INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

Then came the throwing game, the grand race, rifle shooting, chariot
race (one was for speed and the other a "ring race"). Then there was
the sack race, hoop race, and the ball game with two versions, for
older students (Big Team) or younger competitors (Small Team).
Through the years some events of the Rondeau Olympic Games would
be added or eliminated (discus, sabre, pole vaulting, etc)... The
Rondeau Olympic Games appeared at the same period as other
attempts were being made in Europe: like the one by Dr Brooks in the
English town of Much Wenlock, in Sweden and in Greece
(unsuccessful attempts made from 1850-70) etc... These games were
to endure for more than a century and a quick glimpse allows one to
perceive the richness of this athletic educational innovation as the
former student and writer, Henry Rousset, illustrates. In his book that
covers the Rondeau Olympic story in 1894, Henry Rousset conducts
an in-depth journalistic investigation inspired by his memories as a
student at Rondeau. These were the highlighted aspects: the first year
there was no Games’ President or fiery speeches: "The republican era
and the simplicity of ancient Greece were respected in their slightest
details".
What follows is a long story written by Rousset, the former
seminary student. Indoctrined with the ardent Rondeau spirit and
inspired by a forerunning "sportive lyricism", the author's writing
surprises the contemporary reader. In fact, the renovation of the
Olympic Games was not known when the Rondeau Olympic Games
of 1894 were presented. No one yet imagined at the time, apart from
the baron Pierre de Coubertin and Pascal Grousset who were opposed
in their approaches, the restoring of the Olympic Games and, all the
more, their future success.
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