Pierre de

Coubertin

The visionary founder of the modern Olympic Games

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was only 1,62 metres (5’3”) tall,
but by many measures, he was a giant of the 20th century.
Born into the French aristocracy on 1 January 1863, he
became a champion of the common man, embracing the
values of France’s Third Republic—liberty, equality, fraternity
—as a young adult. 

Destined for the military or the law, Coubertin discovered

his life’s work in Rugby in England—and set out on a quest to
give French children what British students already had:
sport in education. By the age of 25, he had become a
leader of French education reform.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin

At the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, which attracted 32
million people over six months to marvel at the new Eiffel
Tower, he organised the world’s first Congress on Physical
Education and Scholar Competitions and began to build the
international network of educators, politicians, aristocrats
and leaders in commerce, culture and sport who would help
him fulfil his Olympic dream. Five years later, on 23 June
1894, in the grand amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, 2,000
people rose in acclamation of his proposal to revive the
Olympic Games, designating Athens and Paris as the first
two hosts in 1896 and 1900. 

Like so many visionaries, he had his blind spots. Although he

said about sport: “For every man, woman and child, it offers
an opportunity for self-improvement,” he openly opposed
the participation of women in elite track and field events
throughout his life. Nevertheless, the participation of
women in the Olympic Games grew six-fold under
Coubertin’s presidency.  And the all-inclusive ethic he built
into the heart of the Movement—“[The Games] are global.
All people must be allowed in, without debate”—ultimately
shaped his legacy. Over time, the Olympic Games became a
triumph of diversity for men and women everywhere, uniting
all nations in friendship and peace through sport in the
world’s greatest celebration of humanity.