In 1919, on the 25^thanniversary of the revival of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, with the requisite humility, accepted the praise of a gathering at the University of Lausanne.  For this audience, he recalled that he had gathered a few allies in the United States and England before launching his grand enterprise—and, as always, he credited immortal Greece with the idealism that formed the platform of the modern Games.  It is interesting to note that in launching the Games he claims he was only following an inner drive too powerful to disobey. It is a claim he made elsewhere in his memoirs.  

“After weighing the practical chances for the undertaking in New York and London, I asked immortal Greece for the dose of idealism required for this remarkable synthesis. Gentlemen, that work has now been solidified by a quarter century of success. You have just paid tribute to this effort in terms that would have embarrassed me, if the words were meant for the worker. This worker is not aware of deserving such praise, because all he did was obey an instinct that was stronger than his own will. But he accepts joyfully these expressions of praise for the Idea, of which he was but the first servant.”