Baron Pierre de Coubertin defined true revolutions as transformations that led to a better world, not violent disruptions that destroyed without replacing, but major changes that led to improvements for one and all. When he led the resurrection of the Olympic Games, he was ready to put a new system in place.  He proclaimed that he and his colleagues were rebels, replacing the old moth-eaten theories about sport and games with a revolutionary new concept designed to unite the world in friendship and peace.  The quadrennial event he proposed—the modern Olympic Games—were only the most visible expression of a global movement that was chartered to build sport at the grassroots level of every nation 365 days a year.  It was a revolutionary idea then—and it is still a revolutionary idea today. This passage is from the Baron’s “Olympic Letter IV: Olympism as a State of Mind,” which appeared in the Olympic Review in 1918.

“Did I present modern Olympism last time as being imbued with the revolutionary spirit, when I said that its purpose was to tear down the dividing walls in education? Yet knocking down walls means transforming the layout of a building, not destroying the supporting walls or even altering the look of the architecture. I do not want to incur this reproach, being among those who consider revolutions violent and almost always fruitless. Most revolutions kick in doors that were in the process of opening, and the sudden brusqueness of the gesture causes the door to fall back on itself and close once again. What is more, the only true revolutions are those movements that intend to put ready-made institutions into place suddenly, each detail of which has been worked out in advance.”