On June 23, 1894, in Sorbonne a rather nonacademic issue was on the agenda. The International Athletics Congress voted to support the proposal of French sports enthusiast Baron Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Olympic Games.
On this day the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) was selected. Baron Coubertin ceremoniously announced the names of the members. Second to be named was a representative of our country. “General Butovsky for Russia” – that’s how it sounded in the original.
Truth be told, Butovsky wasn’t in Paris at the time. He couldn’t get away from his duties. But he had become acquainted with Coubertin and his ideas in 1892, and the general provided him with all possible support and participated in the Paris forum from afar.
Propaganda has worked its wonders over the past 100 plus years. Today it seems that all the busy bees of the IOC residing on the banks of Lake Geneva ardently believe that the Olympic movement was successfully pulled off in it one and only try in the late 19th century. And millions of sports fans worldwide also know no better.
But as it turns out, in the first millennium of our era there were several attempts to revive this Hellenic tradition. The first Olympic theoretician was perhaps the Italian Matteo Palmieri, who was so bold as to initiate a public discussion of the need to restore Ancient Greek values in the realm of physical fitness back in 1450.
In the 16th century, sport was a come subject of discourse for English playwright Thomas Kyd, Italian doctor Girolamo Mercuriale and the German mastersinger Hans Sachs. The German lawyer Johannes Aquilla went even further and in 1516 organized “exhibition Olympics” in Baden.
In 1604 the English Olympic Games were held. They were the brainchild of Sir Robert Dover, the royal prosecutor under King James I. And these games were held in England over the course of 100 years!
In Russia this issue first concerned Mikhail Lomonosov, a man known not only for his encyclopedic education but also for his physical fitness.
In the 19th century brave and romantic minds continued their efforts in this area. In the 1830s demonstration Olympic games were held in Greece and Sweden and in the 1840s in Canada. In 1859 the ancient stadium in Athens was restored. Over the course of 30 years various Olympic track and field competitions were held at this facility.
So Pierre de Coubertin was no pioneer. But he does have the honor of being the first to succeed in creating an international organization, which in structure and spirit reminds one of a mix between an ancient knights order and a political party. Some researchers argue that the Coubertin movement was an attempt to create a new religious system. After all, it is built on a foundation of ideas promoted by Coubertin that are not so much practical as they are philosophical.
There is no need to rehash the Olympic Charter developed by Coubertin, particularly in light of the fact that the latest redaction of 2007 clearly differs from the baron’s postulates in terms of their sheer volume and the legally formulations that regulate the giant business structure that the IOC is today.
But we should mention the Ode to Sport, written by the baron and offered for public review under a pseudonym in 1912:
“O Sport, you are Peace! You promote happy relations between peoples, bringing them together in their shared devotion to a strength which is con- trolled, organized and self-disciplined.”
“O Sport, you are Fecundity! You strive directly and nobly towards perfection of the race, destroying unhealthy seed and correcting the flaws which threaten its essential purity.”
“O Sport, you are Beauty! You are the architect of that edifice which is the human body and which can become abject or sublime according to whether it is defiled by vile passions or improved through healthy exertion.”
And so on…
What beautiful thoughts, wonderful ideas and na
