Museum on the Move: William Penny Brookes and Baron de Coubertin

In 1890 the organiser of the International Congress on Physical Education, Baron de Coubertin, came to see Brookes and the Wenlock Olympian Games. He had been unable to take up an invitation to visit during the 40th games in May 1890 but the Wenlock Olympian society held an autumn festival “chiefly to enlighten Baron Pierre de Courbertin, a French gentleman, who desires to introduce athletics more largely among his own countrymen, upon the methods adopted for the training of athletics in England”. He was given a very warm reception and he and Penny Brookes spent many hours sharing their ideas for the revival of the Olympics as an international event.
De Courbertin was also impressed by the pageantry that was a regular feature of the Wenlock Olympian Games;
“Never, probably, in the history of Wenlock has such a pageant been witnessed as that which took place on Wednesday last…No modern athletes ever walked down to the ground…amid such displaying of etiquette and stateliness as did the Wenlock youth going to their Olympian field”

Like many Victorians, Brookes loved pomp and pageantry. The Wenlock Games was preceded by a procession through the town complete with flag bearers, a marching band and a herald on horseback. Pageantry has been part of the Olympics from the start.

Poetry was an important part of the cultural competitions of the Wenlock Olympian Games as were odes describing the sporting excellence and sprit of the Games. The idea of an Olympic Ode was taken up by the International Games.

Amongst the other ideas pressed on Baron de Coubertin by Brookes was that the games should be open to “all grade of men” which was not a popular idea amongst sportsmen in the upper classes. The amateur ideal eventually adopted by the IOC disadvantaged working class athletes who had to turn professional in order to make a living whilst training. Only recently has the games truly been open to “all grade of men”. Another Brookes idea, adopted by Coubertin, and still the case today, was that the games should be hosted by different cities in turn who would cover the costs involved.

In 1891 at the Wenlock Games the tilting at the ring over hurdles was won by a local man, Edward Marson Farmer. He was presented with a prize of £5 (roughly equivalent to £300 today), an olive crown and a silver medal which was a gift from Courbertin. In 1994 Edward’s daughter presented the medal to the Wenlock Olympian Society to mark the centenary of the founding of the International Olympic Games. This medal is believed to be the only personal award made by Courbertin.