Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-11-09
INFLUENCE OF ATHLETICS.
Baron de Coubertin Believes the Olympic
Games VIII Do asueh Good.

Baron de Coubertin Believes the Olympic
Games VIII Do aiuei Good.
On the world sc large the Olympic
games have, Of course, exerted no infius
ence as yet, but I am profoundly con-
WINGED that they will do SO. May be
permitted TO say that this was my rea-
son for founding them? Modern ath-
letics need to be unified and purified.
Those who have followed the renais-
Eance of physical sports in this century
know that discord reigns supreme from
one end of them to the other. Every
country has its own rules. 1t is not pos
sible even to come to an agreement as to
who is an amateur and who is not. All
over the world there is one perpetual
dispute. which is further fed by innu-
merable weekly and even daily newspa-
pers. In this deplorable state OF things
professionalism tends to grow apace.
Men give up their whole existence to
one particular sport. grow rich by prac-
ticing it, and thus deprive it of all no.
bility and destroy the just equilibrium
of man BY making the muscles prepon-
derate over the mind. 1t is my belief
that no education, particularly in demo
cratic times, can be good and complete
without the aid of athletics, but ath-
letics, in order to play their proper edu-
cational role, must be based on perfect
disinterestedness and the sentiment of
honor.
If we are to guard them against these
threatening evils, we must put an end
to the quarrels Of amateurs, that they
may be united among themselves and
willing to measure their skill IN fire.
quent international encounters. But
what country is to impose its rules and
its habits on the others? The Swedes
will not yield to the Germans, nor the
French to the English. Nothing better
than the international Olympic games
could therefore be devised. Each coun-
try will take it's turn in organizing
them. When they come TO meet every
four years in these contests, further en-
nobled by the memories of the past, ath-
Ietes all over the world Will learn to
know one another better, TO make mu-
tual concessions and TO seek no other re-
ward in the competition than the honor
of the victory One may be filed with
the desire TO see the coIors of ones club
or college triumph In a national meet
ing, but how much stronger Is the feel
ing when the colors Of ones country are
at stake? I am well assured that the
victors in the stadion at Athens wished
for no other recompense when they
heard the people cheer the flag Of their
country IN honor Of their achievement.
It was with these thoughts in mind
that I sought to revive the Olympic
games. I have succeeded after many
efforts Should the institution prosper
AS I am persuaded, all civilized ma
lions aiding, that it Wilt may be a
potent, if indirect, factor in securing
universal peace. Wars break out be-
cause nations misunderstood each other.
We shall not have peace until the preju-
dices which now separate the different
races shall have been outlived. To at
tain this end, what better means than
to bring the youth Of all countries peri
odically together for amicable trials of
muscular strength and agility? The
Olympic games with the ancients con-
trolled athletics and promoted peace. It
is not visionary TO look to them for sim
liar benefactions in the future. 1.-THE
Olympic Games of 1885," by Baron
Pierre de Coubertin, in Century.