In January of 1894, six months before he succeeded in reviving the Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin sent a circular letter to all those he was inviting to the Sorbonne for the International Athletic Congress that June.  In that letter, he made it clear that the restored Olympic Games he envisioned would have a vital role to place in modern education. Decades before the idea of athletes as role models became popular, the Baron suggested that it would be essential for athletics—and therefore athletes—to exhibit the highest qualities of character in order to have a positive influence on society.  Chivalry was a medieval code of conduct that placed honor, courage, justice and readiness to help others at the center of life—and the Baron wanted those who rose to the Olympic heights to possess those qualities as he believed their ancient forebears did.