The moment when Baron Pierre de Coubertin wrote these words must have been filled with a deep sense of satisfaction.  While sadder days awaited in the future, in January of 1922, as he surveyed the nations of the world and noted they all wanted to participate in his international festival of youth, he knew he had achieved his ultimate goal.  The Olympic Games had survived a world war and were now recognized as the pinnacle of global sport.  This quote is taken from the article “Between Two Battles: Between Olympism and the Popular University,” which appeared in La Revue de la Semaine at the time. 

“When I planned to re-establish the Olympic Games, people took me for a madman, too. Yet the Games were re-established, and the principle of the Games has now been accepted by all nations.”