One of the more interesting contradictions in Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s thought was his preference for individual over team sports.  Although he drew most of his observations on the moral value of sport from watching English teams in competition, he still exalted the individual champion as the paragon of athleticism.  And while he wrote voluminously about the character building qualities of team sport and how team play served the development of democracy, he nonetheless returned to his theme that the Games were made to celebrate individual achievement.  This passage, which he wrote late in life, demonstrates the persistence of his preference for individual sport.  It appeared in Le Sport Suisse in 1931 under the title, ‘The Olympic Games and Gymnastics.’

“The Olympic Games were established to exalt the individual athlete, whose existence is necessary for the muscular activity of the group, and whose prowess is necessary to maintain the general competitiveness of all.”