Foundation Speech of the Olympic Games donated to the IOC

Prof. Wassong delivers a lecture on its historical significance during IOC ceremony.

In December 2019, a historical document of the Olympic Movement made world headlines: the original manuscript of the founding speech of the Olympic Movement by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1892 was auctioned at Sotheby`s in New York for 8.8 million US-Dollar.

Within this speech, dated on 25 November 1892, Coubertin mentioned his idea to re-introduce the modern Olympic Games for the first time in public. The buyer Alisher Usmanov, who heads the international fencing federation, has now donated the unique document to the IOC, which is to be exhibited in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

The IOC organized a celebration in Lausanne to highlight the significance of the handing over of the document and its importance for the Olympic Movement. Therein, and on the invitation of IOC-President Thomas Bach, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Wassong delivered a lecture on the historical significance of the founding speech.

Prof. Wassong was invited as speaker and guest to the ceremony in his functions as Director of the Olympic Study Center of the German Sport University Cologne and President of the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee. The IOC reports in detail about the donation of the document on its website