President of the IOC from 1925 to 1946
Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, born on 1 March 1876, was elected as a
member of the International Olympic Committee in Belgium in 1903. One year later
he founded the Belgian Olympic Committee which organised Belgian participation
in the 1908 and 1912 Games.
After World War I he obtained the celebration of the Games of the VII
Olympiad for Antwerp. Although he had only one year in which to prepare these
Games, and in spite of the fact that Belgium had suffered badly from the war,
Count de Baillet-Latour shouldered all the responsibilities and with great
energy took up the management of this huge enterprise.
Among other qualities, the ability he demonstrated at the time of the Games
in Antwerp led members of the International Olympic Committee to elect him
President when the founder of the Games resigned in 1925. During his presidency,
which lasted seventeen years, Count de Baillet-Latour devoted himself untiringly
to maintaining the Olympic ideals and aims. He endeavoured continually to keep
sport free from all commercialism, and to preserve its nobility and beauty, its
"raison d'être". He aimed to acquire an informed personal opinion on all
difficult questions and travelled widely throughout the world in order to
achieve this object. He was determined, yet diplomatic, and led the Committee
with great distinction.
He died on the night of 6 January 1942. A worthy successor to the Baron de
Coubertin, he will be remembered as a man of noble character, wholeheartedly
devoted to the Olympic cause.
