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Gathering of Colection Stories-father of the modern Olympic Games


Publish date:2020-3-9   Pageview: 760


 

I am Xia Xiaoao, my favourite hobby is to tell the story of the Olympic Games, I have an idol, he is the father of the modern Olympic Games. I will tell you his story right now.


Although Mr. Coubertin has passed away (1863-1937), I have great respect for him. In Xiamen Olympic Museum, I saw his studio model. At that time, I just wanted to take it home, but mother said: “ This is a cultural relic, we can't take it back, but we can often come here to see it. The best way to show your respect for Mr. Coubertin is to carry on his spirit and carry home what he wants to teach you through the collection.  


Therefore, today, xiao ao and zhou mei, the volunteer of our Xiamen Olympic Museum, will bring you the story of "Mr. Coubertin’s studio model" through her voice. Hope you will enjoy and show your support to my idol.

Hello Zhou mei, the volunteer of Xiamen Olympic Museum


Now you can see the father of the modern Olympics, Pierre DE Coubertin, working in his studio. Coubertin devoted his life to the Olympic cause. He even requested in his will that his heart be buried in Olympia, Greece, and his body in Lausanne, Switzerland after his death.


Pierre DE Coubertin was a famous French educator, thinker and theorist, as well as the founder of the modern Olympic movement. He devoted all his life to the revival of the ancient Olympic Games and made great contributions to the modern games through his own efforts.Coubertin was born into a French aristocratic family and spent his childhood in Normandy. Nor did his status as a French aristocrat bring him happiness or glory. In his childhood, with the defeat of the French war, the Coubertin family was completely defeated, and the sting of losing power and humiliating the country left a very deep scar on Coubertin. It was just such a situation that brought him have a new thinking and pursuit for his future life.


He was studious from childhood and he had a strong interest in literature and history courses at the beginning of his study. After graduating from high school, he went to a military academy and then studied for an education degree. Later, he went to England for further study. While studying in England, he devoted himself to the history of English education and During this period, he wrote an academic paper about the educational thought of Thomas Arnault, a British child educator in the 18th century As Arnault once said, "sports are a kind of activity of self-education for youth". It was because of this sentence that Coubertin was inspired to devote himself to physical education.


He examined the education of Britain and the situation of the sports at the time, and appreciated for the British physical education, extracurricular sports activities and regular outings. He hoped to set up physical education classes in French schools, so as to cultivate students' Collectivism and the spirit of hard work .Under the influence of the ancient Greek culture and the English bourgeois education, he began to reform the French education system and advocate the idea of sports, which  made a preparation for his later contribution to the modern Olympic Games. As a young man, when visiting the ancient Olympic Games site in Athens, Greece, Coubertin was impressed by the magnificent architectures of the Olympic Games. The spirit of the ancient Olympic Games made him sublimate his thinking, so he had the belief of reviving Olympic sports. In his opinion, carrying forward the Olympic spirit can promote the development of track sports, so he started his journey of reviving the Olympic Games, under his efforts, the international Olympic Committee was established in Paris, France, and during the period of 1896 to 1925, he served as the second President of the ioc. Also in his initiative, held the first modern Olympic Games, and the flame was lit and transmitted to reflect the endless growth of the Olympic spirit.


At the beginning of the modern Olympic Games, Coubertin judged the situation and finally promoted the successful holding of the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. Meanwhile, in order to realize his ambition, he began to investigate the development of British sports, and published a series of advocacy activities, hoping to reform education with sports. Later, at the sports training conference held in Boston, he realized that the development of modern sports was moving towards internationalization. In order to further investigate the situation of sports in various countries, he visited many countries. When he saw the ruins of the ancient Olympic Games, he came up with the idea of hosting the Olympic Games with the participation of all countries. Since his adulthood, he spent his life in the ridicule of others to revive the Olympic Games. At the time of his death, he had been fighting for the Olympic Games for nearly 54 years. Now every time the Olympic flame is lit in Greece, people holding the torch will first circle at his tombstone to salute the Olympic pioneer. Coubertin, the world remembers him only because he forgets himself. In September 1937, Coubertin died of a heart attack. After his death, the people who dealt with his future affairs buried his body in Lausanne, Switzerland, in accordance with his will before his death, while his heart was buried in the birthplace of the ancient Greek Olympic Games, that is, in Olympia. The reason for this is that Coubertin wants to sleep in the ground even if he dies, but his heart still needs to be connected with the spirit and pulse of the Olympic movement. Coubertin's great love for the Olympic movement made him fulfill his wish to revive the Olympic movement no matter how difficult the journey is, and even if he had difficulties, he just persevered and struggled tenaciously. With the active efforts of Coubertin, we established the Olympic Committee and successfully held the first Athens Olympic Games in 1896. And the Olympic spirit he advocated also spread around the world with the holding of the Olympic Games. He is known as the "father of the Olympics" because of his immortal contributions to the Olympics.


As a university student in Wuhan and a volunteer in Xiamen Olympic Museum in this epidemic situation. I only hope that the disease and disaster will end soon. Let's go to Wuhan to enjoy the cherry blossom then. Thank you for listening to this audio. This is Zhou Mei. See you next time.


 

    

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