Pierre De Coubertin

By Connor Brown

Date and Place of Birth

• Coubertin was born on January

1’st, 1863

• He was born in Paris, France

• He was born under the name

Pierre Baron de Coubertin

Childhood and Family• Coubertin’s father was a

diplomat descended from a line

of spice merchants

• His mother was of Norman

nobility

• He rejected his family’s

proposals for him to have a

military or legal career

Education• Educated by Jesuits at Lycee Saint

Ignace, a prestigious school in Paris

• It’s rigorous physical exercise shaped

his goals and he graduated in 1880

• He studied social science in the Free

School of Political Science in Paris, he

left in 1883

• Continued schooling in England and got

a law degree

Career

• Author of many books on

education and society

• Consultant to the Ministry of

Education and other departments

• Commissioned by the

government to make a 4 year

survey of USA and Canadian

schools to reform France’s

Important Facts• He believed the Ancient Olympics

expressed fair competition and physical

exercise which are two of his goals

• Theodosius I banned the games in 393

AD and Coubertin brought them back in

1896

• Coubertin was a sportsman himself. He

was a boxer, a fencer, a rider, and and a

rower

Works/Inventions• He was the founder of the

International Olympic Committee

(IOC)

• He wrote the book “Education in

England” that showed his

enthusiasm for English instruction

and sports

• “Olympic Memoirs” that shows his

views of the Olympic movement

Why He’s Remembered Today

• For founding the IOC

• His leadership created the

first Modern Olympic Games

• For giving a lecture about re-

establishing the Olympic

Games

Death, How He Died• Died on September 2, 1937 of

natural causes

• His body is buried in Lausanne,

Switzerland, the site of the IOC

headquarters

• His heart is buried in Olympia,

Greece, the site of the ancient

Olympic Games

Works Cited

• Christensen, Paul. "Pierre De Coubertin." Biographical Encyclopedia of

     20'th-Century World Leaders. Ed. John Powell. Vol. 2. Tarrytown: Marshall

     Cavendish, 2000. 355-57. Print.

• Wallechinsky, David. "Coubertin, Pierre Baron de." World Book Student. World

     Book, 16 May 2013. Web. 16 May 2013.

<http://www.worldbookonline.com/

     student/article?id=ar752283&st=pierre+de+coubertin>.