An active sportsman himself - and a noted rugby union referee - he was interested in reforming the French education system to include a more sports orientated curriculum. He appreciated the Greek ideal of developing the mind and the body in harmony while also being influenced by the ideas of Thomas Arnold, a British educationalist, who was convinced that exercise and fitness should be the foundation of sensible education.
Another major influence on de Coubertin’s thinking was William Penny Brookes, a Shropshire doctor, who maintained an enthusiastic interest in the values of antiquity and believed that a healthy body was equally as important as a healthy mind. In 1890, as part of a French government commission to study physical culture methods, de Coubertin visited Dr Brookes and his Wenlock Olympian Society in Britain.
De Coubertin, furthermore, was troubled by the growing commercialism of 19th-century sport. The amateur ideal was to be the essential requirement for de Coubertin to emphasise the “noble and chivalrous character” of physical exercise.
He first put forward his idea of reviving the Olympic Games during a lecture in 1892, though it met with a muted response. Undeterred, he held an international sports conference at the Sorbonne in Paris two years later to once again propose the creation of a modern Olympics. Twelve countries attended while a further 21 countries sent a letter supporting the idea. An International Olympic Committee was formed and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Why did I restore the Olympic Games?” said de Coubertin in 1894. “To ennoble and strengthen sports, to ensure their independence and duration, and thus to enable them better to fulfil the educational role incumbent upon them in the modern world. For the glorification of the individual athlete, whose muscular activity is necessary for the community, and whose prowess is necessary for the maintenance of the general spirit of competition.”
For de Coubertin, the Olympic Games were more than an event at which athletes would compete against each other. They were designed, in his mind, to enrich human development and he therefore linked the staging of the Games, and his work with the IOC, with a set of ideals. And it is these ideals that have become known as Olympism.
The six Fundamental Principles of Olympism, as stated in the current Olympic Charter (and in which the influence of de Coubertin can be clearly observed), are:
1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The organisation, administration and management of sport must be controlled by independent sports organisations.
5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
6. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.
Following the ever-quickening advance of professionalism, commercialism and a win-at-all-costs mentality, modern-day cynics find it all too easy to scoff at de Coubertin’s ideals.
Doping, diving, cheating, match-fixing, racism… “Olympism is dead,” they bleat. “It only exists in theory and cannot possibly exist in practice.”
And it is entirely their prerogative to believe that. But for every Ben Johnson or Marion Jones that has attempted to profit through taking performance-enhancing drugs, for every footballer that dives with the sole intention of cheating the opposition, for every sportsman that makes a racist comment, there are still thousands upon thousands who adhere to the principles of de Coubertin’s Olympism.
Ever heard of Steve Redgrave or Matthew Pinsent? Maybe Sebastian Coe? Kelly Holmes? Sarah Webb? Sarah Ayton? Ben Ainslie? And that’s just a few British examples. I could, of course, go on…
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