Pierre de COUBERTIN

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was only 1.62 metres tall, but by many measures, he was a giant of the 20th century. Born into the French aristocracy on 1 January 1863, he became a champion of the common man, embracing the values of France’s Third Republic liberty, equality, fraternity as a young adult.

Coubertin set out on a quest to give French children what British students already had: sport in education. By the age of 25, he had become a leader of French education reform.

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At the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, he organised the world’s first Congress on Physical Education and began to build the international network of educators, politicians, aristocrats, commerce, culture and sport who would help him fulfil his Olympic dream. Five years later, on 23 June 1894, in the grand amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University, 2,000 people rose in acclamation of his proposal to revive the Olympic Games.