Dec - Coubertin Speaks

Dec 31

Let us congratulate ourselves on what we have accomplished, yet remain aware that more remains to be done.

Youth likes to be told about the future … the coming society will be altruistic or will be nothing: choose between that and chaos.

What worries me most is the difficulty of finding those who will take over and continue the work I have started.

Olympism is a state of mind that derives from a twofold doctrine of effort and harmonious balance.”

The future belongs to those who will be the first to dare to change the instruction of the young adult ... It is that young adult, not the child, who holds and dictates fate.

I was convinced that no political or social stability can he achieved without educational reform first.

Like ancient athletics, modern athletics is a religion, a belief, a passionate movement of the spirit that can range from ‘games to heroism.’

May joy and good-fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through the ages, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.

Olympia stood for something that lived on after it, which is alive once again, and will continue to be reborn throughout history.

Let the union of the body and mind be sealed forever, for progress and for human dignity.

Let us unite around this divine sphere, in order to maintain and protect it, for the world still needs it.

The time has come to build an educational structure with architecture more suited to the needs of the day.

All through my life, universal history … has been not only a constant source of inspiration but also, in moments of sorrow and pain, a source of real consolation.

The honor of engaging in the struggle and the hope of being crowned victor in (the Olympic Games) … is equal to any attraction that your ingeniousness could devise.

The task of celebrating the XIIth Olympic Games will be the greatest ever given to a country … to combine Hellenism, the most precious civilization of ancient Europe, with the refined culture and art of Asia.

Sport has become completely international and we may therefore hope that this movement will not stop, since if it were to weaken at one point it would revive at another.

Success achieved in games through twisting the truth does not count. It is like trying to eat by ingesting poison.

President Doumergue had only been in the Élysée Palace a week when … he drove … to the Sorbonne to attend the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the revival of the Olympic Games.

In the proud and independent atmosphere of Lausanne, Olympism will find guarantees of the freedom it must enjoy in order to move forward.

All sports for all people, that is the new goal to which we must devote our energies, a goal that is not in the least impracticable.

Now it is up to the athletic associations to set a good example by returning to their faith in honor and sincerity, by driving lying and hypocrisy from their midst.

For one hundred to go in for physical education, fifty have to go in for sport. For fifty to go in for sport, twenty will have to specialize. For twenty to specialize, five will have to show themselves capable of astounding feats.

Olympism is only part of my life's work, approximately half in fact.

… so many young lives born to savor the joys of sport were … sacrificed on the altar of Armageddon …

In those days, nothing could be more difficult than trying to persuade a number of spectators to attend a sports event. Such meetings roused little interest …

They were unable to comprehend my idea—to interpret this forgotten thing: Olympism, and to separate its soul, its essence … from the ancient forms that had enveloped it.

(In California), nature's splendors provided a backdrop for the exquisite efforts of the people … whose instinct for art and beauty has long since drawn them onward and upward to greater destinies.

This growing popularity of sport among the working class is an undeniable guarantee for the survival of Olympism.

Olympism refuses to make physical education a purely physiological thing … It refuses … to classify (knowledge) into isolated categories.

The religion of restored athletics … provides a sort of joyful stoicism that can help the individual face the daily ups and downs of life.

I have called for the restoration of the municipal gymnasium of antiquity, made accessible to all without distinction according to opinion, belief, or social status …

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