NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Evening Star, Issue 20057, 24 December 1928, Page 8

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

AWARD FOR 1928 FOUNDER OF OLYMPIC GAMES. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. STOCKHOLM, December 21. The Nobel Peace Prize for 1928 has been awarded to Baron Pierre De Conbertin, the founder of the Olympic Games.—Australian Press Association. Baron Pierre De Coubertin.' who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1928 has seen the modern Olympic movement grow to its present proportions, for it was largely due to bis perseverance and zealous work the Olympic Games were_ revived. Some forty years ago M. Pierre De Coubertin, a" young Frenchman whose heartstrings had been wrung by the humiliation of his country in 1870, began to study outdoor life in England _ and America. He travelled extensively, and published several' bonks on the subject, and in his own land was the organiser of clubs for I( cultivating the more strenuous, inspiriting, and daring sports which hitherto had been neglected.” In the terms mentioned in the loregoing paragraph, Professor Milligan Sloan e, of Columbia University, a senior member of the Internationa! Olympic Ccvnnittce, wrote_ on tho progress of the Olympic idea in an article appearing in the ‘ Century Magazine in 1912. Tho motto of M. De Coubertin, ho said, was “ Ludus pro Patria, of which a free translation might _be “ Sport for the country.” _ Its spirit took possession of all continental Europe. and again M. De Coubertin took the lead, summoning to the Sorbqnne representative delegates selected chiefly from his wide personal acquaintance in different countries, _ for the combined purpose of deliberation.and action. lb e meeting assembled on June 23, 1894, and, while it was not imposing in numbers or in the personal distinction of those who attended it, it was impressive from the place of its session, and especially from the earnestness of its delegates. The result of the conference was the Olympic idea, and the formation of an 'international Olympic Committee, the object of ij'birb. was, first and above all else, to define and promulgate a purpose until then rather vague; secondly, in the fullness of time to revive Olympic contests. , The president, even premier in council, and prime mover in action, was Baron Pierre De Coubertin. In the study of the Olympic idea, as shown at ancient Olympia in Greece, the president, a man of classical training and spirit, consulted not only men of similar calibre in his own land, but those in other countries as well, and thus arose the first modern Olympic Games at Athens in 1896. since when thev have been held as follow: —Paris," 1900; St. Louis, 1904; 'London. 1908; Stockholm, 1912; Antwerp, 1920; Pans,,, 1924; and Amsterdam, 1928. Thus, by conferring the Nobel Peace Prize upon the founder of the Olympic Games, the value of sport ns an important factor in the securing of international peace has been recognised.