1800-Olympics.com: The Olympic Idea

During his studies of the History of Ancient Greece, Pierre de Coubertin was so impressed with the magnitude and standing which the Olympic Games had in antiquity that he proposed the organisation and holding of the Modern Olympic Games.

Ideally, Coubertin offered that the games should have an international character with the inclusion of a wide range of sports to develop friendship and co-operation among nations, stabilisation of world peace and the abolition of racial discrimination.

Additionally, it was suggested that an international committee be formed to act as trustees of 'Olympism'.

His first public speech on the idea was made in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, in 1892.

During the international congress for the study and spread of the principles of athletics -- in Paris, two years later -- Coubertin's proposal for the re-establishment of the Olympic Games was accepted and the International Olympic Committee was founded; with Dimitris Vikelas as president and Pierre de Coubertin as secretary general.

It was also proposed that the games be held every four years, in a different country, and that the honour of the first modern Olympic games be given to Athens; as the games were a part of Greece in antiquity.

'The fruitful idea for the re-establishment of these games is an idea basically Greek and it was an act of justice to hold the first ones on the ground where they were born.' - Published in the first issue of the Bulletin of the International Committee.

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