Biography

September 28, 1887 · Detroit, Michigan, USA

May 8, 1975 · Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany

The Olympic Games belong to all the world, not the part of it at sea level.

When I'm gone, there's nobody rich enough, thick-skinned enough and smart enough to take my place, and the Games will be in tremendous trouble.

The professional athlete must always win if he is to be successful and he must perform and win in the way that the public, who pays the bills, wants him to perform and win. He is a paid worker and not a free agent. It is the same with a commercial artist. To be successful he must make or paint things that can be sold. It is not his taste but the taste of the purchaser which governs. No true artist or true amateur will submit to such dictation. An amateur artist creates -- he does not accept the standards of the mass -- he refuses to follow the crowd. He is not primarily interested in dollars.

We live in a world that is sick socially, politically and economically. It is sick for only one reason -- lack of fair play and good sportsmanship in human relations. We must keep the Olympic movement on Olympic heights of idealism, for it will surely die if it is permitted to descend to more sordid levels.

In an imperfect world, if participation in sport is to be stopped every time the politicians violate the laws of humanity, there will never be any international contests. Is it not better to try to expand the sportsmanship of the athletic field into other areas?