Coubertin Quote for Apr, 04
The pleasure of the muscles, that source of joy, energy, calm, and purity, must also be placed within the grasp of the most humble, in the many forms that the modern world have made possible. That is the integral and democratic Olympism of which we are laying the cornerstone today.Share
In April of 1919 in Lausanne, Switzerland, Baron Pierre de Coubertin gave a speech celebrating the 25th anniversary of the modern Olympic Movement. While he looked back, taking pride in the achievements of the first five Olympiads, he was more intent on looking ahead. Believing the future could be built around a new set of principles, he exhorted his audience to spread the values of Olympism far and wide. Against the backdrop of a World War that shook the foundations of civil society, Coubertin saw hope for a better, more egalitarian world in the values of Olympism, which he considered an essential support of democracy.
“Faced with a new world that must be ordered according to principles thought to be utopian until now ... humanity must find all the strength it can in the heritage of the past in order to build its future. Olympism is one of those strengths. To guarantee social peace, it will not be enough to distribute ... the objects needed for material life more equitably among men. Nor will it be enough to give adolescents free access to intellectual development in keeping with their mental capacities, rather than in keeping with the social position of their parents. The pleasure of the muscles, that source of joy, energy, calm, and purity, must also be placed within the grasp of the most humble, in the many forms that the improvements of modern industry have made possible. That is the integral and democratic Olympism of which we are laying the cornerstone today.”