1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

THE OLYMPIC GAMES OF TO-DAY.A SHORT REVIEW.he wave of interest in, and appreciation of, physicalculture and hygiene which, towards the close of the19:th century, swept over the whole of Europe, founda perfectly logical expression in the establishment ofthe modern Olympic Games. In nearly every country ofthe civilized world, clear-sighted patriots directed theirendeavours towards the employment of physical exercises as a meansof elevating the vitality and the capacity for work of the individual,and, thereby, of the entire nation. What, then, was more naturalthan that, after antiquarian zeal and study had shed their light onthe classic Olympic Games and their influence on the culture oftheir times, the world should unite in a desire to revive these Gameswhich, in all truth, form a worthy example of the steps that shouldbe taken to train mankind to-day to manliness and strength.It is France and a Frenchman that have the honour of originatingthis thought. It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin who, in the springof 1893, made the first proposal to re-establish the Olympic Gamesand, on his initiative, representatives of the athletic organizationsof various countries assembled on the 16 July, 1894, in the GrandHall of the Sorbonne University, in Paris. The meeting discussedthe possibility of instituting the Games, and the greatest interestwas displayed in every quarter. The International Olympic Committeewas formed at this initial meeting, and was entrusted with the taskof arranging Olympic Games at regular intervals, and at variousplaces in the civilized world.It must be acknowledged, however, that the Anglo-Saxon racehad specially and most thoroughly prepared the way for these modemOlympic Games, for, long before their establishment, the athletic lifeof England had been taken as the model on which most othernations fashioned theirs.845