For too long the world has failed to recognise that the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement are about fine athletics and fine art.

Sport must be amateur or it is not sport. Sports played professionally are entertainment.

The sportsman knows that a sport is a recreation, a game, an amusement and a pastime, but his eyes are fixed on a higher goal, on the most important thing in his life, which is his education or his vocation.

The ancient Greeks kept women athletes out of their games. They wouldn't even let them on the sidelines. I'm not sure but that they were right.

The Olympic Movement is a 20th century religion. Where there is no injustice of caste, of race, of family, of wealth.

The Olympic Games must not be an end in itself, they must be a means of creating a vast program of physical education and sports competitions for all young people.

The Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians.