Pierre de Coubertin: creator of the Modern Olympics

Coubertin’s Mosaic

In 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympic Games. The Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger, was borrowed by Coubertin from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris, in a speech given to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Another informal motto used by Coubertin came from a sermon made by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games: "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!" (Wikipedia website, Olympic Symbols) 

The Latin motto with its comparative adjectives pushing insistently for more of everything translates unusually well to the Postmodern Olympics—faster moving storylines, more thrilling video, and a firmer hold over the audience across the communications ether—seems apt as a slogan and business plan for the electronic version of the  Olympic Games as we know them today. The TV Olympics strives for more viewers, more expensive commercial time, and greater visibility for the host city. Coubertin, an educator at his essence, studied the educational systems of Britain and America and their emphasis on physical culture and games with the goal of reforming the rigid French pedagogy. Coubertin switched his attention from reforming the French educational system to creating the Modern Olympics but retained the same high-mindedness idealism for his new pursuit.

Coubertin was so closely identified with reviving the Olympics that he was president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1896-1925 and made Honorary President upon his retirement. Upon his death, Coubertin’s heart was interred in a marble monument at Olympia commemorating him as father of the Modern Olympics. The dramatic gesture of placing Coubertin’s heart in Olympia possesses religious overtones. Coubertin's passion for developing an improbable dream into a  quadrennial international gathering resulted in a grand achievement, one of enormous social and political relevance. The addition of a Winter Olympic Games, starting in 1924, made the Olympics a biennial event

The Olympic Games, primarily a television experience since the 1950s, corrals the viewers at home in a digitized, massaged and manipulated format, the ultimate expression of the television director’s art. Coubertin’s egalitarian Olympic message somehow survives and reflects Coubertin talent for pragmatism. Coubertin’s enduring optimism against triumphed over the resistance to the Modern Games. The Olympic paradigm, established by Coubertin, with its lofty principles of health, education and world peace, hopefully continues despite the commercialization of the Games.

Coubertin established a mosaic-like structure for the Games and fully understood the importance of symbolism, particularly in the choice of Athens as a first locale for the Modern Olympics. The Modern Olympics had a surprisingly auspicious start in Athens, Coubertin having gained the endorsement of the Greek royal family and the citizens. The Greeks rallied with some of the enthusiasm that characterizes the joyfulness of the host city to the present day. Interestingly, 1896 Athens greeted the event with a flair for symbolism not usually associated with sports events. Homes were decorated with colorful streamers and banners indicated the letters O.A., the Greek initials for Olympic Games, and the numbers 776 B.C. and 1896 A.D., the dates indicating the beginning year for ancient Games and for the new Modern Olympics. (MacAloon 208) Symbolism and a sense of historic grandeur would accompany later Olympic gatherings and reflect Coubertin’s desire for establishing more than a sports competition.

The Opening Ceremony, full of a theatrical grandeur not associated with sports competition, showed a marketer’s instincts for symbolism and drama. The Opening Ceremony provides a festive Act I, followed by Act II and the sports competition and Act III completion with the marathon race and  Closing Ceremony. Coubertin’s Act II inspiration was to take advantage of the luster of history and with “Athletics” events, the term for the track and field events connected to the ancient Games and expand the number and variety of events to include swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, shooting,  and tennis. The increased palette of sports guaranteed a wide public appeal, not to mention the likelihood of a wider spectrum of winners from the 14 participating nations.

American athletes succeeded mightily at the first Modern Olympic but the Games reached a crescendo of success when a finally a Greek athlete, Spiridon Louis, crossed the finish line as winner. Louis was triumphant in the marathon, the event possessing the most symbolic import for Greeks and every host city needs a hero to call their own. First and second place winner were awarded silver medals, and an olive branch and laurel branch respectively. The awarding of medals occurred at the end of the 1896 Games and provided an exciting Act III finale to go along with the Closing Ceremony. Coubertin had created a template for an Olympics dense with tradition, symbolism and drama that lasts to the current day. (Official Souvenir Program, Centennial Olympic Games)