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its author meant it and eventually explained (37) , should not be understood as simply
an exhortation to improve obsessively upon sports records, but to steadily improve
man's total ontological condition through sport (38) . Citius, Altius, Fortius would
represent an ordered model for steady improvement within the framework of
moral self-betterment.
This motto was born and became the dominant theme of the speech given by
Didon on the 7th March 1891 to the École Albert le Grand Sports Association, of
which he was the director, and was accepted as the official motto during the
Congress which also created the IOC in 1894 (39) .
The competition motto
This is the well-known phrase, which can be summed up as "it is not the winning,
but the taking part that counts", a phrase of great importance for sport and
for Olympism, normally attributed to Coubertin, but actually the words of the
Archbishop of Pennsylvania, Monsignor Ethelbert Talbot, who used the phrase in
the speech he gave in St Paul's Cathedral, London on the 17th June 1908 to the
athletes participating in the Games of the 4th Olympiad (40) . Coubertin, who considered
this speech "highly philosophical (41) , complemented the phrase with his
personal way of looking at the sports situation in its educational context: "The important
thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not to have vanquished but to
have fought well. By spreading these precepts we will prepare a more courageous,
stronger, more scrupulous and generous humanity" (42) . His passion for a tireless
and competitive spirit, of which he was the living example throughout his long
and fruitful existence, can be seen in a paragraph of his autobiographical novel "Le
Roman d'un rallié": "Life, like wrestling, is simple. A good wrestler pulls back, but
he does not abandon the fight; he gives way, but he never gives up. If he is faced
with the impossible, he turns and goes further. If he runs out of breath, he rests
and waits. If he is knocked out of the competition, he encourages his brothers
with his words and his presence. And when everything around him crumbles, despair
does not enter his heart. " (45)
The Olympic torch
The ceremony of lighting the Olympic fire and its journey from Greece by
means of relays was another of the symbols of modern Olympism which, although
it was not created by Coubertin (it was now eleven years since he had left the IOC)
was enthusiastically praised by him on its first appearance in the 1936 Games in
Berlin.
Carl Diem, the great German professor, a personal friend of Coubertin, came
up with the idea on the basis of the Ancient Greek lampadedromea, or torch
races (44) , which were essential to the rituals and liturgy. Today the journey of the
Olympic fire has become one of the most spectacular and vital Olympic symbols,
representing continuous renewal within tradition, incorporating some new element
in every Games, personalizing the ceremony in question with the features
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