If an athlete is to commit to sport at the depths the Olympic Games demand, it will be a nearly religious commitment.  At least, that was the perspective of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who saw in the rise of sport a new, alternative form of modern faith. Today’s slight paraphrase comes from “Ode to Sport,” the Baron's long poem that won the gold medal for literature during the arts competition at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. We have quoted passages from this poem many times—and we will return it yet again before the year is over. 

“O Sport, you are Progress! To serve you, a man must improve himself both physically and spiritually. You force him to abide by a greater discipline; you demand that he avoid all excess.”