OLYMPIAD FOUNDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 13

OLYMPIAD FOUNDER

HEART TO BE BURIED FULFILMENT OF WISH (Received February 23, 5.5 p.m.) ATHENS, Feb. 22 The Olympic International Committee has decided to bury the heart of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, under the stone erected in his honour at the stadium where the first Olympiad was held in 1896. Baron de Coubertin expressed the wish that his body should be interred there, but that was impossible for various reasons. Baron de Coubertin died suddenly last year on September 2. He collapsed while walking and died as a result of apoplexy. In the days of his youth the baron was filled with enthusiasm when he read of the great contests in endurance and agility between the youths of ancient Greece, and thus arose in his mind a desire to see the revival of the Olympic Games. As early as 1888, when he was 26 years of age, he began his efforts to interest people in the idea of resuscitating the Olympic Games on an international basis, and adapted to modern conditions. He had innumerable difficulties to contend with, but finally in 1894 he succeeded in convoking a representative congress in Paris, which established an international committee. t The result was the holding of the first Olympic Gaines on the historic site at Athens in 1896. It was decided that they should take place every four years. Baron de Coubertin had been president of the international council of the Olympic Games since its foundation.