When Baron Pierre de Coubertin started his work in education reform in the 1880s, he had no idea it was going to lead him on a path toward resurrecting the long-lost Olympic Games. But little more than a decade later, he found himself giving a speech at the closing banquet of the Sorbonne Congress of 1894 where he had, indeed, led a successful effort to birth an event that would become the pinnacle of global sport.  At that moment, his heart was filled with gratitude—as this excerpt from his speech makes clear.

“Gratitude is among the virtues most easily practiced. It is also a feeling most easily expressed. At the close of this congress that has fulfilled the hopes of the first ten years of my adult life, I look around to find those to whom I must express my profound thanks ... those who have helped and supported me.”