As a life-long student of competition and a pioneer in sports psychology, Baron Pierre de Coubertin knew that at the elite level of the Olympic Games, victory was won by the narrowest of margins, and often influenced by the mindset of the athlete. In his article, “The Seventh Olympic Games,” which appeared in La Concorde in 1920, he argued against those who speculated that sporting success belonged to the richest nations.

“Who was it who said that only the big nations could think of having their representatives victorious, that there was nothing for inexperienced men to hope for, that success was in proportion to the money spent? ... The secret of success does not lie merely in the technical preparation given, but above all in the mental attitude of the athletes, together with the firm moral resolution which inspires them.”