Friendship & Peace Through Sport

Introduction

Although he is barely known outside the Olympic family, Pierre de Coubertin spent his life and family fortune working to make his idealistic vision of the Olympic Games a permanent part of the world’s sporting calendar.  For Coubertin, sport was always a means to a higher purpose–uniting the world in friendship and peace. 

For more than 130 years, his vision has done just that through the quadrennial celebration of the Olympic Games. Given the fact that 5 billion people–more than half the world’s population–watched some of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Coubertin should be a global cultural icon today.  Instead, he ranks as one of history’s greatest forgotten heroes.  Part of the mission of the United States Pierre de Coubertin Committee is to correct that injustice and elevate Coubertin to a status commensurate with his incredible legacy.