Medaglia Pierre de Coubertin

La medaglia Pierre de Coubertin (nota anche come "medaglia del vero spirito sportivo") è un riconoscimento attribuito dal CIFP (Comitato Internazionale per il Fair Play), istituito appositamente nel 1997 dal Comitato Olimpico Internazionale, a quegli atleti che dimostrano uno spirito di sportività nei Giochi olimpici.

Medaglia Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Coubertin Medal
Comitato Olimpico Internazionale
Istituzione	1997

Caratteristiche

Questa medaglia è considerata da molti atleti e spettatori come il più grande premio che un atleta possa ricevere, persino più grande di una medaglia d'oro. Il Comitato Olimpico Internazionale la considera la sua più alta onorificenza.

Storia

È stata attribuita per la prima volta nel 1977. A due atleti - il tedesco Luz Long ed il cecoslovacco Emil Zátopek - il riconoscimento è stato attribuito, postumo, nel 2000.

Curiosità

Viene anche regolarmente menzionato che il primo vincitore della medaglia Pierre de Coubertin sia stato il bobbista italiano Eugenio Monti nel 1964, sebbene in realtà sia diventato il primo vincitore del Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy. Anche il velista canadese Lawrence Lemieux è citato per aver ricevuto la medaglia, ma non è così: sebbene ambedue si siano resi autori di un nobile gesto durante una gara, l'italiano alle Olimpiadi di Innsbruck del 1964, il canadese alle Olimpiadi di Seul nel 1988, i due nomi non compaiono nell'elenco ufficiale dei premiati.

Atleti insigniti

Recipient	Country	Accomplishment(s)	Date	Place
Juan Antonio Samaranch	Spain	Seventh President of the International Olympic Committee	6 September 1997	Lausanne, Switzerland
Leon Štukelj	Slovenia	—	12 November 1999	Maribor, Slovenia
Raymond Gafner	Switzerland	—	1999	—
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco	Monaco	—	2000	—
João Havelange	Brazil	—	2000	—
Gianni Agnelli	Italy	—	2000	—
Alain Danet [fr; pl]	France	—	2000	—
Kurt Furgler	Switzerland	—	2000	—
Henry Kissinger	United States	—	2000	—
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi	Japan	—	2000	—
Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	1952 Summer Olympics	6 December 2000	Prague, Czech Republic
Kéba Mbaye	Senegal	—	2001	—
Rudolf Leising	Switzerland	—	2001	—
Wolf Lyberg [sv]	Sweden	Sports journalist, "for his many contributions to the International Olympic Committee and to the Olympic Family"	July 2001 (awarded) 22 November 2001 (presented)	Moscow, Russia Stockholm, Sweden
Spencer Eccles	United States	2002 Winter Olympics	February 2002[citation needed]	Salt Lake City, United States
Frieder Roskam	Germany	German architect, "for his groundbreaking work in sports facility construction"	30 April 2002	Cologne, Germany
Artur Takac [sh; sr][better source needed]	Switzerland[citation needed]	—	2002[citation needed]	—
Conrado Durantez [es; gl]	Spain	—	2002[better source needed]	—
Hilda Múdra	Slovakia	—	2002	—
Cecilia Tait	Peru	First Peruvian recipient, "in recognition of her contribution to the promotion of women in sport"	21 March 2003	Lausanne, Switzerland
Walburga Grimm [de]	Germany	—	2003[citation needed]	—
Marino Ercolani Casadei	San Marino	—	2003	—
Julio Ernesto Cassanello	Argentina	President of the Argentine Olympic Committee 2005–09[better source needed]	2003[citation needed]	—
Vanderlei de Lima	Brazil	In recognition of his exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values during the 2004 Summer Olympics	29 August 2004	Athens, Greece
Elena Belova	Belarus	Presented at the 2007 XI International Scientific Congress	17 May 2007	Minsk, Belarus
Shaul Ladany	Israel	For "unusual outstanding sports achievements during a span covering over four decades"	17 May 2007	Minsk, Belarus
Manfred Bergman[citation needed]	Israel	For services rendered to the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic cause	December 2008	Lausanne, Switzerland
Ronald Harvey	Australia	Former CEO of the Australian Sports Commission and Director of the Australian Institute of Sport, first Australian recipient	2 April 2009	Australia
Emanuel Bosák	Czech Republic	—	May 2009	Jičín, Czech Republic
Xia Geng [zh]	China	Mayor of Qingdao [zh] 2003–2012, "to thank Qingdao City for its efforts in the Olympic Movement"	22 July 2009	Qingdao, China
Boyan Radev	Bulgaria	—	15 September 2009	—
Eric Monnin	France	Olympic education specialist, first French recipient	August 2012 (awarded) 6 August 2013 (presented)	—
Bob Nadin	Canada	Veteran ice hockey referee and referee supervisor, medal presented at the 2013 IIHF World Championship	May 2013	Stockholm, Sweden
Richard Garneau	Canada	French Canadian sports broadcaster, "for his lifetime dedication to Olympism"	6 February 2014	Sochi, Russia
Hermann Andrecs	Austria	Co-founder and former president of the Austrian Olympic Academy, "for services to the Olympic Movement"	10 September 2014	Vienna, Austria
Michael Hwang	Singapore	"Exceptional services to the Olympic Movement"	13 October 2014	Singapore
Geraint John	United Kingdom	First British recipient for "many years of outstanding service to the Olympic Movement while bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to Olympic design"	28 November 2014	London, England
Petros Synadinos	Greece	Member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and President of the Hellenic Archery Federation, "for his multi-year and multifaceted contribution to the Olympics and sports"	2016	Athens, Greece
Eduard von Falz-Fein	Liechtenstein	"Long service to the Olympic Movement"	17 February 2017	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Lü Junjie	China	First Zisha artist to be awarded, for "his work using Zisha to spread the Olympic spirit"	15 January 2018	Lausanne, Switzerland
Han Meilin	China	Designer of the Fuwa, mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics	24 April 2018	Lausanne, Switzerland
Diego Pulido Aragón	Guatemala	Guatemalan banker and funder "for believing that through sports, culture and education, we can build a better future for our country"	28 August 2018	Guatemala City, Guatemala
Aldons Vrubļevskis	Latvia	Former President of the Latvian NOC	28 November 2020	Sigulda, Latvia
André Leclercq [fr]	France	At the 70th anniversary of the French Pierre de Coubertin Committee [fr]	5 November 2021	Lausanne, Switzerland
Cui Jingzhe	China	Chinese artist, for "[his] efforts in spreading the Olympic spirit through art"	11 January 2022	Beijing, China
George Hirthler	United States	Author of The Idealist about Pierre de Coubertin	23 June 2022	Lausanne, Switzerland
Rolf Lukaschewski [de]	Germany	German-born contemporary artist for "[his] inspiring positive expression of channelling the vision of Coubertin through [his] extraordinary art"	23 June 2022	Lausanne, Switzerland
Kim Min-jae	South Korea	Korean sports photographer, first Korean recipient	May 2018 (awarded) 19 October 2022 (presented)	Seoul, South Korea
Michael Robert Payne	United Kingdom	Author of the 2021 IOC book Toon In!	1 December 2022	Lausanne, Switzerland
Elguja Berishvili	Georgia	First Vice President of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, "for his contribution to the Olympic movement". First Georgian recipient.	April 2023 (awarded) August 2024 (presented)	Paris, France
Jean Durry [fr; it]	France	Author of Coubertin autographe – Tome I (1889–1915) about Pierre de Coubertin	23 June 2023	Lausanne, Switzerland
Ed Hula	United States	Editor and Founder of Around the Rings	23 June 2023	Lausanne, Switzerland
David Miller	United Kingdom	Journalist and Olympic historian, author of Igniting the Games: The Evolution of the Olympics and Thomas Bach's Legacy (2022)	November 2023	London, England
Telmo Guerra	Portugal	Portuguese artist, first Portuguese recipient	21 June 2024	Lausanne, Switzerland

Citazioni

«Gli ci è voluto molto coraggio per dimostrarsi mio amico davanti a Hitler... Potete fondere tutte le medaglie e le coppe che possiedo e non sarebbe che una placcatura sull'amicizia a ventiquattro carati che ho provato per Lutz Long in quel momento.»

(Jesse Owens riguardo ai consigli datigli da Luz Long, a Berlino 1936. Long ha ricevuto postuma la medaglia Pierre de Coubertin per la sua sportività.^[1])

«Non posso accettare la medaglia di Emanuel. Sono felice con la mia, è di bronzo, ma significa oro.»

(Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, il 1º settembre 2004, dopo che il giocatore di beach volley brasiliano Emanuel Rego, che vinse la medaglia d'oro ai Giochi del 2004, gli diede la propria medaglia in un programma televisivo. Profondamente toccato, Vanderlei gliela restituì.^[2])

«La vittoria a causa di equipaggiamento inadeguato degli avversari non è un merito. La cooperazione tra le persone di sport è una parte fondamentale dell'Olimpismo.»

(L'australiano Justin Harley McDonald, bobbista, che vinse il Trofeo Fair Play Pierre de Coubertin 1994 per il suo atto di fair play.)