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Pierre Coubertin`s
IOC Presidency

1896 - 1925

Pierre de Coubertin became president of the International Olympic Committee after the 1896 Athens Olympic Games and remained in this office until 1925. In his 29 years of presidency he coined the profile of the modern Olympic movement through various activities. We have listed and described some of these activities in the following entries. We do not claim that our submissions are either extensive or complete. Therefore, we are requesting that our members submit further entries and help develop this knowledge base. Please contact Prof. Dr. Stephan Wassong to discuss possible inclusions.

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Pierre de
Coubertin and the Governance of the IOC during his Presidency

Jean-Loup Chappelet explains that 'governance’ is a “seventeenth-century French word designating the territory controlled by a governor”.
It has its etymological roots in the Greek and Latin word(s) kyberno, respectively gubernare,meaning to handle and/or to be responsible for the main rudder of a ship.

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Pierre de
Coubertin and the Athlete

According to Pierre de Coubertin the Olympic Games were to offer young adults some kind of final education, stressing the development of highly social and moral character traits and an openness of transcultural understanding.

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The Olympic
Rituals and Symbols

At the closing ceremony of the Olympic Foundation Congress at the Sorbonne on 23rd June 1894 Pierre de Coubertin proposed the three words formulated in the Latin comparative citius – altius- fortius as the motto for the Olympic Movement.

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The Introduction
of Olympic Art Competitions

Already at the very start of the Olympic Games Pierre de Coubertin considered the inclusion of art competitions in the Olympic programme. But according to him “the first necessity was to revive them and the second to shape them”. In 1904 he thought that the time has come now to realize his idea to invite the arts to the Olympic Games.