Bust of Pierre de Coubertin
by Philip Barker
This week, new translations of de Coubertin’s Olympic memoirs are being published in Swahili and Hindi by the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (IPCC).
This was a group founded in January 1975 to “perpetuate the entire intellectual work of Pierre de Coubertin and “spread his ideas among the youth of the world.”
The translation into Hindi was carried out in collaboration with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation set up to honour India’s first individual Olympic gold medallist.
It will make the work available to some 420 million who speak Hindi as a first language.
The translation into Swahili was carried out by Mr. Muharam Mchume, IPCC member in Tanzania and member of the Tanzanian Olympic Academy.
Some 150 million speak Swahili as a first language.
There is plenty of material to deal with because Coubertin left some 15,000 printed pages when he died in 1937.
Coubertin’s writings were examined in detail by French professor Jean Durry and by the late German scholar Norbert Müller who masterminded an official publication of his writings in English at the start of new Millennium.
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