The 30 Minute Rule begins January 16 at 7:00 PM EST. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By January 16 at 6:00 PM EST To Participate After 6:00 PM EST
Rare original French-language broadsheet from the ‘International Athletic Congress of Paris,’ otherwise known as the Olympic Congress or IOC Congress, which was held in the auditorium of the Sorbonne University in Paris from June 16-24, 1894. The broadsheet, 16.25 x 10.5, states (translated): “The Congress was convened by the Union of French Athletic Sports Societies with the aim of studying the question of Amateurism and making a first effort towards the unification of Sports regulations: thus the reestablishment of the Olympic Games on bases and in conditions conforming to the necessities of modern life will be prepared for the near future.” It then lists the organizing Commissioners of the Congress—Pierre de Coubertin (France and Continental Europe); Charles Herbert (England and the English Colonies); and William Milligan Sloane (America). On the adjacent side, a program is listed, which contains three sections: Amateurism and Professionalism; Olympic Games; and Rules of the Congress, the latter of which reads, in part: “The Unions and Societies which will participate in the Congress will not be bound by the resolutions adopted. The purpose of the Congress is to issue opinions on the various questions submitted to it and to prepare, but not to establish, international legislation.” A contact line at the bottom reads: “All communications should be addressed to Mr. Baron Pierre de COUBERTIN, Commissioner-General, 20, Rue Oudinot, PARIS.” An unknown hand has annotated the top of the left side. In very good to fine condition, with scattered areas of paper loss, affecting none of the text.
On June 16, 1894, the first Olympic Congress was declared open in the auditorium of the Sorbonne University in Paris. A week later on June 23rd, Pierre de Coubertin’s Olympic dream became a reality when a resolution to revive the Olympic Games was adopted unanimously at the group’s final meeting. The Congress led to the establishment of the International Olympic Committee, of which Coubertin became general secretary and later president, and to the naming of the first modern Olympic Games, which would take place in Athens two years later.
