Biography of Pierre de Coubertin

Peace and brotherhood of peoples through sport

1 January 1863
September 2, 1937
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, known more aristocratically as Pierre de Coubertin, was born in Paris, the day 1 January 1863. French pedagogue, went down in history for having revived, in a modern way, so-called fondandoli Olympics, in fact all the way, at least in the version in which they are customarily known. Since its first activities in education has always been among the biggest supporters of proper sport for inclusion within any educational program. His name is linked to the famous phrase "the important thing is not winning but taking part", in fact enunciated by de Coubertin but actually belonging to the Bishop Ethelbert Talbot, he specifically cited (the same Bishop seems to have taken the phrase, adapting it from a Greek philosopher, who said: "the important thing is not winning but taking part with winning spirit"). He was born and grew up in the French nobility, fourth and last child of the family.
Until 1880, the year of his graduation, he spent a happy childhood and adolescence, both in his Paris House, both in family-owned Castle located at Mirville, in Normandy. Here, in the quiet of the countryside, the young Pierre became passionate about the outdoors, sport, he loves since he was very small, and even in the arts, such as painting and music. Is a good student and graduated by the Jesuits. In addition, sounds very good on piano and musical talent that will grow into adulthood, although work commitments. At the end of the school year, in 1880 chooses political studies, instead of a military career.
He studied law in Paris but, from 1883 until 1890, he devoted himself mainly to activities related to social problems in France, reflecting on real reform of education in a modern pedagogical. The time shift is on 23 June 1894, when at the Sorbonne in Paris, announcing for the first time the idea of recovering the ancient Olympic Games. Is a real Conference that organized by de Coubertin, which is the mouthpiece of the establishment of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which takes the General Secretariat. As President, to tie the game from the point of view of nascent symbolic to those who were of the ancient Hellenic period, he was appointed the Greek Demetrius Vikelas. On the other hand, one of the decisions taken during the Congress is the first modern Olympiad was to be held in Greece, in Athens. The first Olympic Games held in 1896.
Meanwhile Pier de Coubertin, in 1895, he married Marie Rotham, which gives him a son exactly one year later. In 1897, now deeply involved in several trips both in the u.s. and in England, the French Baron holds the first real Olympic Congress, in Le Havre, which he chaired. The previous year's games were a great success and the idea not only of the French, is to replicate them every four years. In 1900, however, in Paris, the Olympic event is placed into the background, absorbed the international fair. The same thing happened four years later in St Louis. To console the birth of his second daughter, de Coubertin, Renee, in 1902. A turning point came with the summer Olympics of 1906, which aroused great interest. From now and until 1912, the French nobleman is fighting all over the world to spread modern sports ideas, such as athletic associations for workers.
It also adds to the games, very important details from the symbolic point of view, such as the famous 5 hoops and the Olympic oath before the start of the sports themselves. In Stockholm in 1912, on the occasion of the Olympics, De Coubertin launches the discipline of the modern pentathlon, which he actually invented. In 1915 moved the Olympic Committee in Lausanne and holds the Presidency until the 1924 games in Paris, that turn out to be an unprecedented success, nothing to do with previous dated 1900. To happen to his presidency is the Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour. However the French remains the Honorary President of the IOC and, especially, the Union Universal Pedagogical. From 1926 to 1927 find concretization another interest of his multifaceted life: the French Baron publishes his work of universal history, concentrated in four volumes.
He retired to private life in Switzerland, dedicates all his last energies, financial and otherwise, for sports and pedagogical ideas spread. During a walk, Pierre de Coubertin is caught by a heart attack and died in Geneva on 2 September 1937. Buried in Lausanne, his heart is then buried separately, in a monument near the ruins of ancient Olympia in Greece.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.