| Venue | Praha (TCH) |
|---|---|
| Held | 29 May – 4 June 1925 |
The 8th Olympic Congress was actually a double Congress, held in two parts. The site for both was Praha, Czechoslovakia, and they were organized by the Czechoslovak IOC Member Dr. Jiří Guth-Jarkovský. The first was a Pedagogical Olympic Congess, which took only one day, 29 May 1925. Its theme was “Pedagogical Problems in Modern Sport.” The chair of this congress was the Czechoslovak Professor Karel Weigner. There were 62 candidates listed as attending, but probably fewer than that stayed for any period of time. Two working groups were formed: 1) Participation of young people in competitions, and 2) Sport and health care.
The second and main Congress, which began concurrently, was a Technical Olympic Congress, held from 29 May to 4 June 1925. Its theme was “Olympic Regulations and Program,” by now a common theme for Olympic Congresses. The president of this Congress was again Swedish IOC Member J. Sigfrid Edström, who had also served as President of the 7th Olympic Congress. This was a true Congress, with 94 delegates representing the IOC (27 IOC Members were present), 24 NOCs, and 17 IFs. It was held at Sokol House (29-30 May), the National Museum (31 May and 4 June), and the Town Hall (1-3 June), all in Praha.
Both Congresses were preceded by an IOC Session at which Henri, Count de Baillet-Latour was chosen as the new IOC President, as the most significant occurrence at Praha in 1925 was that the Olympic Movement officially lost the presence of Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, who resigned as President. He was now 62-years-old, had lost much of his fortune through his Olympic work, and decided it was simply time. He was honored during the Opening Ceremony of the Pedagogical Congress.
The Pedagogical Congess had a nine-point agenda:
A series of resolutions on each of these nine points was reached. One delegate to the Pedagogical Congress, FINA representative Gustavus Town Kirby of the United States, was highly critical of the Congress. A well-known sports administrator, Kirby had always wanted to be an IOC Member, but had never succeeded in doing so. His vitriol in letters to Coubertin and Godefroy, Baron de Blonay after the Congress surely never helped his cause.
The Technical Congress had an agenda of 14-points:
As would be expected, a large number of resolutions and statements were made, based on the above 14 points. Probably the three most important dealt with the amateur definition and participation at the Olympics. Although previous Congresses had left the definition of an amateur to the individual sporting federations, a minimum condition was agreed upon, as follows, “From participation in the [Olympic] Games are barred: 1) Professionals or those who have consciously acted as such in their own sport of any other sport, and 2) Those who have received payment while out of work to practice sport (the so-called broken time clause).” It was also decided that all competitors at the Olympics should be required to sign an oath promising that they had not violated the amateur definitions.
A set of permanent and temporary sports was agreed upon, similar to the old set of obligatory and optional sports. It was left to the IFs to decide how many competitors their sport would have at the Olympic Games, but the Congress set a maximum limit of four entrants from any country in any event.