As he encouraged his colleagues in the International Olympic Committee to rally back to the restoration of the Olympic Games immediately after World War I, Baron Pierre de Coubertin recited the multiple benefits of sport to the community of nations.  With the world still in an insecure state, the Baron emphasized that sport would help the next generation develop the tools essential to its future success.  This excerpt is from his “Letter to the Members of the International Olympic Committee," which he sent in January 1919, just two months after the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany.  The Antwerp Games were only a year and a half away and the Baron needed the full support of his colleagues on all fronts.

“(Athletic) groups sow the seeds of observation, critical thinking, self-control, calculated effort, expenditure of energy, and a practical philosophy in the face of failure. These are qualities that this generation needs desperately. If it does not acquire them, it is almost certain to fail in the tasks ahead.”