Pierre de Coubertin and Modern Olympic Games

Fourteen centuries after the last ancient Olympic Games, a Freach promoter of physical education, Pierre de Coubertin, who is honored as the Father of the Modern Olympic Games, resurrected the Olympic Games.
Pierre de Coubertin, whose father was an artist and mother a musician, was raised in cultivated and aristocratic surroundings from his birth in Paris in 1863. He was a very active sportsman and was good at fencing, rowing, boxing and cycling.
Coubertin had a strong belief in the importance of sports for the development of the individual. In 1892, at the age of 29, Coubertin began his campaign for the revival of the Olympics Games.
Coubertin felt that a great deal could be gained by bringing together the youth of the world in a friendly competition like the Olympic Games. He also regarded the Games as an effective way for the promotion of world peace.
Coubertin traveled the world to propagate his dream, he hoped that all countries of the world come together in the name of sport. “The important thing in life is not the victory but competing; the main thing is not to have won but to have fought well.” He said.
In 1893, Coubertin invited sportsmen from all over the world to Paris and announced his plan to resurrect the Olympics in 1896 in Athens.
After overcoming a lot of obstacles, the International Olympic Committee(IOC)was founded on June 23,1894 in Paris. At the first conference of IOC, Coubertin drafted the first IOC Charter and established the structure of the Olympic Movement.
In 1896, thanks to the great efforts of Pierre de Coubertin and other contributors, the first Modern Olympic Games were held in Greece--the country of their birth.
Coubertin strongly believed that sport was the springboard for moral energy. It was this conviction that led him to announce at the age of 31 that he wanted to revive the Olympic Games. Nobody really believed that he would be successful and his statement was greeted with little enthusiasm.
However, Coubertin was not discouraged and on 23 June, 1894 he finally founded the International Olympic Committee(IOC) in Paris. Demetrius Vikelas from Greece became the first president of the IOC.
Two years later, in 1896, the first Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. The Greek nation and the whole world embraced their revival and once again turned them into the greatest celebration on earth.
King George I of Greece proclaimed the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens. Nearly three thousand years later the Olympics went home again, home to Greece, where they originated in 776 BC, home to Athens, where the modern Olympics began in 1896.
During the first Modern Olympic Games, Coubertin was elected the second president of the IOC and he remained this position until 1925. Due to the 1st World War, Coubertin requested permission to establish the headquarters of the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, which was a neutral country.
In 1922, the headquarters of IOC and the Museum collections were moved to the Villa Mon Repos in Lausanne and stayed there for the next years.
Each Olympic Games views the interpretation of Coubertin's ideals under specific historical conditions. He served as President of the IOC from 1896 to 1925. During this period the member countries of IOC increased from 14 to 45.
Coubertin withdrew from the IOC and the Olympic Movement in 1925, and devoted himself to his pedagogical work, which he named as his "unfinished symphony".
At the age of 69, in 1931, Coubertin published his"Olympic Memoirs" in which he emphasized the intellectual and philosophcal nature of his enterprise and his wish to "place the role of the IOC, right from the start, very much above that of a simple sports association".
Pierre de Coubertin died of a heart attack on 2 September, 1937, in a park in Geneva，and thus his "symphony" remained unfinished. Coubertin still continues to be remembered as the Father of the Modern Olympic Games.
According to Coubertin's wishes, his body was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland, the headquarters of the IOC, and his heart was buried inside a stele under the Olympia Mountain, overlooking the site of the ancient Olympics.
The Pierre de Coubertin Medal(also known as the De Coubertin Medal or the True Spirit of Sportsmanship Medal)is a special medal given by the IOC to the athletes who demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship in Olympic events. The medal was named in honor of Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games.
The Pierre de Coubertin Medal is considered by many athletes and spectators to be the highest award that an Olympic athlete can receive, even greater than a gold medal of Olympic Games. The IOC also considers it as its highest honor.
The first modern Olympic Games were opened in the first week of April 1896, but at that time the Greek government had been unable to fund construction of a stadium.
Georgios Averoff, a wealthy Greek architect, donated one million drachmas(over $100,000) to restore the Panathenaic Stadium which originally built in 330 BC with white marble for the Olympic Games.
Some contenders were tourists who happened to be in the area during the first Morden Olympic Games. Athletes wore their athletic club uniform rather than a national team one.
Pole vaulting, sprints, shot put, weight lifting, swimming, cycling, target shooting, tennis, marathon and gymnastics were all events at the first Morden Olympic Games.
The swimming events of the first Modern Olympic Games were held in the Bay of Zea in the Aegean Sea. Approximately 300 athletes participated, representing thirteen countries.