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10 在巴黎索邦代表大会的致辞
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皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦（Pierre de Coubertin, 1863—1937），法国教育家、历史学家、现代奥林匹克运动的发起人。他于1896年至1925年担任国际奥林匹克委员会主席，设计了奥运会会徽、会旗，被誉为“奥林匹克之父”。
此演讲为顾拜旦1894年6月16日在巴黎索邦神学院召开的国际体育运动代表大会上的致辞。此次大会为第一届奥林匹克代表大会，一周后会议通过了成立国际奥林匹克委员会的决议，任命顾拜旦为首任秘书长，并决定在1896年由希腊的雅典主办召开首届现代奥运会。6月23日因此成为“国际奥林匹克日”（International Olympic Day）。
演讲强调了体育运动的种种好处，乃至在价值观中的重要性——从思想层面来说，强调身体偏离了传统基督教经院哲学重灵魂、贱肉身的核心理念，在当时具有革命性的意义。
Gentlemen, among the easiest virtues to practise we must number gratitude: it is also the easiest sentiment to express. When I look around me for the people to whom
I should show my gratitude, on the evening of this congress which fulfi ls the hope of the fi rst ten years of my adult life, I fee that my speech is going to become a litany [1] : I hope, therefore,gentlemen, that you will excuse me if I do not name anyone, and if, after including in a single heart-felt vote of thanks all those who have helped and supported me, I invite you to lift your gaze towards the things which in this world dominate men, and to give a moment’s attention to a deeply and oddly [2] philosophical spectacle.
In this year 1894 and in this city of Paris, whose joys and anxieties the world shares so closely that it has been likened to the world’s nerve centre, we were able to bring together the representatives of international athletics [3] , who voted unanimously [4] (so little controversial is the principle concerned) for the restoration of a two-thousand-year-old idea which today as in the past still quickens the human heart for it satisfi es one of its most vital [5] , and whatever may have been said on the subject,one of its most noble instincts. In the temple of science these delegates heard echo in their ears a melody also 2,000 years old, reconstituted by an eminent archaeologist [6] through the successive labours of several generations. And in the evening electricity transmitted everywhere the news that Hellenic [7] Olympism had re-entered the world after an eclipse [8] of several centuries.
The Greek heritage is so vast, Gentlemen, that all those who in the modern world have conceived physical exercise under one of its multiple aspects have been able legitimately to refer to Greece, which contained them all. Some have seen it as training for the defence of one’s country, others as the search for physical beauty and health through a happy balance of mind and body, and yet others as that healthy drunkenness of the blood which is nowhere so intense and so exquisite [9] as in bodily exercise.
At Olympia, Gentlemen, there was all, that, but there was something more which no-one has yet dared to put into words,because since the middle ages a sort of discredit has hovered over bodily qualities and they have been isolated from qualities of the mind. Recently the fi rst have been admitted to serve the second but they are still treated as slaves and made every day to feel their dependence and inferiority.
This was an immense error whose scientific and social consequences it is almost impossible to calculate. After all,Gentlemen, there are not two parts to a man—body and soul;there are three—body, mind and character; character is notformed by the mind, but primarily by the body. The men ofantiquity knew this, and we are painfully relearning it.
The adherents of the old school groaned when they saw us holding our meetings in the heart of the Sorbonne: they realised that we were rebels and that we would fi nish by casting down the edifice [10] of their worm-eaten philosophy. It is true,Gentlemen; we are rebels and that is why the press which has always supported beneficent [11] revolutions has understood and helped us—for which, by the way, I thank it with all my heart.
[1] litany 8 : n. 陈词滥调，连祷
[2] oddly 4 : adv. 奇怪地
[3] athletics 8 : n. 体育运动，竞技
[4] unanimously 6 : adv. 全体一致地
[5] vital 4 : adj. 至关重要的
[6] archaeologist 8 : n. 考古学家
[7] Hellenic 8 : adj. 希腊的
[8] eclipse 6 : n. 消失，黯然失色
[9] exquisite 8 : adj. 精致的，剧烈的
[10] edifi c 8 : n. 大厦，结构体系
[11] beneficent 8 : adj. 慈善的，有益的
先生们，在所有最容易实现的美德当中，我们应该算上感激——它也是最容易表述的情感。在我成年之后的第一个十年间，我一直期盼这个代表大会能够召开，而今晚我终于梦想成真。当我环顾四周，寻找可以表达感激之情的对象时，我认为自己的发言将只是陈词滥调。因此，如果我没有提及任何人，请诸君谅解。在衷心感谢所有曾帮助、支持我的人之后，请大家关注这个世界上统治人类的种种事物，略费时辰思量一个奇怪的哲学景观。
此时此地，在1894年的巴黎，世界的神经为之牵动，对这里的喜悦焦虑感同身受；我们成功地将世界体育代表聚集在一起，他们一致赞同（在原则方面鲜有争议）恢复一个已延续2 000年的理念——今日这个理念仍如以往一般让我们怦然心动，因为它满足了我们心中最重要也最高贵（无论以往的看法如何）的本能。在科学的殿堂，这些代表听到了2 000年前的古曲，由一位卓越的考古学家在几代人的研究基础上复原而来。晚上，希腊的奥林匹克主义在数世纪的湮没之后重回人间的消息，经由电波传遍了世界。
先生们，希腊的传统如此丰富，以至于现代人所想到的所有类别的体育都可以追溯到希腊，都被其包括在内。一些人将之视为保卫国家的训练，另一些人通过灵与肉的平衡寻求形体的美貌与健康，还有些人想获得血液的微醺感——这种感觉唯有在身体锻炼中才会如此强烈和优美。
先生们，所有这些都存在于奥林匹亚，但还有一些话迄今没有人敢说，因为自中世纪以来，身体特质被从精神特质剥离而遭到贬抑。近来，人们虽然承认前者服务于后者，但仍然视之为奴仆，时刻感觉到它的派生性和低劣。
这是个巨大的错误，在科学和社会两方面都引起了无法计量的后果。 因为，先生们，人并非只包括肉体和灵魂两部分，而包括三部分：肉体、思想和品格；品格不由思想决定，而主要由肉体决定。 古人知道这一点，而我们却在痛苦地重新认识它。
旧派经院的支持者哀叹我们在索邦的中心举办大会：他们意识到我们是反叛者，会最终摧毁他们的过时哲学。先生们，这没错；我们就是反叛者，这也是总是支持有益革命的媒体理解我们、帮助我们的原因。在此我对他们表示衷心感谢。