Ode To Sport
Georges Hohrod, & M. Eschbach
(Pseudonym Pierre de Coubertin)
Awarded a prize in the sports literature
competition in the V Olympiad - Stockholm 1912.
Ode to sport
Oh Sport, pleasure of the Gods essence of
life, you appeared suddenly in the midst of the grey clearing which
writhes with the drudgery of modern existence, like the radiant
messenger of a past age, when mankind still smiled.
And the glimmer of dawn lit up the mountain tops and flecks of light dotted the ground in the gloomy forests.
II.
O Sport, you are Beauty! You are the
architect of that edifice which is the human body and which can become
abject or sublime according to whether it is defiled by vile passions or
improved through healthy exertion.
There can be no beauty without balance
and proportion, and you are the peerless master of both, for you create
harmony, you give movements rhythm, you make strength graceful and you
endow suppleness with power.
Ill.
O Sport, you are Justice! The perfect
equity for which men strive in vain in their social institutions is your
constant companion. No one can jump a centimetre higher than the height
he can jump, nor run a minute longer than the length he can run.
The limits of his success are determined solely by his own physical and moral strength.
IV.
O Sport, you are Audacity! The meaning of all muscular effort can be
summed up in the word ‘dare’. What good
are muscles, what is the point of feeling strong and agile, and why work
to improve one’s agility and strength, unless it is in order to dare?
But the daring you inspire has nothing in common with the adventurer’s
recklessness in staking everything on chance.
Yours is a prudent, well-considered audacity.
V.
O Sport, you are Honour! The laurels you bestow have no value unless
they have been won in absolute fairness
and with perfect impartiality. He who, with some shameful trick, manages
to deceive his fellow competitors feels guilt to his very core and
lives in fear of the ignominious epithet which shall forever be attached
to his name should his trickery be discovered.
VI.
O Sport, you are Joy! At your behest, flesh dances and eyes smile; blood
races abundantly through the arteries.
Thoughts stretch out on a brighter,
clearer horizon. To the sorrowful you can even bring salutary diversion
from their distress, whilst the happy you enable fully to savour their joie de vivre.
VII.
O Sport, you are Fecundity! You strive
directly and nobly towards perfection of the race, destroying unhealthy
seed and correcting the flaws which threaten its essential purity.
And you fill the athlete with a desire to
see his sons grow up agile and strong around him to take his place in
the arena and, in their turn, carry off the most glorious trophies.
VIII.
O Sport, you are Progress! To serve you, a man must improve himself
both physically and spiritually.
You force him to abide by a greater discipline; you demand that he avoid all excess.
You teach him wise rules which allow him to exert himself with the maximum of intensity without compromising his good health.
IX.
O Sport, you are Peace! You promote happy relations between peoples,
bringing them together in their shared
devotion to a strength which is controlled, organized and
self-disciplined. From you, the young worldwide learn self-respect, and
thus the diversity of national qualities becomes the source of a
generous and friendly rivalry.