IOC awards Pierre de Coubertin Medals to illustrious personalities who have made an outstanding contribution to Olympism
Jean Durry, the author of Coubertin “Autographe”, and journalist Ed Hula were today awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal during a ceremony at Olympic House organised on the occasion of Olympic Day 2023.
French historian Jean Durry is the founder and honorary director of the National Sport Museum in France. An expert on Pierre de Coubertin, he is the author of Coubertin autographe – Tome I (1889-1915), a commentary on the texts and writings of Pierre de Coubertin. Now, some 20 years later, he has produced Tome II (1915-1937). This latest collection of letters and manuscripts by Pierre de Coubertin reveals new information and sheds light on the last two decades of his life: the IOC’s move to Lausanne on 10 April 1915, the Great War, his farewell to the Olympic Movement, and his final years right up until his death on 2 September 1937. This new edition, with a detailed index, has been produced as a digital publication, allowing present-day scholars to navigate the different chapters with great ease.
Congratulating Durry on his labour of love and rigorous research, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Nearly 130 years after his call to revive the Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin would be delighted to know that his work continues and that his writings remain a source of inspiration.”
Awarding him the Pierre de Coubertin Medal, IOC President Thomas Bach said, “You share [with Coubertin] a passion for sport and culture… You have shared and transmitted this passion for the values of sport, Olympism, and Coubertin through numerous published works. Over and above the simple reproduction of letters and writings, you have studied in depth the man, the person, behind the founder of the IOC and modern Olympism. You have decoded the soul of this visionary, whose work and actions are yet to be discovered by future generations.”
Durry had previously received the Olympic Order in 2003 for Coubertin autographe – Tome I (1889-1915).
New York native Ed Hula is the editor and founder of Around the Rings, which was for many years the leading publication focusing on news around the Olympic Games. Hula began covering the Olympic Games in the late 1980s. He has covered every edition since Barcelona 1992, alongside Olympic sports championships, IOC meetings and other key events related to the business of sport.
Awarding him the medal, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Over the past 40 years, you have covered the Olympic Games for radio, television, print and online publications. This makes you one of the very few, if not the one and only, truly multimedia Olympic Games correspondents. During this time the world of journalism and the Olympic Movement have undergone tremendous changes. You were always at the forefront to report on these developments – and to report on them using the leading medium of the day. You made it your mission to make sense of it all to an ever-growing audience well beyond the rings. And sometimes it really takes an effort to make sense of it all. In doing so, you have established yourself as one of the foremost Olympic experts. Your lifelong dedication to Olympic journalism has earned you many journalistic awards and – even more importantly – it earned you the respect of your peers, even of the ones you are writing about.”
President Bach continued: “For a news organisation that in the early days was still distributed by fax, Around the Rings has come a long way. Over the decades, you have made Olympic and media history, especially so when in 1998 Around the Rings became the first digital publication to be credentialed for the Olympic Games. You have been a pioneer at the intersection of journalism and sport for the last 40 years.” President Bach went on to draw a parallel with Pierre de Coubertin, who was also an accomplished journalist, contributing articles to a wide range of journals and publications.
The Pierre de Coubertin Medal is a decoration intended for representatives of the world of education. The medal, which was created in 1997, is a tribute to people and institutions with a pedagogical and educational calling who, through their teaching, research and writing of academic works, in the spirit of Pierre de Coubertin, help to promote Olympism.