DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: Now a brief historical retrospective on the Olympics as the Winter Games in Turin head into their final week. We might not be enjoying curling or snowboarding had it not been for a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin. He resurrected the Olympics in the late 1800s. In a 1935 radio address from Berlin, Coubertin explained the connection between the ancient and modern Games. We read a translation.</s>Unidentified Man: (Reading) The ancient as well as the modern Olympic Games have one most important feature in common. They are a religion. When working on his body with the help of physical education and sport, like the sculptor at a statue, the athlete in antiquity honored the gods. By doing the same today, the modern athlete honors his homeland, his race and his flag.</s>DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host: Though Coubertin went on to say that the modern Games were elevated by internationalism and democracy, his radio address was mistranslated into German and used for Nazi propaganda.
As the winter Olympics in Turin enter their final week, we remember the man behind the modern Olympic movement, a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin. In a 1935 speech, he compared the Olympic spirit to a religion.