As he recalled the golden night in the Sorbonne in 1894, the night in which he led 2000 people to stand in acclamation of his proposal to revive the Olympic Games in modern form, Baron Pierre de Coubertin gave full credit to the ancients—and paid tribute to the influence of antiquity over the delegates in the grand amphitheater that night.  The year before, French archaeologists had discovered in the ruins of Delphi two stone tablets inscribed with a 2000-year old Hymn to Apollo.  That hymn, arranged by Gabriel Fauré, France’s greatest composer, and sang by Opera diva Jeanne Remacle, had worked its magic, filling the room with a mesmerizing spirit from the classical world.  As the music evoked its long lost emotions, the baron knew, without a doubt, his proposal would succeed.  He delivered this message in “Neo-Olympism: Appeal to the People of Athens,” an open letter which appeared in Le Messager d’Athènes in November of that year.  As he sought the support of the Greek public for the first modern Olympic Games, he made it clear that his intentions went far beyond a simple sporting event.  In fact, the Olympic Movement he had launched was nothing less than a quest to build a better world.   

“The Greek genius was among us, transforming a modest congress on athletic sports into a quest for moral betterment and social peace. My goal had been achieved.”