Pierre de Coubertin in EL PAÍS English

From left to right, in the second row, Baron de Coubertin, Edward VIII (then still Prince of Wales) and the former French athlete Justinien de Clary, during the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

A new essay reconstructs the literary competition of the VIII Olympiad, which brought together Nobel Prize winners on the jury and participants such as Robert Graves and Henry de Montherlant to praise sporting heroism

Spyridon Louis, in his sixties, photographed in Berlin in 1936.

Olympic Games

The unknown story of the first Olympic hero: An unexpected victory and a sad and premature end

Miquel Echarri|Barcelona|Jul 20, 2024 - 06:05 CEST

Spyridon Louis, a humble water carrier without any athletics training, was the first great hero of the Olympic Games when, at the last minute and against all odds, he brought victory to Athens in 1896

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Pierre de Coubertin

The eccentric struggle of 32 writers to win Olympic gold at the Paris 1924 Games

The unknown story of the first Olympic hero: An unexpected victory and a sad and premature end

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