The second modern restoration of the Olympic Games took place in Antwerp in 1920, barely a year and a half after World War I ended.  The Sixth Olympiad, which had been scheduled for Berlin in 1916, had been cancelled due the hostilities, but Baron Pierre de Coubertin had boldly proclaimed in 1914 that the Games would resume once the war ended.  Once the festivities in Antwerp concluded, the Baron was nearly exultant in his praise of the Games—as this quote indicates.  It is drawn from his article, “The Contribution of the Seventh Olympiad,” which appeared in La Revue Sportive Illustrée in 1920.

“That is what the Seventh Olympiad gave us: the understanding of all, the certainty of being understood by everyone from then on... It has shown the universe, in radiant relief, the educational, moral, and social dynamism that restored and modernized Olympism.”