May 18, 1899: Guth-Jarkovsky founds Czech Committee for the Olympic Games
Czechs contributed to the foundation of the International Olympic Committee and to the creation of Olympism as we know it today. One of the co-authors of the Olympic Charter was Czech Jiří Stanislav Guth-Jarkovský.
The origins of Olympism in the Czech lands date back to the last years of the 19th century. They are mainly associated with the Czech professor Jiří Stanislav Guth-Jarkovský. He was appointed one of the first 12 members of the International Olympic Committee at its Constituent Congress in Paris in June 1894.
The first attempt to establish the Czech Olympic Committee failed due to the disapproval of the Sokol organization, so it was not established until 18 May 1899. In March 1900, the Czech Olympic Committee was transformed from a temporary to a permanent body as the first national Olympic Committee in the world.
Vienna tried to prevent Czech athletes from participating in the Olympics on their own, as the country was still part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Nevertheless, in the Second Olympic Games in 1900 in Paris, the Czech Olympic Committee succeeded in promoting the independent participation of Czech athletes, which was of great international political importance, but it also had a positive impact on the development of Czech sport.
Thanks to his acquaintance with Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Jiří Stanislav Guth-Jarkovský became a founding member of the IOC (1894-1943), served as Secretary General from 1919 to 1923, and co-authored the Olympic Charter.
