You don’t often hear athletic groups or teams described as ‘cells of democracy’ today, but Baron Pierre de Coubertin was on to something when he wrote this “Letter to the Members of the International Olympic Committee” in January 1919.  Born into the French aristocracy, the Baron recognized that sport could serve a leveling purpose, bridging class distinctions and creating a new kind of equality amid the rigid class strata of the times.  Many of his peers in the International Olympic Committee saw the same possibilities and helped ensure that the Olympic Games became what they are today—a true meritocracy, open to one and all on the basis of talent and personal achievement alone.  Indeed, as the Baron foresaw, sport has played a significant role in social reforms over the last century.

“Athleticism has a major role to play in bringing about social reforms ... the athletic group is, in a way, the basic cell of democracy. The only inequality that continues to exist in that group derives from nature, whereas artificial inequality introduced by men is banished.”