Today, on 15 December 2011, the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) has presented "Olympic memoirs" by Pier de Coubertin. This is the first Russian edition of the memoirs of the modern olympic movement founder.
Coubertin's memoirs give a start to the RIOU publishing programme. The book provides readers with a great opportunity to view the events of the XIX – the first third of the XX century with the eyes of the person who made a crucial impact on the development of world sport, to feel the nerve of the time. Determination, assertiveness and belief in olympic ideas helped baron de Coubertin create the project of the world scale, which became an integral part of the modern world and which continues developing successfully.
The translation of the book was made by a Sorbonne University teacher, Anastasia Lester. The edition contains a unique selection of archive photos from the exposition of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The photos convey the atmosphere of the Olympic Games and make us feel a unique flavor of the times. The memoire will be useful for sports managers as well as a wide range of readers who are interested in the history of sport.
RIOU CEO Lev Belousov:
The history of the Olympic Games regeneration is largely the history of Pier de Coubertin himself. At last Russian readers can estimate the personality of a great Frenchman. It is well known that Coubertin had a lot of opponents. But having knowledge, strong will, charisma and being convinced in a special role of physical culture and sport in harmonious development of the individual he was pursuing his goal. It appears that in his chest there was a fire lit by great Heracles. It is deeply symbolic that his heart was buried in the monument near the Olympia ruins.
We will necessarily continue publishing the memoirs literature. History, including the olympic one, is made by people, and we should remember them.
Within the publishing programme the Russian International Olympic University is planning to issue up to 10 books annually on the history, philosophy, economy of the olympic movement and sport. Our books will surely have their niche in sports educational literature and will be oriented towards university students as well as a wide range of sports community.
Recently more and more attention has been paid to training well qualified managers who are capable at the highest level to hold large sports competitions. However the universities specializing in training sports managers lack high quality educational literature and resource materials.
