Today’s quote is essentially a paraphrase of a message Baron Pierre de Coubertin sent to his colleagues in the IOC just after World War I.  His intention was to remind them of the great achievements of the Olympic Movement in popularizing sport over the last twenty-five years, leading the fight to popularize sport across all classes—and ensure that it wasn’t simply a privilege of the wealthy.

“For a long time, athletics, which was revived in the 19th century, has been merely a pastime for the young, wealthy and idle. Our committee has fought harder than anyone to make the pleasures of sport available to the middle classes, and now it should be accessible to the working classes as well.”