Pierre de Coubertin
Founder of modern Olympic Games, pedagogue and historian (1863-1937) · France · Educators · Died at 74
Pierre de Coubertin is read about 632 times a day, in 93 languages.
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Something wrong?He took a dead Greek festival and turned it into the world's biggest recurring spectacle. Coubertin didn't just propose the modern Olympics - he willed them into existence, then spent decades steering the movement he'd invented.
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Baron Pierre de Coubertin
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Abbaye de Valmont from Revue du Pays de Caux n2 mai 1902 (page 1 cropped)
Aftonbladet 1912-08-02 s.7
Almeida Júnior - Retrato de Pierre de Frédy
Baron P. de Coubertin LCCN2014698094
Baron Pierre de Coubertin cropped
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, half-length portrait, standing, facing front LCCN99403475In their own words 3
, Winning medals wasn’t the point of the Olympics. It’s the participating that counts.
A better world could be brought about only by better individuals.
I therefore think that I was right in trying from the outset of the Olympic revival to rekindle a religious awareness.
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Born to French aristocracy on 1 January 1863, Pierre de Frédy studied education and history before earning a law degree from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. It was there, inside Sciences Po, that the idea landed: revive the ancient Olympic Games. He co-founded the International Olympic Committee, served as its second president, and became known as the father of the modern Games. Beyond the Olympics, he campaigned hard to bring sport into French schools, convinced that physical education belonged in the curriculum. He died on 2 September 1937, his name carried forward by a world trophy and medal still given in his honour.
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