As World War I ended, Baron Pierre de Coubertin wrote a letter to his colleagues in the International Olympic Committee, in part, to prepare them to help reignite the Olympic Movement across the war-torn landscape of Europe.  As he equipped them with an understanding of the role Olympic sport could and should play in the post-war environment, he also wanted them to know that sport was present among the troops during the bloody conflict, comforting and sustaining them with its potent familiarity.  This excerpt reveals the Baron’s compassion and respect for the “incomparable soldiers” who sacrificed so much and his hopes that sport would triumph in the times of peace ahead.

“After helping train incomparable soldiers, athleticism also helped sustain their zeal and console them in their suffering. They played football, they fenced, and they boxed right up by the front lines and far from them, as well, in the sad prisoners' camps. Public opinion is aware of these things, and appreciates them. Well-deserved enthusiasm will guarantee the value of physical education, and proclaim the triumph of sports.”