Feb - Coubertin Speaks

Feb 28

The combination of confidence and wariness, daring and prudence, enthusiasm and self-control (are) … the foundations of proper human balance … achieved through sport.

Sport combines the only two things that, taken together, ensure peace among societies: teamwork and competition.

The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

The most wonderful thing at the Olympics for me is that, at the end of everything, all the competitors from all over the world who have not known each other before get together for the closing ceremony. They hug each other. Usually some of them cry. It is as if they were really brothers and sisters, a family, about to separate...

Olympism destroys the walls that divide. It calls for air and light for all.

The rising tide of athleticism is healthy and fruitful. I'll do anything to increase its strength, to help it overcome obstacles that are thrown in its path.

The six colors on the Olympic flag reproduce the colors of all the national flags that fly anywhere in the world in our time.

University students, messengers of knowledge and imagination, will constitute the most active battalions in this great task; (to make) sport … an inestimable instrument for the establishment of social peace. Popular Olympism is about to be born; let the students prepare to serve it.

The Olympics bring all nations together … in hopes that these peaceful, courteous confrontations are the best form of internationalism.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

The Olympiads are, par excellence, celebrations of youth, beauty, and strength.

Every human being belongs to the great orchestra of mankind.

Sports need championships and records; it is the beautiful and loyal brutality of sports that make people strong and healthy.

Internationalism is a trend that grew out of the deep need for peace and fraternity arising from the depths of the human heart.

Sport is the birthright of all, equally and to the same degree, and nothing can replace it.

It is perfectly human to love difficult things simply because they are difficult. That is the philosophy of sport.

By chiseling his body through exercise as a sculptor does a statue, the ancient athlete honored the gods. In doing likewise, the modern athlete honors his country, his race, and his flag.

The Games are global. All people must be allowed in, without debate.

The Olympic Games are a pilgrimage to the past and an act of faith in the future.

Olympism is not a system, it is a state of mind. No race or time can hold an exclusive monopoly on it.

An idea that dates back some 2,000 years, Olympism stirs men’s hearts today—as in days past—and satisfies one of the most vital and noble instincts.

Sports are a school for daring, energy, and persevering will. By their very nature, they tend toward excess.

Olympism is the veneration of peaceful and confident youth.

Olympism is entering Asia! Whether the torch is carried in reality or symbolically, the meaning remains the same as the flame whose spiritual power it evokes.

Olympism remains firmly anchored on solid foundations facing new horizons. That is why the torch that is extinguished here will be lit again elsewhere; the winds of the moment will be enough to blow the flame right round the earth.

During each Olympiad, I read that it will be the last because … Because, if you really want to know, the reporter (one has to see the facts as they are) was poorly accommodated, was overcharged in a restaurant, or because the telegraph or telephone did not work as it should. This is only human.

Athletics can bring into play both the noblest and the basest passions; they can develop the qualities of unselfishness and honor just as much as the love of gain; they can be chivalrous or corrupt, virile or bestial; finally, they can be used to strengthen peace or to prepare for war.

Excellence in one area creates the desire to be first in everything.

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