When an athlete achieves perfect balance—when all the qualities of performance are working together in harmony—in that golden flash, that fleeting moment of excellence, Olympism is manifest.  Baron Pierre de Coubertin defined Olympism as a philosophy of life that sought to nurture human excellence, mutual respect, friendship between competitors and peace between nations, but he also described it as a state of mind, a way of being.  Modeled on the precepts of ancient Hellenism, which sought to find happiness and balance in this life, Coubertin’s Olympism sought to produce a mindset capable of dwelling in the golden mean between excess and effortless control.  To use a phrase in fashion today, we might call it mindfulness because Olympism was certainly in the moment, conscious of the immediacy of the here and now.  In "Olympic Letter IV: Olympism as a State of Mind,” which the Baron composed in 1918 while World War I was still raging outside, he ruminated on the internal essence of Olympism.  For reference, a more familiar quote from this letter appeared here on February 9th.

“Olympism is a state of mind that derives from a twofold doctrine: that of effort, and that of eurythmy (harmonious balance). Notice how much the association of these two elements, the taste for excess and the taste for due measure, is in keeping with human nature.”