Syracuse

Like so many men of his generation and status, Pierre de Coubertin wrote extensively throughout his life. His writings amount to around 16,000 printed pages, including 34 books, 57 pamphlets and 1,224 articles. The works cover eight main themes: sport and physical education (accounting for a third of the total), general education, history, politics, journalism, the Olympic Movement (only 9 per cent of the total), hygiene and health, and art. 

Nevertheless, it was his publications on the values of Olympism, the revival of the Olympic Games and the development of sports organisations that made him a renowned author.

From 1959, Coubertin’s texts, the vast majority of which were written in French, started being republished and translated into a number of languages. Anthologies such as "Olympism: selected writings" were also published to facilitate access to his considerable written output.

At the Olympic Studies Centre (OSC), we have more than 300 books and articles written by Coubertin. More than two-thirds of this content can be accessed in digital format, through the digital collection made available to us by the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee.

You have various options to discover this collection:

- for full-text searches in all his writings available digitally (220 books and articles), use the search bar on the right

- for access to his full collection (paper and digital) of publications, republications, translations and anthologies, see here

- the timeline at the bottom of the page allows you to discover his (digitally available) books in chronological order by year of publication

This feature can be used to search documents (76 books and 145 articles) written by Pierre de Coubertin that are available in digital format. Type in your keywords, and a list of results displaying the texts that contain these terms will appear.

Go further with your research by using these OSC resources:

- Thematic ZOOM IN page on Pierre de Coubertin, featuring a wide selection of online and bibliographic resources

- OSC reference document "Pierre de Coubertin: life, vision, influences and achievements of the founder of the modern Olympic Games" containing 60 short texts

- A selection of quotes by Coubertin

- An educational programme aimed at a young audience, entitled "Discovering Pierre de Coubertin: an educational programme based on the words of Pierre de Coubertin"

- "Restoring the Olympic Games : founding speech" - published by the IOC in 2020, presenting Pierre de Coubertin's speech at La Sorbonne in Paris on 25 November 1892

- Pierre de Coubertin's handwritten correspondence, which is available in the IOC's Historical Archives and can be consulted on site at the OSC (see fonds list)