BOLDNESS, MORE BOLDNESS, ALWAYS BOLDNESS!

As strange as it may be, although sport and Olympic Games arose almost simultaneous in the 19th_{century they did not team together} from the start.

The idea of uniting them was an audacious challenge of the then young Pierre de Coubertin. In 1892, the return of the Olympic idea was announced surreptitiously at the end of a meeting after it had been added on the agenda at the last minute …

The Olympic Congress was convened in Paris in 1894 at a time of growing interest in the Ancient Olympics due to archaeological discoveries in Greece. Pierre de Coubertin publicly announced two things: his intention to develop the education of youth using athletic exercise and his willingness to work for the pacification of nations. His strong conviction and great strategic intelligence were his decisive assets. His premonitory vision of the 20th_century in which he foresaw the influence of democracy and “cosmopolitanism” pushed him to dare to renovate the Ancient Games.

But to win the battle he had first to find a subtle balance within the commission in charge of the project. His goal was clear: Combine the popularity of modern sport with seeking peace among nations.

The popularity of athletic sports was to rely on the aura of Olympic Games extinct for two thousand years. A dissertation distributed to participants called on “all civilized people that claim to follow

Ancient Greece” to support the project.

Two proposals were made: One that advocated a historical reconstitution supported by the Greek government and another that promoted a celebration of modern sports gathered in a great international celebration. Pierre de Coubertin, who defended the second option, used the fear of rising professionalism felt by some sports leaders to win them over. He thus composed a very diplomatic sports programme to reach “a European balance of Olympic sports”.

This programme made reference to Antiquity with discus throwing, took into account the gymnastics and shooting societies, included the noble arts of fencing and paume, and later integrated lawn- tennis, cycling (velocipedes), etc. Pierre de Coubertin accepted a compromise between the Greek Government project and the modern sports one.

A “sport Chimera,” a pleasing expression used by Serge Laget, arose in the programme. Michel Bréal, brilliant Hellenist close to the renovator, imagined it. Bréal proposed to award a Marathon Cup to the winner of a running race between Marathon and Athens in a tribute to the soldier Pheidippides who returned from the Marathon battle to announce the Greeks’ victory before dying.

Thus the first Olympic Marathon was created without any demand from the sport.

The gilded cupola of the Sorbonne lecture hall still resounds with the last words of Coubertin’s closing speech: “Let us export rowers,

runners, fencers, here is the free trade of the future!” In this way he

declared “the re-establishment of the Olympics as peace’s powerful

auxiliary.” The start was given: the first international Olympic

Games took place in Athens in 1896. The first edition was sprinkled with a few whimsical events compared to today’s conditions: a swimmer favourite for the competition refused to dive-in because the water was for him too cold while a Greek sprinter insisted on wearing white gloves during the event, his king being present in the grandstand… Among the participants of the 1 500m-event was a student of the Arcueil School delegation led by Henri Didon, father of the Olympic motto. The USA monopolised the victories but glory went to Spiridon Louys, hero of the Greek people and surprising winner of the first marathon in sport history.

However, in France the gathering of all sports into one same family was not yet achieved. The National Sports Committee52 was created in 1908 followed in 1911 by the French Olympic Committee. The two organisations marked the divide between Olympic sports and the others. Pierre de Coubertin, named IOC President, pursued his struggle to give sport a humanist and c i v i l i s i n g m i s s i o n . T h e m o v e m e n t m e t s u c c e s s b u t a l s o disappointments. States saw in the organisation of Olympic Games a promotion of their politics and federations set out to first bolster their own sport.

Until World War I, the Olympics sought for their identity and… sports. In Paris (1900), boar shooting or ballooning coexisted side by side with athletics and rugby. The Olympic label of this successful and popular edition of the Games was contested and finally only granted after the event.

In this year of 1894, we have gathered the representatives of international athletics, and, unanimously, such is the principle of little controversy, they have voted to restore a two-thousand-year-old idea that today like yesterday stirs the hearts of men… After all, Sirs, men are not made of two parts, body and soul. They are made of three, body, soul and character. The soul doesn’t shape character, the body shapes it… I raise my glass to the Olympic idea that, like a powerful ray of sunshine, has crossed through the foggy ages to return and enlighten the budding 20th century with joyful hope.

Pierre de Coubertin Extracts from his closing speech (1894)

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The crossing of the Atlantic for the 1904 Games in Saint Louis (USA) was too expensive for the French Delegation that stayed behind. During these same Games, the organisation of “Antropologic’s

days” reserved for Indians, Eskimos and other ethnic groups,

tarnished the sport celebration and the Olympic Ideal. After London (1908) and Stockholm (1912), games were to be held in 1916. However planned in Berlin, they did not take place because of the war. The Olympic Oath and the Olympic village were established during the 1920 Antwerp Games and the 1924 Paris Games. The motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” was then made official. The second Parisian edition was particularly flamboyant with an alliance of sports and culture that led to art, sculpture, music, architecture and literature contests. The jury of writers crowned Géo Charles in front of Montherlant while the final of the 800m- sprint event later inspired the film “The Chariots of Fire.”

The Olympic Games were from then on leading events but Olympic Games don’t necessarily mean Olympism!