Abstract

Henri Didon was, at the end of the last century, a well-known personality who made skillful use of his influence to achieve his objectives. As a headmaster of the school Albert-le-Grand in Arcueill, he exerted a considerable influence on his pupils, their parents and on all the friends of his school. Besides, most of his speechs had been taken down and have thus been conserves for future generations. In 1891, in the course of a school sports meeting, he gave the following parole out to his pupils: citius, altius, fortius (“faster, higher, stronger”) which became the olympic motto in 1894. With a group of his own pupils he went to the first Olympic Games of modern times in 1896. By creating a school sports association in his school, he came to know Pierre de Coubertin with whom he had a long and intensive friendship. They shared identical viewpoints in numerous fields and Didon transmitted his reflections on education to his young friend. On the occasion of the Congress of Le Havre 1897 he imparted to his audience the effects of sport to his pupils. He wanted to support the theses of his friend Coubertin and to prove that the effects of physical exercises which Coubertin praised had a substantial impact on the character and the moral of his pupils. By doing this he proved that the ideas of Coubertin could be realized. Citius, altius, fortius, is the oldest olympic motto and constitutes the olympic emblem together with the five rings. From Henri Didon’s life and from his speeches we know that it was not the triumph which counted most, but the fight and the self-exertion.
For this reason we can conclude that his motto has two dimension: first, to be better than the others and second, to be better than yourself, that is to strive for a better personal performance. Didon saw in this pursuit of records the condition for human progress. Verf.-Referat