advocated their use in French institutions. The inclusion of physical education in the curriculum of French schools would become an ongoing pursuit and passion of Coubertin's.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=5}}

Coubertin viewed Thomas Arnold as "one of the founders of athletic chivalry." However, the character-reforming influence of sport with which Coubertin was so impressed is more likely to have originated in the novel about Arnold's school rather than exclusively in the ideas of Arnold himself. Nonetheless, Coubertin was an enthusiast in need of a cause and he found it in England and in Thomas Arnold.<ref>{{cite book |title=Muddied Oafs, The Soul of Rugby |first1=Richard |last1=Beard |location=London |publisher=[[Yellow Jersey Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-224-06394-4}}</ref> "Thomas Arnold, the leader and classic model of English educators," wrote Coubertin, "gave the precise formula for the role of athletics in education. The cause was quickly won. Playing fields sprang up all over England".<ref name="D 4">''Physical exercises in the modern world''. Lecture given at the Sorbonne, November 1892.</ref> He visited other English schools to see for himself. He described the results in a book, ''L'Education en Angleterre'', which was published in Paris in 1888. The hero of his book is Thomas Arnold, and on his second visit in 1886, Coubertin reflected on Arnold's influence in the chapel at Rugby School.<ref name="E 5">Pierre de Coubertin, ''Une Campagne de 21 Ans 1887–1908'' (Librairie de l'education physique, Paris: 1909)</ref>
[[File:Pierre de Coubertin 1921 c.jpg|thumb|Coubertin in 1921.]]
What Coubertin saw on the playing fields of the English schools he visited was how "organised sport can create moral and social strength".<ref name="F 6">Pierre de Coubertin. ''The Olympic Idea''. Discourses and Essays. Editions Internationales Olympiques, Lausanne, 1970.</ref> Not only did organized games help to set the mind and body in equilibrium, it also prevented the time being wasted in other ways. First developed by the ancient Greeks, it was an approach to education that he felt the rest of the world had forgotten and to whose revival he was to dedicate the rest of his life.

As a historian and a thinker on education, Coubertin romanticized [[ancient Greece]]. Thus, when he began to develop his theory of physical education, he naturally looked to the example set by the [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] idea of the [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]], a training facility that simultaneously encouraged physical and intellectual development. He saw in these gymnasia what he called a triple unity between old and young, between disciplines, and between different types of people, meaning between those whose work was theoretical and those whose work was practical. Coubertin advocated for these concepts, this triple unity, to be incorporated into schools.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=6}}

While Coubertin was certainly a romantic, and while his idealized vision of ancient Greece would lead him later to the idea of reviving the Olympic Games, his advocacy for physical education was also based on practical concerns. He believed that men who received physical education would be better prepared to fight in wars, and better able to win conflicts like the [[Franco-Prussian War]], in which France had been humiliated. He also saw sport as democratic, in that sports competition crossed class lines, although it did so without causing a mingling of classes, which he did not support.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=6}}

Unfortunately for Coubertin, his efforts to incorporate more physical education into French schools failed. The failure of this endeavor, however, was closely followed by the development of a new idea, the revival of the [[ancient Olympic Games]] as a festival of international athleticism.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=6}}

He was the referee of the first-ever French championship [[rugby union]] final on 20 March [[French Rugby Championship 1892|1892]], between [[Racing Club de France]] and [[Stade Français]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irb.com/rugbyandtheolympics/history.html |title=Rugby in the Olympics:History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810064813/http://www.irb.com/rugbyandtheolympics/history.html |archive-date=10 August 2011}}</ref>

== Reviving the Olympic Games ==
{{Main|Olympic Games}}
[[File:Olympic flag.svg|thumb|Modern and redesigned Olympic flag.]]
Thomas Arnold, the head master of Rugby School, was an important influence on Coubertin's thoughts about education, but his meetings with [[William Penny Brookes]] also influenced his thinking about athletic competition to some extent. A trained physician, Brookes believed that the best way to prevent illness was through physical exercise. In 1850, he had initiated a local athletic competition that he referred to as "[[Wenlock Olympian Games|Meetings of the Olympian Class]]"<ref>''A Brief History of the Olympic Games'' by David C. Young, p. 144. Blackwell Publishing. 2004. {{ISBN|1-4051-1130-5}}</ref> at the Gaskell recreation ground at [[Much Wenlock]], Shropshire.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=11}} Along with the Liverpool Athletic Club, who began holding their own Olympic Festival in the 1860s, Brookes created a National Olympian Association which aimed to encourage such local competition in cities across Britain. These efforts were largely ignored by the British sporting establishment. Brookes also maintained communication with the government and sporting advocates in Greece, seeking a revival of the Olympic Games internationally under the auspices of the Greek government.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=12–13}} There, the philanthropist cousins [[Evangelos Zappas|Evangelos]] and [[Konstantinos Zappas]] had used their wealth to fund Olympics within Greece, and paid for the restoration of the [[Panathinaiko Stadium]] that was later used during the [[1896 Summer Olympics]].{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=18}} The efforts of Brookes to encourage the internationalization of these games came to naught in his own lifetime before his death in 1895.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=12–13}} However, Brookes did organize a national Olympic Games in London, at [[Crystal Palace, London|Crystal Palace]], in 1866 and this was the first Olympics to resemble an Olympic Games to be held outside of Greece{{sfn|Young|1996|page=36}} but while others had created Olympic contests within their countries, and broached the idea of international competition, it was Coubertin whose work would lead to the establishment of the [[International Olympic Committee]] and the organization of the first modern Olympic Games.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=18}}
[[File:Ceremonie Commemorative Comite Jules Simon 1923.djvu|thumb]]
In 1888, Coubertin founded the ''Comité pour la Propagation des Exercises Physiques'' more well known as the ''Comité Jules Simon''. Coubertin's earliest reference to the modern notion of Olympic Games criticizes the idea.{{sfn|Young|1996|pages=73–74}} The idea for reviving the Olympic Games as an international competition came to Coubertin in 1889, apparently independently of Brookes, and he spent the following five years organizing an international meeting of athletes and sports enthusiasts that might make it happen.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=6}} In response to a newspaper appeal, Brookes wrote to Coubertin in 1890, and the two began an exchange of letters on education and sport. Although he was too old to attend the 1894 Congress, Brookes would continue to support Coubertin's efforts, most importantly by using his connections with the Greek government to seek its support in the endeavour. While Brookes' contribution to the revival of the Olympic Games was recognized in Britain at the time, Coubertin in his later writings largely neglected to mention the role the Englishman played in their development.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=13–15}} He did mention the roles of Evangelis Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas, but drew a distinction between their founding of athletic Olympics and his own role in the creation of an international contest.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=18}} However, Coubertin together with A. Mercatis, a close friend of Konstantinos, encouraged the Greek government to utilise part of Konstantinos' legacy to fund the 1896 Athens Olympic Games separately and in addition to the legacy of Evangelis Zappas that Konstantinos had been executor of.{{sfn|Young|1996|page=117}}<ref>''Memoire sur le conflit entre la Grèce et la Roumanie concernant l'affaire Zafdeppa'' Athens 1893, by F. Martens</ref><ref>{{cite book |title='L'affaire Zappa |location=Paris |year=1894 |first1=G. |last1=Streit |url=https://archive.org/details/laffairezappaco00stregoog |access-date=19 October 2016 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |publisher=Paris, L. Larose}}</ref> Moreover, [[George Averoff]] was invited by the Greek government to fund the second refurbishment of the [[Panathinaiko Stadium]] that had already been fully funded by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier.{{sfn|Young|1996|page=14}}

Coubertin's advocacy for the games centered on a number of ideals about sport. He believed that the early ancient Olympics encouraged competition among amateur rather than professional athletes, and saw value in that. The ancient practice of a sacred truce in association with the Games might have modern implications, giving the Olympics a role in promoting peace. This role was reinforced in Coubertin's mind by the tendency of athletic competition to promote understanding across cultures, thereby lessening the dangers of war. In addition, he saw the games as important in advocating his philosophical ideal for athletic competition: that the competition itself, the struggle to overcome one's opponent, was more important than winning.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=7–8}} Coubertin expressed this ideal thus

<blockquote>{{Quote|text="L'important dans la vie ce n'est point le triomphe, mais le combat, l'essentiel ce n'est pas d'avoir vaincu mais de s'être bien battu."|author=French (original texts).}}{{Quote|text="The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."|author=The texts adopted in english.}}</blockquote>

As Coubertin prepared for his Congress, he continued to develop a [[philosophy]] of the Olympic Games. While he certainly intended the Games to be a forum for competition between amateur athletes, his conception of amateurism was complex. By 1894, the year the Congress was held, he publicly criticized the type of amateur competition embodied in English rowing contests, arguing that its specific exclusion of working-class athletes was wrong. While he believed that athletes should not be paid to be such, he did think that compensation was in order for the time when athletes were competing and would otherwise have been earning money. Following the establishment of a definition for an amateur athlete at the 1894 Congress, he would continue to argue that this definition should be amended as necessary, and as late as 1909 would argue that the Olympic movement should develop its definition of amateurism gradually.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=8}}

Along with the development of an Olympic philosophy, Coubertin invested time in the creation and development of a national association to coordinate athletics in France, the {{lang|fr|[[Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques]]}} (USFSA). In 1889, French athletics associations had grouped together for the first time and Coubertin founded a monthly magazine ''La Revue Athletique'', the first French periodical devoted exclusively to athletics<ref name="RanOnt">{{cite web |url=http://www.randonneursontario.ca/history/giff.html |title=Randonneurs Ontario, Profile of Pierre Giffard |publisher=Randonneursontario.ca |access-date=25 August 2010}}</ref> and modelled on ''The Athlete'', an English journal established around 1862.<ref name="Fechain AC">{{cite web |url=http://home.nordnet.fr/~scharlet/histoire.htm |title=Féchain Athlétique Club, Association loi 1901-Affiliation à la Fédération Française d'athlétisme, Histoire |publisher=Home.nordnet.fr |date=31 December 1982 |access-date=25 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125192515/http://home.nordnet.fr/~scharlet/histoire.htm |archive-date=25 November 2010}}</ref> Formed by seven sporting societies with approximately 800 members, by 1892 the association had expanded to 62 societies with 7,000 members.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=14}}
[[File:1956 Summer Olympic games countries.png|thumb|1956 summer Olympic games countries]]
That November, at the annual meeting of the USFSA, Coubertin first publicly suggested the idea of reviving the Olympics. His speech met general applause, but little commitment to the Olympic ideal he was advocating for, perhaps because sporting associations and their members tended to focus on their area of expertise and had little identity as sportspeople in a general sense.

This disappointing result was the prelude to several challenges he would face in organizing his international conference. To develop support for the conference, he began to play down its role in reviving Olympic Games and instead promoted it as a conference on amateurism in sport which, he thought, was slowly being eroded by betting and sponsorships. This led to later suggestions that participants were convinced to attend under false pretenses. Little interest was expressed by those he spoke to during trips to the United States in 1893 and London in 1894, and an attempt to involve the Germans angered French gymnasts who did not want the Germans invited at all. Despite these challenges, the USFSA continued its planning for the games, adopting in its first program for the meeting eight articles to address, only one of which had to do with the Olympics. A later program would give the Olympics a much more prominent role in the meeting.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=18–20}}

The congress was held on 23 June 1894 at the [[Sorbonne (building)|Sorbonne]] in Paris. Once there, participants divided the congress into two commissions, one on amateurism and the other on reviving the Olympics. A Greek participant, [[Demetrios Vikelas]], was appointed to head the commission on the Olympics, and would later become the first President of the International Olympic Committee. Along with Coubertin, C. Herbert of Britain's [[Amateur Athletic Association]] and W.M. Sloane of the United States helped lead the efforts of the commission. In its report, the commission proposed that the Olympic Games be held every four years and that the program for the Games be one of modern rather than ancient sports. They also set the date and location for the first modern Olympic Games, the [[1896 Summer Olympics]] in Athens, Greece, and the second, the [[1900 Summer Olympics]] in Paris. Coubertin had originally opposed the choice of Greece, as he had concerns about the ability of a weakened Greek state to host the competition, but was convinced by Vikelas to support the idea. The commission's proposals were accepted unanimously by the congress, and the modern Olympic movement was officially born.

The proposals of the other commission, on amateurism, were more contentious, but this commission also set important precedents for the Olympic Games, specifically the use of heats to narrow participants and the banning of prize money in most contests.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=20–22}}

Following the Congress, the institutions created there began to be formalized into the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president. The work of the IOC increasingly focused on the planning of the 1896 Athens Games, and de Coubertin played a background role as Greek authorities took the lead in logistical organization of the Games in Greece itself, offering technical advice such as a sketch of a design of a [[velodrome]] to be used in cycling competitions. He also took the lead in planning the program of events, although to his disappointment, [[polo]], [[Association football|football]], and [[boxing]] were not included in 1896.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=23–26}}

The Greek organizing committee had been informed that four foreign football teams had entered, however none of them showed up in Athens, and despite Greek preparations for a football tournament it was cancelled during the Games.{{sfn|Young|1996|page=139}}

The Greek authorities were also frustrated that he could not provide an exact estimate of the number of attendees more than a year in advance. In France, Coubertin's efforts to elicit interest in the Games among athletes and the press met difficulty, largely because the participation of German athletes angered French nationalists who begrudged Germany their victory in the Franco-Prussian War. Germany also threatened not to participate after rumors spread that Coubertin had sworn to keep Germany out, but following a letter to the [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser]] denying the accusation, the German National Olympic Committee decided to attend.

Coubertin himself was frustrated by the Greeks, who increasingly ignored him in their planning and who wanted to continue to hold the Games in Athens every four years, against de Coubertin's wishes. The conflict was resolved after he suggested to the [[George I of Greece|King of Greece]] that he hold pan-Hellenic games in between Olympiads, an idea which the King accepted, although Coubertin would receive some angry correspondence even after the compromise was reached and the King did not mention him at all during the banquet held in honor of foreign athletes during the 1896 Games.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=25–28}}

Coubertin took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite the initial success, the Olympic movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in De Coubertin's own Paris) and [[1904 Summer Olympics|1904 Games]] were both overshadowed by [[World's fair|World's Fairs]] in the same cities, and received little attention.

Further to this, the Paris Games were organized by the organizing committee of the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)|Exposition Universelle]], who disagreed with de Coubertin's ideas and subsequently fired him, nor were they called Olympics at that time, while the St. Louis Games were predominantly American.{{sfn|Young|1996|page=166}}

De Coubertin believed strongly that both art and sport should be featured at the Olympics, and in 1904, he wrote the following in the French newspaper [[Le Figaro|''Le Figaro'']]: "The time has come to take the next step, and to restore the Olympiad to its original beauty. In the high times of Olympia, the fine arts were combined harmoniously with the Olympic Games to create their glory. This is to become reality once again."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Look to the past: When Olympic medals were awarded for architecture, music and literature |url=https://www.olympics.com/en/news/look-to-the-past-when-olympic-medals-were-awarded-for-architecture-music-and-lit}}</ref>

=== President of the International Olympic Committee ===
[[File:International Olympic Committee Headquarters (2).jpg|thumb|International Olympics Committee Headquarters.]]
[[File:International Olympic Committee 1922.jpg|thumb|IOC members 1922]]
Coubertin became the second president of the IOC in 1896 with the [[1900 Summer Olympics|Paris Olympics of 1900]] being the first Games he oversaw as president. He made a major advancement for Olympic recognition by bringing hosting the [[Intercalated Games|1906 Summer Olympics]] in Athens, which generated increased attention and participation at the Games. Since that time, the Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world's foremost sports competition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overview of Olympic Games |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/428005/Olympic-Games |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=4 June 2008}}</ref> Coubertin created the [[modern pentathlon]] for the [[1912 Summer Olympics|1912 Olympics]], and subsequently stepped down from his IOC presidency after the [[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Olympics]] in Paris, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in that city in 1900. He was succeeded as president, in 1925, by Belgian [[Henri de Baillet-Latour]]. During his tenure as president, Coubertin finally succeeded in having art competitions included as part of the Olympic Games, something he had advocated for since the founding of the IOC.<ref name=":0" /> Much of the funding for the IOC came from Coubertin personally. In fact, he depleted his wealth so much through these donations that he struggled financially at the end of his life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olympedia – Pierre, Baron de Coubertin |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920613 |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=www.olympedia.org}}</ref>

Years later Coubertin came out of retirement to lend his prestige to assisting Berlin to land the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 games]]. In exchange, Germany nominated him for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. The 1935 winner, however, was the anti-Nazi [[Carl von Ossietzky]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/21/sports/olympics-evidence-ties-olympic-taint-to-1936-games.html |last=Lipsyte |first=Robert |title=Evidence Ties Olympic Taint To 1936 Games |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=21 February 1999 |pages=SP1 & SP3 |access-date=10 July 2018}}</ref>

=== Personal Olympic success ===
Coubertin won the [[Art competitions at the 1912 Summer Olympics|gold medal for literature]] at the 1912 Summer Olympics for his poem "Ode to Sport," which was the first time the arts competitions were included at the Games.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gjerde |first=Arild |author2=Jeroen Heijmans |author3=Bill Mallon |author4=Hilary Evans |title=Pierre, Baron de Coubertin Biography and Olympic Results |publisher=Sports Reference.com |year=2011 |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/de/pierre-baron-de-coubertin-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417221855/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/de/pierre-baron-de-coubertin-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |access-date=7 March 2012}}</ref> Coubertin entered the poem under the pseudonym of Georges Hohrod and M. Eschbach which were the names of villages close to his wife's place of birth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldblatt |first1=David |title=The Games |date=2016 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-4472-9887-8 |pages=1–2}}</ref> Below is an excerpt: <blockquote> ''O Sport, delight of the Gods, distillation of life! In the grey dingle of modern existence, restless with barren toil, you suddenly appeared like the shining messenger of vanished ages, those ages when humanity could smile.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |last2=Wexler |first2=Ellen |title=Poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years. What Happened? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/poetry-was-an-official-olympic-event-for-nearly-40-years-what-happened-180984838/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

== Les Débrouillards ==
Following [[Francisco Amoros y Ondeano|Francisco Amoros]]' ideas, De Coubertin developed a new type of utilitarian sport: "les débrouillards" (the "resourceful men") from 1900.

The first débrouillards season was organized in 1905/1906, and the program was wide: running, jumping, throwing, climbing, swimming, sword fighting, boxing, shooting, walking, horse riding, rowing, and cycling. (source: FFEPGV archives)

== Scouting ==
In 1911, Pierre de Coubertin founded the interreligious scouting organization aka ''Éclaireurs Français'' (EF) in France, which later merged to form the [[Éclaireuses et Éclaireurs de France]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1911 : Les Éclaireurs Français – Histoire du Scoutisme Laïque |url=https://histoire-du-scoutisme-laique.fr/les-premieres-annees/14-histoire/les-premieres-annees/90-les-eclaireurs-francais |access-date=20 February 2021 |website=histoire-du-scoutisme-laique.fr}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
[[File:Pierre tombale - Pierre de Coubertin - 2.JPG|thumb|Grave of Pierre de Coubertin]]
In 1895, Pierre de Coubertin married Marie Rothan, the daughter of family friends. Their son Jacques (1896–1952) became sick after being in the sun too long when he was a little child. Their daughter Renée (1902–1968) suffered emotional disturbances and never married. Marie and Pierre tried to console themselves with two nephews, but they were killed at the front in [[World War I]]. Coubertin died of a heart attack in Geneva, Switzerland, on 2 September 1937 and was buried in [[Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery]] in Lausanne. Marie died in 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/de/pierre-baron-de-coubertin-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417221855/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/de/pierre-baron-de-coubertin-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Pierre, Baron de Coubertin Bio, Stats, and Results}}</ref><ref>John E. Findling, Kimberly D. Pelle [https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00find/page/356 ''Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement'', 1996, p.356]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympic.org/Assets/OSC%20Section/pdf/LRes_16E.pdf |title=Pierre de Coubertin |publisher=[[International Olympic Committee]] |page=1 |access-date=19 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822050314/http://www.olympic.org/Assets/OSC%20Section/pdf/LRes_16E.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

At the {{#ifexist:139th IOC Session|[[139th IOC Session]] | 139th [[IOC Session]]}} around the [[2022 Winter Olympics]], French IOC member and Olympic gold medalist [[Guy Drut]], informed the IOC of his proposal to have de Coubertin's remains reinterred at the [[Panthéon]] in time for the [[2024 Summer Olympics]]. Drut stated that he had support from de Coubertin's family as well as [[Académie Française|French Academy]]  member [[Érik Orsenna]] and had written to French President [[Emmanuel Macron]]. In response, IOC President [[Thomas Bach]] commented that he thought it was a "wonderful proposal" and "deserves to be successful", however, he doubted "the IOC could make any steps on this initiative which we appreciate considerably", yet wished him on behalf of the IOC "the best of success in getting this initiative to fruition."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barker |first=Philip |date=6 February 2022 |title=Drut calls for modern Olympics founder Coubertin to enter Paris Panthéon in time for 2024 Olympics |work=[[Inside the Games]] |url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1118829/drut-coubertin-pantheon |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206031944/https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1118829/drut-coubertin-pantheon |archive-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> Drut announced that he had written to Macron "to propose the creation of a study commission for this project."<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 February 2022 |title=Guy Drut wants to put Coubertin in the Pantheon |work=[[Francs Jeux]] |url=https://www.francsjeux.com/breves/guy-drut-wants-to-put-coubertin-in-the-pantheon |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206161605/https://www.francsjeux.com/breves/guy-drut-wants-to-put-coubertin-in-the-pantheon |archive-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

After his death, and according to his wish, his heart was taken to Olympia to rest in the memorial [[stele]] erected in his honor by the Greek government in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coubertin Grove {{!}} World Heritage Journeys of Europe |url=https://visitworldheritage.comhttps//visitworldheritage.com/en/eu/coubertin-grove/3ae86e95-7799-4162-9c9e-dfd014d2348a |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=visitworldheritage.comhttps}}</ref>

The stele is located in the Coubertin Grove of the [[International Olympic Academy]]. When the [[Olympic flame]] is lit in Olympia, the first torchbearer brings it to light the marble altar in the Coubertin Grove. The flame then goes onto Athens, and subsequently the host city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Education |url=https://www.ioa.org.gr/the-academy/premises |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=ioa.org.gr}}</ref>

=== Later life ===
Pierre de Coubertin was the last person to possess his family name. In the words of his biographer John MacAloon, "The last of his lineage, Pierre de Coubertin was the only member of it whose fame would outlive him."{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|page=12}}

== Criticism ==
[[File:Picswiss VD-46-57.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue at [[Lausanne]]]]
A number of scholars have criticized Coubertin's legacy. David C. Young believes that Coubertin's assertion that ancient Olympic athletes were amateurs was incorrect.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=6–7}} The issue is the subject of scholarly debate. Young and others argue that the athletes of the ancient Games were professional, while opponents led by Pleket argue that the earliest Olympic athletes were in fact amateur, and that the Games only became professionalized after about 480 BC. Coubertin agreed with this latter view, and saw this professionalization as undercutting the morality of the competition.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=7}}

Further, Young asserts that the effort to limit international competition to amateur athletes, which Coubertin was a part of, was in fact part of efforts to give the upper classes greater control over athletic competition, removing such control from the working classes. Coubertin may have played a role in such a movement, but his defenders argue that he did so unconscious of any class repercussions.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=7–8}}

However, it is clear that Coubertin's romanticized vision of the ancient Olympic Games was fundamentally different from that described in the historical record. For example, his idea that participation is more important than winning ("L'important c'est de participer") is at odds with the ideals of the Greeks.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Coubertin's assertion that the games were the impetus for peace was also an exaggeration; the peace which he spoke of only existed to allow athletes to travel safely to Olympia, and neither prevented the outbreak of wars nor ended ongoing ones.{{sfn|Hill|1996|pages=7–8}}

Scholars have critiqued the idea that athletic competition might lead to greater understanding between cultures and, therefore, to peace. [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]] claims that modern participants in the Olympic movement may defend this particular belief, "in a spirit similar to that in which the [[Church of England]] remains attached to the [[Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion]], which a Priest in that Church must sign." In other words, that they may not wholly believe it but hold to it for historical reasons.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=8}}

Questions have also been raised about the veracity of Coubertin's account of his role in the planning of the 1896 Athens Games. Reportedly, Coubertin played little role in planning, despite entreaties by Vikelas. Young suggests that the story about Coubertin's having sketched the velodrome were untrue, and that he had in fact given an interview in which he suggested he did not want Germans to participate. Coubertin later denied this.{{sfn|Hill|1996|page=28}}

Coubertin also spoke against [[women's sports]] and the [[Women's World Games]]: "Impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and we are not afraid to add: incorrect, such would be in our opinion this female half-Olympiad."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Les femmes aux Jeux Olympiques. |url=https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll1/id/13229/rec/13 |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=digital.la84.org |language=en}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:RUSMARKA-1776.jpg|thumb|Pierre de Coubertin on a 2013 Russian stamp from the series "Sports Legends"]]
The traditional [[Olympic symbols#Motto and creed|Olympic motto]] ''Citius, Altius, Fortius'' (Faster, Higher, Stronger) was proposed by Coubertin in 1894, and was official from 1924 until modified to the current ''Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter'' (Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together) in 2021. The traditional motto was coined by [[Henri Didon]] OP, a friend of Coubertin, for a Paris youth gathering of 1891.<ref>[http://www.johannes-hospiz.de/cms/Begleitung/Denkanstoesse/Meditation/index-b-1-65-244.html Schneller? Höher? Stärker?] johannes-hospiz.de</ref><ref name=motto>{{cite web |title=Opening Ceremony |url=http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_268.pdf |publisher=International Olympic Committee |access-date=23 August 2012 |page=3 |year=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905080534/http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_268.pdf |archive-date=5 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}; "Sport athlétique", 14 March 1891: "[...] dans une éloquente allocution il a souhaité que ce drapeau les conduise 'souvent à la victoire, à la lutte toujours'. Il a dit qu'il leur donnait pour devise ces trois mots qui sont le fondement et la raison d'être des sports athlétiques: citius, altius, fortius, ‘plus vite, plus haut, plus fort’.", cited in Hoffmane, Simone ''La carrière du père Didon, Dominicain. 1840–1900'', Doctoral thesis, Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne, 1985, p. 926; cf. Michaela Lochmann, ''Les fondements pédagogiques de la devise olympique "citius, altius, fortius"''</ref>

The [[Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy]] given by the [[International Fair Play Committee]] has been awarded since 1965 for gestures of fair play in which an athlete impedes their performance to aid a fellow competitor.<ref name="z860">{{cite web |title=World Fair Play Trophy |publisher=Infoartnet |date=6 November 2015 |url=https://www.fairplayinternational.org/world-fair-play-trophy |access-date=13 August 2024}}</ref>

The [[Pierre de Coubertin Medal]] is a special [[Civil awards and decorations|decoration]] awarded by the [[International Olympic Committee]] since 1997 that "pays tribute to institutions with a pedagogical and educational role and to people who, through their research and the creation of intellectual works in the spirit of Pierre de Coubertin, contribute to the promotion of Olympism."<ref name="IOC106">{{Citation |date=3–6 September 1997 |title=106th IOC Session Meeting Minutes |publisher=[[International Olympic Committee]] |publication-place=[[Lausanne]] |page=68}}</ref>

A [[minor planet]], [[2190 Coubertin]], was discovered in 1976 by Soviet astronomer [[Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh]] and is named in his honour.<ref name="Schmadel">{{cite book |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D. |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |page=178 |edition=5th |year=2003 |publisher=Springer Verlag |location=New York |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3}}</ref>

The street where the [[Olympic Stadium (Montreal)|Olympic Stadium]] in Montreal is located (which hosted the [[1976 Summer Olympic Games]]) 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 that lies on a street named after Coubertin. There are also two schools in Montreal named after Pierre de Coubertin.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.emsb.qc.ca/pierredecoubertin/ |title=École Pierre de Coubertin School |publisher=English Montreal School Board |access-date=21 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pierredecoubertin.cspi.qc.ca/ |title=École primaire Pierre-De-Coubertin |publisher=Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'île |language=fr-fr |access-date=21 June 2018}}</ref>

He was portrayed by [[Louis Jourdan]] in the 1984 [[NBC]] miniseries, ''[[The First Olympics: Athens 1896]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/20/arts/tv-view-squeezing-inspiration-from-the-1896-olympics.html |title=Squeezing Inspiration from the 1896 Olympics |first=John J. |last=O'Connor |author-link=John J. O'Connor (journalist) |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=20 May 1984 |access-date=23 May 2018}}</ref>

In 2007, he was inducted into the [[World Rugby Hall of Fame]] for his services to the sport of [[rugby union]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.worldrugby.org/halloffame/inductees/59183 |title=Pierre de Coubertin |website=World Rugby Hall of Fame |language=en |access-date=21 June 2018}}</ref>

== List of works ==
This is a listing of Pierre de Coubertin's books. In addition to these, he wrote numerous articles for journals and magazines:{{sfn|MacAloon|1981|pages=340–342}}<ref>[http://www.coubertin.ch/pdf/Coubertin%20Bibliography.pdf Full bibliography of Сoubertin's writings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706224301/http://www.coubertin.ch/pdf/Coubertin%20Bibliography.pdf |date=6 July 2011}}. coubertin.ch</ref>
* {{Cite book |title=Une Campagne de 21 ans |publisher=Librairie de l'Éducation Physique |year=1908 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=La Chronique de France (7 vols.) |pages=7 v |publisher=Lanier |date=1900–1906 |location=Auxerre and Paris |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000045959 |last1=Coubertin |first1=Pierre de}}
* {{Cite book |title=L'Éducation anglaise en France |url=https://archive.org/details/leducationangla00coubgoog |publisher=Hachette |year=1889 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=L'Éducation en Angleterre |url=https://archive.org/details/lducationenangl00coubgoog |publisher=Hachette |year=1888 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Essais de psychologie sportive |publisher=Payot |year=1913 |location=Lausanne}}
* {{Cite book |title=L'Évolution française sous la Troisième République |publisher=Hachette |year=1896 |location=Paris |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000648722 |series=Études d'histoire contemporaine}}
* {{Cite book |title=France Since 1814 |url=https://archive.org/stream/francesince181400coubrich#page/n5/mode/2up |publisher=Macmillan |year=1900 |location=New York |access-date=27 February 2018 |via=Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite book |title=La Gymnastique utilitaire |url=https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_79935 |publisher=Alcan |year=1905 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Histoire universelle (4 vols.) |publisher=Société de l'histoire universelle |year=1919 |location=Aix-en-Provence}}
* {{Cite book |title=Mémoires olympiques |publisher=Bureau international de pédagogie sportive |year=1931 |location=Lausanne}}
* {{Cite book |title=Notes sur l'éducation publique |url=https://archive.org/details/notessurlducati01coubgoog |publisher=Hachette |year=1901 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Pages d'histoire contemporaine |publisher=Plon |year=1908 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Pédagogie sportive |publisher=Crés |year=1922 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Le Respect Mutuel |publisher=Alean |year=1915 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Souvenirs d'Amérique et de Grèce |publisher=Hachette |year=1897 |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |title=Universités transatlantiques |publisher=Hachette |year=1890 |location=Paris |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006509997}}

== See also ==
* [[Statue of Pierre de Coubertin, Tokyo]]

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Christopher R. |title=Olympic Politics |publisher=Manchester University Press ND |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0o-9AAAAIAAJ |isbn=978-0-7190-4451-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=MacAloon |first=John J. |title=This Great Symbol: Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1981 |location=Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/thisgreatsymbolp0000maca |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-226-50000-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Young |first=David C. |title=The Modern Olympics, A Struggle for Revival |publisher=The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |year=1996 |location=Baltimore and London |isbn=978-0-8018-5374-6}}

== Further reading ==
* Pierre de Coubertin, ''[https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/65192/olympism-selected-writings-pierre-de-coubertin Olympism: selected writings]'', edited by Norbert Müller, Lausanne, IOC, 2000
* {{cite book |first1=John J |last1=Macaloon |title=This Great Symbol. Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games |publisher=University of Chicago Press. [[Routledge]] |orig-year=1981 |edition=New |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-49494-6}}
* {{cite journal |journal=International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=23 |issue=3 & 4 |year=2006 |title=This Great Symbol: Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fhsp20/23/3-4?nav=tocList |via=[[Taylor & Francis]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 October 2016}}
* {{cite book |first1=Michael Llewellyn |last1=Smith |title=Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games |publisher=[[Profile Books Ltd]] |location=London |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-86197-342-9}}
* Stephan Wassong, ''[https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll16/id/1195 Pierre de Coubertin's American studies and their importance for the analysis of his early educational campaign]''. Web publishing on [[LA84 Foundation]]. 2004.

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|auto=yes}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111005083014/http://www.coubertin.ch/ The International Pierre De Coubertin Committee (CIPC)] – Lausanne (archived)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071128113734/http://www.sporteslettres.net/archives/coubertin/Coubertin-reader-of-Flaubert.pdf Coubertin reader of Flaubert] (PDF; archived)
* [https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/archives/from-the-parliamentary-collections/parliament-and-the-olympics/programmecoverolympics/ 1896 Olympic Games Programme – UK Parliament Living Heritage]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090410111109/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/archives/index.shtml The Wenlock Olympian Society] (archived)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080817053852/http://www.litteratureaudio.com/index.php/2008/07/26/coubertin-pierre-de-la-renovation-des-jeux-olympiques/ Discourse of Pierre de Coubertin at Sorbonne announcing the restoring of the Olympic games {{in lang|fr}}, audio)] [[File:Speaker Icon.svg|20px]]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003507}}
* {{World Rugby Hall of Fame|704757}}

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{{s-bef|before={{flagicon|GRE|old}} [[Demetrios Vikelas]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title= [[President of the Olympic Organizing Committee|President of Organizing Committee for Winter Olympic Games]] | years=[[1924 Winter Olympics|1924]]}}
{{s-aft|after= {{flagicon|SUI}} [[Edmund Schulthess]]}}
{{s-bef|before={{flagicon|BEL}} [[Henri de Baillet-Latour]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[President of the Olympic Organizing Committee|President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games]] | years=[[1924 Summer Olympics|1924]]}}
{{s-aft|after= {{flagicon|NED}} [[Solko van den Bergh]]}}
{{s-bef|before={{flagicon|GRE|old}} [[Constantine I of Greece|Prince Constantine of Greece]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games|years=[[1900 Summer Olympics|1900]]}}
{{s-aft|after= {{flagicon|USA}} [[David Rowland Francis]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coubertin, Pierre De}}
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[[Category:Art competitors at the 1912 Summer Olympics]]
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