France · 150th birthday of Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin was born in Paris in 1863 into an aristocratic family. He was primarily concerned with pedagogy and the question of what role physical education should play in schools. He drew inspiration from the British education system, in which organised sport was more firmly established than in France at the time. He regarded sport as a means of character building and international understanding, although within the social concepts of his era.

At the end of the 19th century, efforts were being made in several countries to revive the sporting competitions of ancient Greece. Coubertin advocated regularly held, internationally organised Games. At a congress at the Paris Sorbonne, the foundation of the International Olympic Committee (Internationales Olympisches Komitee) was decided in 1894. The first Games under its direction were held in Athens in 1896. After the first IOC President Demetrios Vikelas, Coubertin took over the chairmanship and held it until 1925.

Coubertin shaped the ceremonial practices and symbolism of the Olympic movement. He designed the five interlocking rings, which represent the connection between the continents and the international orientation of the Games. He also contributed to the dissemination of Olympic rituals and guiding principles. However, his views were not free from the limitations of his era: in particular, he largely rejected women’s sporting competitions. The actual development of the Olympic Games later went beyond this understanding.

France chose Coubertin’s birthday as the occasion for the coin because his work is closely connected with Paris and the history of French education and sport. The founding of the IOC also took place in the French capital. The combination of his portrait with the rings therefore refers not only to an individual person, but also to the emergence of an international institution that continues to exist to this day and its recurring sporting event.