Реферат: Olympic Games Essay Research Paper

organised athletics conducted by students. He observed that "competing for

a place on an athletic team developed qualities of character whereas the

attitude in French schools was that games destroyed study"(Gorman 118). He

was convinced that he should devote his entire time and energy to securing a

reform in his own country. He decided to start at the bottom because, as he

expressed it, "the foundation of real human morality lies in mutual

respect-and to respect one another it is necessary to know one

another"(Gary 92) Coubertin was not an athlete but he chose athletics as

his field. The first major sport with which he associated himself was rowing,

but when he attempted to bring the British oarsmen to France or send the French

oarsmen to compete at Henley, he found that the "British and French

conceptions of amateurism were not the same"(Gorman 120). This gave him the

idea of bringing together educators, diplomats, and sports leader for the

purpose of developing a universal understanding of amateurism so that the

athletes of all nations might meet on an equal basis. Coubertin realized that to

capture the attention of disinterested persons he would have to originate

something spectacular. He began to dream of a revival of the Olympic Games. At a

meeting of the Athletic Sports Union at Sorbonne in Paris, Nov. 25, 1892, be

first publicly announced the Olympic Games idea. Speaking at the conference,

Coubertin said, "Let us export oarsmen, runners, fencers; there is the free

trade of the future-and on the day when it shall take place among the customs of

Europe the cause of peace will have received a new and powerful

support"(Gorman 125). However, his proposal to revive the Olympic Games

went for naught as his auditors failed to grasp the significance of the idea.

His next opportunity came in the spring of 1894 at an international congress

which he had assembled for the purpose of studying the questions of amateurism.

At this meeting, official delegates from France, England, the United States,

Greece, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, were in attendance. Hungary,

Germany, Bohemia, Holland and Australia sent proxies or letters. Seven questions