The International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) ( French: Comité international olympique, CIO ) is an international non-governmental organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president.

In a later semi-fictional autobiographical piece called Le Roman d ' un rallié, Coubertin describes his relationship with both his mother and his father as having been somewhat strained during his childhood and adolescence.

While many of the school's attendees were day students, Coubertin boarded at the school under the supervision of a Jesuit priest, which his parents hoped would instill him with a strong moral and religious education.

Coubertin credited these methods with leading to the expansion of British power during the 19th century and advocated their use in French institutions.

The character-reforming influence of sport with which Coubertin was so impressed is more likely to have originated in the novel Tom Brown's School Days rather than exclusively in the ideas of Arnold himself.

Coubertin believed " contact with women's athletics is bad for male athlete, and that these athletics should be excluded from the Olympic program ".

However, Coubertin together with A. Mercatis, a close friend of Konstantinos, encouraged the Greek government to utilise part of Konstantinos ' legacy to fund the 1896 Athens Olympic Games separately and in addition to the legacy of Evangelis Zappas that Konstantinos had been executor of.

Along with the development of an Olympic philosophy, Coubertin invested time in the creation and development of a national association to coordinate athletics in France, the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques ( USFSA ).

Along with Coubertin, C. Herbert of Britain's Amateur Athletic Association and W. M.

Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris.

After a brief discussion with Vikelas, who represented Greece, Coubertin suggested Athens.

According to Coubertin, " the Crown Prince Constantine learned with great pleasure that the Games will be inaugurated in Athens.

As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight with pistol and sword, swim, and run.

Subsequently, Constantine was instrumental in the organization of the 1896 Summer Olympics ; according to Pierre de Coubertin, in 1894 " the Crown Prince learned with great pleasure that the Games will be inaugurated in Athens.

The Baron de Coubertin believed that this would help public awareness of the Olympics and submitted elaborate plans to rebuild the ancient site of Olympia, complete with statues, temples, stadia and gymnasia.

Pierre de Coubertin spoke at the meeting about his concerns that Sweden should ensure that the Games take place, as he did not want a repeat of the problems with Italy hosting the 1908 Games.

The 20 main tournaments of the year where shared by a ) Laver, ten titles including the 5 biggest ones, all played on fast courts ( U. S. Pro outside Boston, French Pro, Wembley Pro, Wimbledon Pro, Madison Square Garden, World Pro in Oklahoma, Boston Pro ( not to be confused with the U. S. Pro ), Newport R. R., Johannesburg Ellis Park, Coubertin Pro in April ( not to be confused with the French Pro at Coubertin in October ), b ) Rosewall, six titles ( Los Angeles, Berkeley, U. S. Pro Hardcourt in St Louis, Newport Beach, Durban and Cape Town ), c ) Gimeno, three titles ( Cincinnati, East London, Port Elizabeth ) and d ) Stolle, one tournament ( Transvaal Pro ).

Other notable tournaments that year were the Queen's Club tournament ( the Graebner-Okker final cancelled due to rain which also delayed the first matches in Wimbledon ) and the greatest pro tournaments where all the NTL and WCT pros could compete ( but without amateur or registered players ) as the U. S. Pro ( outside Boston, on grass ), the French Pro ( coming back to Roland Garros after the 5-edition interlude at Coubertin ), the Jack Kramer Tournament of Champions at Wembley in November and perhaps the Madison Square Garden Pro in December with the four best pros of each organisation.

Himself an active rower and rider, the count was very interested in sports, and a meeting with Baron Pierre de Coubertin interested him for the reinstatement of the Olympic Games.

He also was one of the most influential people in the early Olympic movement, although his relationship with IOC president Pierre de Coubertin was tense.

Baron Pierre De Coubertin stepped down as head of the Olympic Movement after 1925 and with his departure the sport lost one of its major advocates.

Next year until mid-September Rosewall and Laver were quite equal, the latter winning more tournaments including the US Pro Indoors at New York City and the Masters Pro at Los Angeles but Rosewall struck two great blows during the summer of 1965 by winning very easily the U. S. Pro on the Longwood C. C ( outside Boston ) grass courts crushing Gonzales, 6 – 3 6 – 2 6 – 4, and Laver, 6 – 4 6 – 3 6 – 3, in the last rounds and again Laver, 6 – 3 6 – 2 6 – 4, in the French Pro on the fast wooden courts at Coubertin.

What Coubertin saw on the playing fields of Rugby and the other English schools he visited was how “ organised sport can create moral and social strength ”.

De Coubertin saw a display of Highland games at the Paris Exhibition of 1889.

While there were a number of other ancient games celebrated in Greece during this time period, including the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games, Coubertin idealised the Olympic Games as the ultimate ancient athletic competition.

But while others had created Olympic contests within their countries, and broached the idea of international competition, it was Coubertin whose work would lead to the establishment of the International Olympic Committee and the organisation of the first modern Olympic Games.

The idea for reviving the Olympic Games as an international competition came to Coubertin in 1889, apparently independently of Brookes, and he spent the following five years organising an international meeting of athletes and sports enthusiasts that might make it happen.

Coubertin had originally opposed the choice of Greece, as he had concerns about the ability of a weakened Greek state to host the competition, but was convinced by Vikelas to support the idea.

Further, Young asserts that the effort to limit international competition to amateur athletes, which Coubertin was a part of, was in fact part of efforts to give the upper classes greater control over athletic competition, removing such control from the working classes.

This idea was heavily supported by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, as well as the Greeks.

* 1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; 1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937 ) was a French educator and historian, and founder of the International Olympic Committee.

He was the fourth child of Baron Charles Louis Frédy, Baron de Coubertin and Marie – Marcelle Gigault de Crisenoy.

His memoirs elaborated further, describing as a pivotal moment his disappointment upon meeting Henri, Count of Chambord, whom the elder Coubertin believed to be the rightful king.

Coubertin grew up in a time of profound change in France: France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Commune, and the establishment of the French Third Republic, and later the Dreyfus Affair.

This suggests that despite his rebelliousness at home, Coubertin adapted well to the strict rigors of a Jesuit education.

As an aristocrat, Coubertin had a number of career paths from which to choose, including potentially prominent roles in the military or politics.

Nonetheless, Coubertin was an enthusiast in need of a cause and he found it in England and in Thomas Arnold.

“ Thomas Arnold, the leader and classic model of English educators ,” wrote Coubertin, “ gave the precise formula for the role of athletics in education.

This hero of his book is Thomas Arnold, and on his second visit in 1886, Coubertin reflected on Arnold's influence in the chapel at Rugby School.

As a historian and a thinker on education, Coubertin romanticised ancient Greece.

Coubertin advocated for these concepts, this triple unity, to be incorporated into schools.

But while Coubertin was certainly a romantic, and while his idealised vision of ancient Greece would lead him later to the idea of reviving the Olympic Games, his advocacy for physical education was based on practical concerns as well.

Unfortunately for Coubertin, his efforts to incorporate more physical education into French schools failed.

Some historians describe Coubertin as the instigator of the modern Olympic movement, a man whose vision and political skill led to the revival of the Olympic Games which had been practised in antiquity.

In 1888, Coubertin founded the Comité pour la Propagation des Exercises Physiques more well known as the Comité Jules Simon.