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Olympic Declaration
Coubertin's speech in 1892
unfoldFour entries with the same name
On November 25, 1892,
Coubertin
Baron in
The Sorbonne in Paris
He gave a wonderful speech at the congress held to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the founding of the French Athletics Federation. He called on people to "persevere in the pursuit and realization of a great and beneficial cause based on the conditions of modern life." This rich and passionate historic speech came to be known as the Olympic Declaration.
November 25th is Olympic Declaration Day.
[4]
- Chinese name
- Olympic Declaration
- People and things
- Coubertin
- Characteristic point
- Extremely rich and enthusiastic
- Publication time
- November 25, 1892
Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics
In 1994, during the commemoration of the centenary of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee published only 1,000 copies of the Olympic Declaration internally in English and French, thus announcing the existence of this precious manuscript. On January 2, 2008, to commemorate the 145th anniversary of Pierre de Coubertin's birth, the world premiere celebration of the Olympic Declaration in Chinese, French and English was held in Beijing. One hundred years after the manuscript of the Olympic Declaration was lost, in the year when China entered the Olympic Games, with the agreement of President Rogge of the International Olympic Committee and the Marquis de Damma of France, the copyright owner, Civilization Magazine published the Olympic Declaration in Chinese, French and English for the first time in the world.
On December 18, 2019, the original copy of a 14-page manuscript of the Olympic Declaration set a new auction record for sports memorabilia, selling for $8.8 million.
Sotheby's
After 12 minutes of intense bidding, the work fetched almost nine times its pre-sale estimate of $1 million, the company said in a statement.
[1]
Coubertin's speech on the revival of the Olympic Movement
November 25, 1892
Sport in the modern world is concentrated in three capitals: Berlin, Stockholm and London. From there, three systems emerged, all based on the popular ideas of ancient society, with influences reaching far beyond. These ancient ideas, inherited consciously or unconsciously during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, can be summed up in three words: war, hygiene and sport. Let me now briefly describe their characteristics, describe their development in modern times, and finally describe France's participation in this important movement. For this movement, it is aptly called: the Renaissance of sports.
The century we live in, which began so tragically and is now ending in a turbulent peace, continues a century in which intellectual activity was exceedingly rich and physical exercise indeed poor. It may be necessary to look for the root causes of those imbalances in this vast contrast, but that is not our task. We only notice that at the end of the eighteenth century, strenuous sports and manly competitions were no longer practiced everywhere, and people sought recreation and pleasure elsewhere. From this perspective, the situation in the UK is particularly surprising. People no longer enjoy the outdoors as much and revels in nature as they did in Tudor times, before Thomas Arnold and the other founders of athletics education. If Napoleon had not gone and consolidated Great Britain as the north wind stopped the ice from melting, the English would not have been so distinct as a national character, with its mixture of natural roughness and malaise, which might well have been precursors of decay. In France tennis courts are deserted, where people exchange vows rather than play ball. An era is gone: the time when Master de Guberville played ball on the beach at Cotentin every Sunday afternoon, surrounded by a group of sturdy boys from the surrounding villages; In one village parish after another, people were engaged in traditional gladiatorial and wrestling activities, as described in the sheepskin manuscripts that Mr. Simeon Luche had consulted. At that time, the priests of Afranche flocked to the beach every year to play hockey during religious festivals. All this disappeared under the government. Once upon a time, with nostalgia for ancient Greece, the governor wanted to organize something reminiscent of the ancient Olympic Games on the Champ de Mars in Paris, but there was one essential ingredient missing: competitors. There are always people who come, like children, to the lively large market, scrambling to climb the poles with prizes, in order to win the traditional leg of lamb or sweet soju. However, these events were not enough to form a sporting event, lacking a sports club and a Stade de France to organize support, and the governor's running event was actually short-lived, that is, lasting one morning. In fact, at the same time, on our borders, and even further beyond them, at the foot of the pyramids, on the banks of the Danube, in Spain, under the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow, the soldiers of France, in a heroic and tragic epic of war for twenty years, demonstrated to the world the most remarkable and muscular strength that had ever been known. In this short period of time, they have exhausted the strength of an entire nation that had accumulated over centuries. The blood shed by the warriors is the blood of the tennis players and of Master de Guberville, not of the cowardly, not of the debauched regency, it is the blood of France, stained in the cities, still pure in the country. And, gentlemen, you know what it is to us soldiers, that when they have exhausted their last strength, new strength arises! Aaargh! How much France needs a rest after these long and valiant campaigns, God! How we understand why, instead of exercising tired muscles, people play a game of dominoes. Thus France fell into a deep sleep after her victory. Beside her, however, a somber, complete, and terrible defeat awakened the energies of those who worked frantically for the establishment of that object which you know, the German Empire. As a result, military athletics was born in Berlin. In our country it is often said that the real victors of the battles of 1866 and 1870 were elementary school teachers. If it is this faith that has led to the rapid growth of elementary schools and public education throughout our country, we thank it. However, I think people focus too much on the primary school teacher and forget a little about his colleague: the physical education teacher. Gentlemen, soon after the Battle of Jena, there were many enthusiastic followers of German gymnastics, and their role was enthusiastically spread. Subsequently, more and more believers follow the commandments of German gymnastics and pursue strong movements in their exercises, which in a word is military in nature. Everywhere in Germany until yesterday: hierarchy, obedience and accuracy. From an early age, pupils must know their place in the queue, their eyes revolving around a superior, waiting to receive his orders. In middle school, they continue to keep their muscles flexible and their minds obedient so that they can always obey the call. Since this is the purpose of German gymnastics, it is easy to see what qualities and flaws such an idea brings. At university, the greatest pleasure of German youth is to fight with classmates, and facial knife marks become a sign of pride. Even the smallest details of life show a high degree of agreement, and this strict regulation seems to bring a kind of inner joy that neither the English nor the French understand. To this day, as long as you pass a German university and attend a gathering of German university students, you can see that at a command, everyone will drink all the wine in the glass. From this you can understand the influence of the fanatical devotion to discipline on this great nation. In this century, the whole country of Germany is permeated with militarism, and some socialists have brought some militarism into the formation of revolutionary parties. As I said just now, German gymnastics pursues strong movements and pays attention to strength and energy. It's only valid under this condition. However, in order to maintain this energy, gymnasts must constantly be under the influence of belligerence. The idea of war must constantly motivate them, and once Germany is free of this idea, countless gymnastic groups will soon change. In fact, in some parts of German territory, real sports have been created, the result of 20 years of peace at home and abroad. Young athletes begin to think about building up their own physique, regardless of the immediate or distant goals. If he was going to hurdle, he would make himself as light as possible and jump as high as possible. On the battlefield, however, legs and arms should not be naked, and it is not possible to wear only one underwear. Gymnasts at this time are less concerned with accomplishing a track feat and more concerned with nimblely crossing obstacles while carrying a backpack with weapons. In the same way, when they are no longer encouraged by the prospect of military service, the whole movement is slow, weak, almost sloppy, and lacking in soul. Similarly, group running disintegrates, and runners regain individuality. They no longer care about whether the pace is uniform, but who runs faster and who gets to the finish line first. From the point of view of physical exercise, German gymnastics is artificial; What it practices has no reason to exist, is so unnatural that it is possible to interest and accept it only by promising people some great and noble goal. That, gentlemen, is its success; But by tomorrow, this will probably lead to its decline. However, German gymnastics already has a large following and many groups have been formed, including in the Americas and Australia, not to mention France, which we will mention next. British people like to take a pair of tennis rackets and a Bible with them when they travel around the world, two things they never take with them. Germans emigrate with sauerkraut and gymnastics. As you are all aware of the large number of German immigrants in the United States, recent events have caused enough concern that if I were a citizen of the United States, I would consider this a danger to the country. However, the Germans in the United States strongly admire the Germans in Europe. Living and working in the land of the free, America, an ocean away from their old country, constantly singing of the chains they once could not bear, proudly calling out the name of the emperor, dreaming of Germanizing by language and custom a large part of the New world, to which they lived, but to which they never wished to return. They have also set up gymnastic groups for children, mimicking the practices of the old country, where the chaotic system known as "fitness education" has created an entirely homogeneous alternative arrangement. You may say to me that this exercise lacks those conditions which I have just pointed out to make it successful: military purpose and battlefield prospects. Do not think so, gentlemen, that you are used to seeing only merchants, entrepreneurs, businessmen among the 69 million inhabitants, but there is still a thinking America, a scientific America, and a military America. Although the physical traces of the Civil War have disappeared, the psychological scars are still visible, and the shock caused by this great war in the American psyche continues to this day. I declare that the patriotism of the American citizen is one of the strongest and most admirable I have ever known. However, the United States Military Academy at West Point had long followed the French military tradition and had produced an elite force, the officers of the Union Army. Now, each state has its own militia forces, and it would be a mistake to think of these forces as national self-defense forces of little value. I have neither the time nor the ability to study its operation in detail, but I can draw your attention to three facts: the number of men in the army, the perfect weapons and equipment, and the excellent mobilization that has just been demonstrated in Pennsylvania. Of course, the timing of the mobilization was not favorable, unprepared, not against an external enemy, but to maintain order in the event of a bloody strike. Within 24 hours, these merchants and businessmen had laid down everything they had, and by the 25th hour, they were all at the designated place, armed. Most of these militia forces were commanded and organized in the German way. They displayed a curious mixture of British voluntary civic morality and German military discipline. The Americans are rebuilding their fighting navy, and once that is done, their daring will soon be transformed into a spirit of conquest. I believe that the future administration in Washington will be one that fires guns easily. For all these reasons, military gymnastics, which had languished and disappeared on the banks of the Spree, would find authority and followers again on the banks of the Mississippi. In short, there is opportunity, and it is likely to reappear when a great ideal needs to be realized, when vengeance is needed, or when slavery needs to be abolished. The number of German immigrants in Australia is so small that it is almost negligible. But several groups have sprung up there. Although the militarism of these groups is less pervasive and aggressive than that of the United States, it is not without public concern. Need I also mention to you the riots in some of the Australian capitals, the events in Samoa and the New Hebrides, the strong desire of public opinion to soon occupy New Caledonia, and the dispatch of militia troops from New South Wales to support the British in the Sudan? I seem to have given up sports to study foreign affairs. In fact, I am merely stressing the important social rule that there is a close connection between the spirit, aspirations, and customs of a people, which have a direct influence on its understanding of sport and the way in which it is organized.
two
This, gentlemen, is the reality in Germany, and it is the reality in Sweden. Moving from German gymnastics to Swedish gymnastics is like listening to a pastoral symphony after a heroic symphony. Sweden is a happy nation with a short history, and for nearly a hundred years it has been committed to peacefully developing a kind of skating that is beneficial to the body and mind of all people, as well as a unique gymnastics that looks relatively gentle at first sight, and is named after its inventor, called Ringo gymnastics. I hasten to say that between Ringer gymnastics and skating, skating is more of a Swedish identity; Their good health, this wonderful balance of mind and body, this peaceful state of mind, this even breath, gives them vitality for life. They ascribe it to the ingenious creator of ice skating, but I attribute it without hesitation to the rapid gliding over the flat northern ice, to the icy air, to the wholesome pleasures of the Scandinavian winter. This is not to say that Swedish gymnastics, which is also being introduced shyly in Germany, London and some parts of New York, is without merit. A friend of ours, I may say, a distinguished friend of ours, Dr. Lagrange, a consultant to our league, was present on the spot to study Swedish gymnastics, and readers of Two Worlds magazine obtained his impression of the Stockholm Academy. "Swedish gymnastics," he wrote, "is gymnastics for the weak." It is. That's why we don't accept this kind of gymnastics. Swedish gymnastics moves slowly, suitable for the elderly, but also suitable for delicate children. Because of its scientific function, it is also suitable for patients. Mr. Lagrange was interested and fascinated, primarily, by its medical aspects. He writes that the French doctor who went to Stockholm to study was at first puzzled by the novelty of what he saw in some public or folk "academies", the variety of forms and movements. Gradually, a clear idea emerged in his mind: to summarize the process of classifying these dexterous movements, and to realize that their essence could be summarized in two results: quantifying the exercise and locating the movement. This brings us to the bold idea that this medical gymnastics is based on a unique and in-depth study of the muscular system. I mean the medical effect is achieved through exercise and some massage associated with it, and even can cure some heart diseases, the effect is excellent, more than half a century since the Swedish people have been to these colleges to find health ways, only the effect of this is worth people to pay attention to Swedish gymnastics. However, exercise enthusiasts are usually not patients. We're dealing mainly with healthy people. Swedish gymnastics pays attention to children, especially at an age when physical problems can be a concern; It is also suitable for patients, and provides exercise movements suitable for their physical strength for the elderly, which is all good. But there is no power in the world of youth, and youth needs exactly what it has given up: power and competition. In Swedish gymnastics, strength is gained by range of movement rather than by force, and people feel it slowly, never in a hurry. As for competition, one of the tenets of Swedish gymnastics is that people cannot be compared with each other, they can only compare with themselves. If we young athletes are to give up hard work and competition, we should first draw the blood from their veins: as long as there is a drop of blood, they will not give up, that is my answer. In fact, to give them the same admonition would be to mock them. It is easy to think of Sham's cartoon in which a mother puts her little girl in Tuileries Park and instructs her, "Play well, my child, but you must not catch cold or heat, crepe your dress, dirty your boots, mess your hair, or loose your bow tie." In Sweden, there is also a group of reformers working on the "masculinisation" of Swedish gymnastics, if I may say so. People looked at them with a mixture of anger and curiosity, and the innovators always got attention here and there and had the upper hand for a few days. Once the goal of Swedish gymnastics is not just to reach out to the sick and the infirm, I don't see how anyone can stop it from reaching the world, and I myself am not opposed to helping it spread globally.
three
Gentlemen, as we have seen at the beginning of this meeting, those who think that the English have a deep-rooted passion for physical exercise, which has never waned, are quite wrong. They take it for granted that what they see is what has always been there, and it is illogical to think that there is no sport in Britain. However, this illogic existed throughout the end of the last century and the beginning of this century. At that time, the decline of folk sport and the emergence of large landowners led to the monopoly of hunting rights, depriving the rural petty bourgeoisie of its favourite activity. Although boxers can still be seen fighting here and there, or rowing races are held on the Thames, but these are bets between professionals to get the audience to pay more money. It's not a sport. It's not a competitive sport. There were only two pastimes in England: honest or dishonest business, and half-drunk or drunken pleasure. Middle school is a microcosm of society, there is no unity, the teachers are insensitive, the students are the king of strength. Surely one would not have expected that such a vulgar and unsound school system could have produced such refinement and elegance by the talent of the educator. I am here, therefore, to say that contrary to this prejudice which prevails in France, there is no education system in the world more delicate, more elegant, more tender for young people than the present English system, and some appearances are misleading. Gentlemen, British athletics started just yesterday, and today it's all over the world. No one has yet written the history of this vast movement, but the main threads are clear. The deeds of Pastor Kingsley and his disciples are not so distant that their names have not yet been forgotten :60 years is enough to complete this incredible transformation. The original promoters just wanted to bring health and happiness for themselves and were not concerned with establishing the portal school. Yet they were visionary and surrounded by philosophical light: memories of Greece, respect for Stoic traditions, and a clear idea that track and field could bring benefits to modern humanity soon caught their attention. People laughed at them, but the ridicule did not discourage them in the least. When the movement grew to a significant scale, they were attacked with frenzied ferocity. But their cause has won the support of young people. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge began to cooperate with them because they found in them the source of a great revitalization, a much needed purifying force. At the same time, Thomas Arnold, a great citizen, leader and model of British education, laid out the rules for the role of athletics in education. The cause quickly gained recognition and success. In Britain, sports venues are popping up everywhere. The number of sports teams has increased so much that you can't even guess their numbers. London has a large number of them, not in the aristocratic quarters, but in the poor and common quarters. Every village has one or two groups, and while British law has done little for children's fitness education, civic initiatives have more than made up for it. Then the descendants of the British took their valuable experience with them when they left their homeland, and athletics flourished in a wide variety of climates in both hemispheres. In the United States, exactly after the Romantic crisis, we wanted to know what was going on there, and in 1889, on the back of one of a series of conferences organized around the Universal Exposition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, we distributed more than 7,000 copies to all the British colonies and English-speaking countries on sports, the impact of sports on education and education Its development questionnaire. This development has never stopped, and all the answers to the questionnaire consistently prove to us that the ever-rising sport of track and field has taken on a huge scale, and the experience of 50 years has only generally confirmed the correctness of Arnold and Kingsley's theory. In the United States, for example, a country obsessed with numbers, Dr. Sargent (a leading authority on the subject) estimates that investments in building stadiums, gyms, or equipment amounted to $1 million in 1860-1870, $2.5 million in 1870-1880, and $25 million in 1880-1890, for a total investment Brought in $28.5 million. Club yearbooks and track and field rules in Australia, Cape Town, Jamaica, Hong Kong and India all point to a sporting boom. My estimate, although the statistics I have are very incomplete, is that there are about 6 million people involved, and that's just counting adult activists who are registered with formal groups. I am not counting Belgium and the Netherlands, where sport attracts many people on a daily basis, or countries where sports communities exist in isolation. A professional journal concerned with helping the world of sports was born, and countless newspapers were born. A baseball game in Chicago, or a boat race on the Parramatta River, can be won or lost all over the world and occupy important page space in The Times. Forty years ago, The Times sheepishly covered the first race between Oxford and Cambridge from a small corner. On the days of major events, business stops, offices are empty, and people stop what they are doing, as the ancient Greeks did, to cheer on the young men running by. The young, gentlemen, who are now running past us, have the merit of simply seeking strength from their own strength, of voluntarily obeying rules, of voluntarily accepting a set of disciplines, and of being doubly efficient. It is noble and magnificent to think of war, but it is more laudable to think of health care, and yet the best of humanity is to try to be fair, to love hard work, to challenge difficulties, and so on. This is the philosophy of sport in general and of our league in particular.
four
Gentlemen, the state of participation in sport in France in 1886 was not as bad as some people think. I will not mention the upright and good Colonel Amoros, who, of course, had strong convictions, but he compiled a pamphlet of religious and moral anthems, and followed his disciples as they sang and stamped their feet. This allowed the Salvation Army, along with gymnasts, to consider him a pioneer. In passing, I would like to pay tribute to some gymnastic groups, although they inevitably encounter failures... But it's a springboard to victory, and we hope so. In spite of the sometimes mistaken belief that they were engaged in elementary school children's tricks, these groups did a great and noble service, and the peculiar feeling which inspired their training was enough to make the whole French people respect them. The exploits of the mountaineering clubs also need to be said, they have told so many of our fellow citizens that on the peaks of our borders, people can breathe air that has never been used there, and accumulate the strength of physical and mental health. Finally, there's fencing. How can you forget that? Isn't that sport for all? In this field, only the Italians can compete with us for the highest honors, and this sport allows us to enjoy the joy of solid fighting, which is not the greatest pleasure next to the joy of survival? Until 1886, however, a physical education structure was missing, and I don't know if many planners were aware of this problem. As far as I know, no one has proposed an exact structure. On August 23, 1887, a plan was finally published in Le Frenchman, and although I do not wish to speak personally in this meeting, I emphasize this date with a feeling that is undoubtedly just. In this period, the French Academy of Medical Sciences came out firmly against the overuse of the brain. To the authors of the scheme, it seemed like a way out of a wall. The French Academy of Medical Sciences insisted on changing the school curriculum to reduce mental effort and make time for sports, on the grounds that students did not have time for exercise. Totally wrong, there is time, and it is enough, there is no need to give more time, just need to be well arranged. As for public opinion, it was lost in the other direction, with some people saying to universities: Why don't you exercise at your place, go ahead, you move around. Exercise, and pushing exercise, is easier said than done. In fact, the impetus should come from the outside, from the initiative of the people, there should be a support group to build Bridges on both sides of the river, the Sorbonne is a support point, the sports club and the Stade France can be another support point. The two groups, one founded in 1882 and the other in 1883, were unaware of each other's existence for some time. One Monsieur de St. Clair, who has done more for athletics than anyone else, brought about the union of the two groups on January 18,1887. A rally was then held in the forest of the city of Affre, and on that day it was decided to form the Athletics Union, which was formally established on 29 November and whose statutes were legally recognized. In the early months of 1888, after many meetings and vigorous campaigning, a committee for the Promotion of Physical education and sport was formed. Mr. Hule Simon and Mr. Greal were the original commissioners. Next, the committee met on 31 May and 5 July to organize an interscholastic steeplechase race near Paris. What has happened since then is well known: the League of Physical Education, the Gironde League, which brought together many public high schools in the Bordeaux school District, organized competitions at all the contact points in France, and although the results were not very good, the results of this great movement over the past five years have brought us well-known results. Gentlemen, everyone is satisfied with this: the presence of all of you here today speaks for itself.
five
That's the past, but what about the future? I am not here to tell you about the future, because the role of the prophet is fraught with danger, and also because it is time for me to conclude this evening by giving you a brief history. The League has an obligation to fulfill its important duties, both to the university and to its members, and it will do so. Regarding track and field in general, I don't know what the future holds. However, I would like to draw your attention to the important fact that, in a series of once-in-a-century changes, two new characteristics of track and field have emerged, namely, popularization and internationalization. The first feature guarantees its future, and now nothing can survive for long except its popularity. The second feature presents us with an unexpected prospect. When some people tell you that war will disappear, you think they are utopians, and you are not entirely wrong. But there are others who believe that the possibility of war is diminishing. I don't think this is utopian. It is clear that the telegraph, the railroad, the telephone, the enthusiasm for scientific research, congresses, and expos have done more for the cause of peace than all treaties and diplomatic agreements. So I hope athletics can do more: people who have seen 30,000 people braving the rain to watch a football match won't think I'm talking a big game. Send abroad rowers and runners and fencers, this will be the free association of the future, and once such free association becomes the order of the old Europe, the cause of peace will receive new and powerful support. All this is enough to motivate me now to consider the second step in my plan, and to ask you, as always, to help me in my tireless pursuit, together with you, of a great and beneficial cause based on the conditions of modern life: the revival of the Olympic Movement.
Olympic Declaration Square
It is reported that the "Olympic Declaration" Square is an open square, located on the west side of the south gate of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park. The background of the square is Yangshan Forest as the skyline, which is integrated with the natural landscape.
Professor Zou Wen of Tsinghua University, the main designer of the square, said that the square design takes the concept of round sky and place in traditional Chinese culture to express the combination of Chinese culture and Olympic culture. The buildings of the square are engraved with the host cities, dates and sessions of the previous Olympic Games known in the history of modern Olympics, forming a pattern centered on the five rings. The main monument of the Olympic Declaration is engraved with the relief head of Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the Olympic Games, and the bas-relief image of Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee. "Olympic Declaration Square" from the project, site selection, design, construction to installation and completion, took more than 4 months.
On June 23, 2012, the international Olympic culture communication reached an important milestone: the "Olympic Declaration" Global civilization Communication campaign was launched in Beijing. Rogge, then president of the International Olympic Committee, proposed to "let the Olympic Declaration be transmitted from Beijing to the world."
[3]
