What was Pierre de Coubertin concerned about in 1889? A View from an Argentine Contemporary Source

Abstract

For more than a century Baron Pierre de Coubertin was believed to be a self-inspired Olympic forebear. That idea has recently been challenged, most notably by historian David Young. According to Young, de Coubertin took the idea of international Olympic Games in modern times from W. P. Brookes. Young bases his case on new evidence found in the Brookes’s archives. In this article I present another piece of evidence helping to corroborate Brookes’s influence on de Coubertin’s work. Such evidence comes from the personal report of Alejo Peyret, a member of the Argentine delegation to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition in which de Coubertin hosted the International Congress for the Propagation of Physical Exercise. In his report, Peyret provided a detailed account of all of the activities of the congress and commented on the state of physical education in France. By analyzing Peyret’s report, this article concludes that in mid-1889 de Coubertin was not concerned with reviving the Olympic Games. His focus was on improving France’s poor physical training system. This article also discusses the impact that the Argentine participation in the congress had on its incipient physical education and sporting movements.