Olympian-Artists

Pierre de Coubertin was an Artist

A growing number of people are aware that the Olympic Movement once embraced artists as competitors in the Olympic Games. The founder of the Modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin was an artist and a poet. His entry into the poetry competitions garnered an Olympic gold medal.

After the 1948 Olympics the President of the International Olympic Committe, Avery Brundage eliminated arts competitions due to the fact that artists made a living with their craft and he deemed that as professionals they were ineligible to compete in the Olympics, which at that time was strictly for amateurs. In the 90's the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed its restrictions.

Professionals athletes are now able to compete in the Olympics, however the fact that artists were ousted due to their status as professionals was a distant memory. Olympian Sylvia Sweeney (founder of the ArtsGames Movement) made several attempts to bring this fact to the attention of the IOC, but the Games was officially a sporting event

Although her many efforts were acknowledged by the IOC, the road to changing hearts and minds in this regard would be hard and very, very long.

For more details on Artists Olympians please read the Smithsonian article left link below. For more details on the ArtsGames History please follow the right link below.