Libros de Ruta publishes Olympic Memoirs, by Pierre de Coubertin: a first-person account from the man who resurrected the Olympic Games, detailing how the greatest sporting event of the modern world came to be—against almost everyone and against nearly all.
Written in 1931, six years after Coubertin stepped down as president of the International Olympic Committee, these memoirs are the foundational text of modern Olympism. They trace the milestones of the founding movement, the Athens 1896 Games, Paris 1900 and St. Louis 1904—told across two World Expos—, the success of Stockholm 1912, and World War I, which nearly brought everything to an end. Also the birth of a liturgy that endures to this day: the five-ring flag, the oath, the ceremonies.
The work arrives in Libros de Ruta’s Classics collection, with translation and a foreword by Marcos Pereda, author of numerous books, including Crónicas sobre ruedas: El Giro de Italia, Globero or Arriva Italia. It has been available in bookstores across Spain since October 16.
THE CREATOR OF THE FLAG OF THE FIVE RINGS
Pierre de Coubertin (Paris, 1863 – Geneva, 1937) was a pedagogue and historian born into a French aristocratic family. Convinced that sport is an educational tool—an idea drawn from the physical education in English schools—he championed the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (1889) and, at the Sorbonne Congress of 1894, the creation of the International Olympic Committee, which he chaired from 1896 to 1925.
He is the creator of the five-ring flag (1913) and the Revue Olympique; he also, under a pseudonym, wrote the poem “Ode to Sport,” which won the Olympic gold in literature at Stockholm 1912. He wrote, among other works, L’Éducation en Angleterre (1888), Pédagogie sportive (1922) and the monumental Histoire universelle (1926-1927).
Book Details
ISBN: 979-13-87955-54-0
Pages: 280, illustrated
Format: 12.5 × 20 cm, softcover with flaps
RRP: €20.00
Publication: 16 October 2026
Collection: Classics
YOU CAN READ THE START OF THE BOOK HERE
