section_path: Presidents/Pierre de Coubertin (1896–1925)
section_name: Pierre de Coubertin (1896–1925)
paragraph_text: Pierre de Coubertin (1896–1925)
  
  Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs — Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention.
  
  The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics, further created the Olympic flag and Olympic rings in 1913, and selected Lausanne in Switzerland as the permanent home for the IOC in 1915. He announced his intention to step down after the 1924 Summer Olympics, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900, and was succeeded as IOC president in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.
  
  De Coubertin remained an honorary president of the IOC until his death in 1937.