As he retired from the International Olympic Committee at the Prague Session in 1925, Baron Pierre de Coubertin made it clear that he had no intention of giving up his campaign to continue to spread the benefits of sport and education to every sector of society. Over the next few years, he would launch several attempts to create a modern gymnasium on the ancient Greek model that could be replicated in city after city to give adults, especially working-class adults access to a free facility for exercise, sport and education.  Since his resources were diminished and his allies fading away, his initiatives never met with the kind of success he hoped for and eventually died off.  What’s most interesting in the Baron’s message here is the adamant commitment to egalitarianism, a reflection of his 30-year Olympic campaign to use sport and education to break down class, cultural and religious barriers.  This quote is from the Baron’s speech at the Opening of the Olympic Congress at Prague City Hall in May of 1925.

“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, placed under the immediate and sole authority of the city. In this way, and only in this way, will a generation that is healthily and completely athletic be created.”