Page "Pierre de Coubertin" Paragraph 36

Coubertin's legacy has been criticised by a number of scholars.

David C. Young, a scholar of antiquity who has studied the ancient Olympic Games, believes that Coubertin misunderstood the ancient Games and therefore based his justification for the creation of the modern Games on false grounds.

Specifically, Young points to Coubertin's assertion that ancient Olympic athletes were amateurs as incorrect.

This question of the professionalism of ancient Olympic athletes is a subject of debate amongst scholars, with Young and others arguing that the athletes were professional throughout the history of the ancient Games, while other scholars led by Pleket argue that the earliest Olympic athletes were in fact amateur, and that the Games only became professionalised after about 480 BCE.

Coubertin agreed with this latter view, and saw this professionalisation as undercutting the morality of the competition.