In 1936, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, living alone and impoverished in Geneva, granted a series of long interviews to BZ am Mittag, a German newspaper intent on printing the Baron’s full recollection of the origins and growth of the modern Olympic Movement. In the penultimate year of his life, at a time when he was largely forgotten by the world outside Olympic circles, these interviews gave the Baron a deeply meaningful chance to recall the scope and scale of his achievements and the philosophy of Olympism he had created. Today’s quote is drawn from one of those interviews: “The Origins and Limits of Athletic Progress.”   

“We used to believe that Hellenism was a thing of the past, a dead notion, impossible to revive and inapplicable to current conditions. This is wrong. Hellenism is part of the future. Its philosophy of life is suitable for and adaptable to modern existence. That is why sport is such an essential element in modern progress.”