IOC Congress #2

The 2nd Olympic Congress was held on the coast of France, in the town hall of Le Havre from 23-31 July 1897. This Congress is also considered to be the 3rd IOC Session. The primary reason for calling another Olympic Congress so soon after the 1896 Olympics was the Greek demands to stage the Olympics permanently in Greece. There were suggestions from IOC Member Willi Gebhardt to hold this Congress in Berlin, but Coubertin held out for Le Havre

The theme was “Questions of Hygiene, Education and History Relating to Physical Education.” The President of the French Republic, Félix Faure, was the Patron of the Congress. The organizing committee was headed by W. R. Langstaff, while the co-chairs were Coubertin and Ernest Callot, the treasurer of the IOC. There were about 60 participants, including six IOC members and delegates present from Bohemia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The Congress also saw several sports demonstrations held as exhibitions for the delegates.

On the fourth day of the Congress (26 July) the delegates heard a lecture from Father Henri Didon, the Prior of the Dominican College of Arcueil, entitled, “Character forming qualities of sport.” Didon had coined the phrase, “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” for an 1891 youth sports event that he organized in Arcueil. It would later become the Olympic Motto, standing for “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”

Two separate working groups were formed. The first dealt with “Pedagogy and Hygiene” and was chaired by Dr. Tissié, while the second dealt with “Questions on Sport Practice” and was chaired by Viscount de la Rochefoucauld. The following resolutions were drafted at the end of the Congress.

• Physical education is the harmonious combination of gymnastics and sport.
• School directors are liable for accidents during physical education classes only if they can be proved to have violated their supervisory obligations.
• Games in schools should be left to the initiative of the students and should not be supervised by the teachers. Sports associations should operate on a voluntary basis supported by school authorities.
• School authorities should annually publish the names of students who excelled in the fields of academic work and sport.
• In France, instruction in hygiene, physical education, and sport should become obligatory in all schools.
• Each school should have facilities for hydrotherapy, e.g., swimming pools, saunas, etc.
• The Congress recommends that a record is kept on the physical development of each student and that the parents are informed every six months.

• The second working on Sports Practice also came to some resolutions, although a few of these were more in the form of questions than actual resolutions. They produced the following 11 points:

• The 1900 Paris Olympics should be announced soon and declared to have received guarantees from the French Government and the City of Paris.
• The 1900 Paris Olympics should take place either at the end of May or in early June.
• Certain sports should be declared compulsory and should always be on the Olympic Program.
• Organizing committees may have the freedom to choose other sports for the Program.
• Events on the program should be described in detail to avoid misunderstandings.
• If gymnastics is to be on the program, it should be for groups and not individuals.
• A new pentathlon event should be created as the current one was not optimal. A competitor in this event must start and finish all events to be awarded a prize.
• The Olympic Games should never last more than 8-10 days.
• The Olympic Program, with all events, should be forwarded to all participating nations at least one year in advance.
• Should the host city for the 1904 Olympics be elected before Paris 1900?
• Would it be practical to organize a new Olympic Congress before Paris 1900?

At the finish of the Congress, many of the delegates took advantage of a sailing tour to the Isle of Wight, starting on 1 August and which lasted three days.