Abstract
The Belgian count Henri de Baillet-Latour presided the IOC for almost 20 years and had to face new challenges such as replacing Coubertin’s autocratic style of management, protecting the IOC’s institutional monopoly in the face of the increasing strength of the international sports federations, and expanding the Olympics across the globe. In this chapter, Carpentier shows how, in fact, his leadership turned out to be no less autocratic than that of his predecessor. With the finesse of a true diplomat, thanks to his personal fortune, and despite the geopolitical constraints resulting from colonialism and the limitations of contemporary means of transportation and communication, Baillet-Latour managed to block the expansion of the YMCA and to turn the Olympics into a global event.
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Notes
- 1.
See the chapter by Grégory Quin and Philippe Vonnard.
- 2.
Veblen Thorstein, The Theory of the leisure Class, New York, London, Macmillan, 1899.
- 3.
Ibidem.
- 4.
Meuwissen Eric, Richesse oblige. La Belle Epoque des grandes fortunes. Bruxelles, Racine, 1999.
- 5.
Delwit Pascal, La vie politique en Belgique de 1830 à nos jours. Bruxelles, Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2009.
- 6.
Renson Roland et al., Enflammé par l’olympisme…Cent ans de Comité Olympique et Interfédéral Belge. Roeselare, Roularta Books, 2006.
- 7.
Renson Roland et al. Op. cit.
- 8.
Mayer Arno, The Persistence of the Old Regime. Europe to the Great War. New York, Pantheon Books, 1981.
- 9.
Concept developed by the bourdieusian sociologist Monique de Saint-Martin notably in : L’espace de la noblesse, Paris, Editions Métailié, 1993.
- 10.
According to Pierre de Coubertin’s own account, published in his Mémoires olympiques, Lausanne, BIPS, 1931. However, none of his biographers have found any evidence for the “long trip” used as a pretext.
- 11.
Minutes of the Executive Committee, Paris, 3–6 November 1925, IOC’s Archives (AIOC).
- 12.
Letter from Reginald John Kentish to Baillet-Latour, 24 December 1925, AIOC.
- 13.
Cesar R. Torres, “Spreading the Olympic Idea” to Latin America: The IOC-YMCA Partnership and the 1922 Latin American Games”, Journal of Olympic History, 16, n°1, 2008, pp. 16–24.
- 14.
As noted in the article by C. R. Torres, op.cit., 2008, and those by Norbert Müller and Ralf Tuttas, “The role of the YMCA: Especially that of Elwood S. Brown, Secretary of Physical Education of the YMCA, in the world-wide expansion of the Olympic Movement during Pierre de Coubertin’s presidency”, Fifth International Symposium for Olympic research, 2000, pp. 127–134.
- 15.
Minutes of the Olympic Session in Antwerp, 1920, AIOC.
- 16.
Minutes of the Olympic Session in Rome, 1923, AIOC.
- 17.
Collins Sandra, The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics. Oxon, Routledge, 2007.
- 18.
Baillet-Latour’s correspondence from 1940 to 1941 are missing from the IOC’s archives.
- 19.
According to correspondence quoted by Yttergren Leif in “Questions of Property. J. Sigfrid Edström, Anti-Semitism, and the 1936 Berlin Olympics”, Olympika, XVI, 2007, pp. 77–92 and reinterpreted by Clastres Patrick in “Neutralité politique, compromissions avec le régime nazi, continuité olympique. Les présidents successifs du CIO (1925–1972) au défi des Jeux de Berlin”, in Bensoussan Georges, Dietschy Paul, François Caroline & Strouk Hubert (Eds.), Sport, corps and sociétés de masses. Paris, Colin, 2012, pp. 211–228.
Bibliography
Carpentier, Florence. 2004. Le CIO en crises. La présidence de Henri de Baillet-Latour (1925–1940). Paris: L’Harmattan.
Collins, Sandra. 2007. The 1940 Tokyo Games: The Missing Olympics. Oxon: Routledge.
Delwit, Pascal. 2009. La vie politique en Belgique de 1830 à nos jours. Bruxelles: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles.
Mayer, Arno. 1981. The Persistence of the Old Regime. Europe to the Great War. New York: Pantheon Books.
Meuwissen, Eric. 1999. Richesse oblige. La Belle Époque des grandes fortunes. Bruxelles: Editions Racine.
Renson, Roland, et al. 2006. Enflammé par l’olympisme…Cent ans de Comité Olympique et Interfédéral Belge. Roeselare: Roularta Books.
Saint-Martin (de), Monique. 1993. L’espace de la noblesse. Paris: Editions Métailié.
Torres, Cesar R. 2008. “Spreading the Olympic Idea” to Latin America: The IOC-YMCA Partnership and the 1922 Latin American Games. Journal of Olympic History 16 (1): 16–24.
Veblen, Thorstein. 1899. The Theory of Leisure Class. New York/London: Macmillan.
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Biography
Biography
1st March 1876: Born in Brussels.
1895–1897: Studies law at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium).
1903: Co-opted to the IOC as the member for Belgium (aged 27).
14th July 1904: Marriage to Countess Elisalex Clary et Aldringen.
30th May 1905: Birth of his son, Guy.
9th–14th June 1905: President of the reception committee for the International Congress for Sport and Physical Education, Brussels.
8th February 1908: Birth of his daughter, Sophie Thérèse.
1914–1918: Helps Belgian refugees as part of the Belgian Legation to The Hague.
20th August–12 September 1920: Antwerp hosts the Olympic Games, Baillet-Latour was president of the organising committee.
1921: Created and became vice-president of the IOC’s Executive Committee.
1922–1923: Long tour of South American republics.
1923: President of the Belgian Olympic Committee.
28th May 1925: Elected president of the IOC (aged 49).
1925: Elected president of the Belgian Jockey Club (until his death in 1942).
1932: Los Angeles Olympic Games, long tour of Asia.
7th June 1933: Re-elected president of the IOC.
January–March 1939: Trip to South Africa.
1st September 1941: His son Guy dies (at the age of 36) when his plane crashes on the Isle of Arran, Scotland.
7th January 1942: Dies in Brussels (aged 65).
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Carpentier, F. (2018). Henri de Baillet-Latour: Globalising the Olympic Movement. In: Bayle, E., Clastres, P. (eds) Global Sport Leaders. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76753-6_5
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