Pierre de Coubertin

Coubertin wanted to make sports an important part of the personal development of young people. He conceived of an international competition to promote athletics. To publicize these plans, he organised an international congress on 23 June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. There he proposed to reinstate the ancient Olympic Games. Coubertin became general secretary of the newly founded International Olympic Committee (IOC). The first modern Olympiad was held in Athens, Greece, the country where the ancient games were held.

See also: 1896 Summer Olympics