Born in the French capital on 1 January 1863, Pierre de Coubertin has gone down in history as the creator of the modern Olympic Games. Born into a noble family - his grandfather was the first Baron de Coubertin - he was educated at the Jesuit school on the Rue de Madrid in Paris before embarking on a military career at the Saint Cyr military academy founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.

His interest in sport was linked to the improvement of the French educational system, with the aim of "regenerating the French race through the physical and moral re-education of the country's future elites".

He drew inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games, held every four years at the sacred site of Olympia in the western Peloponnese in honour of Zeus, the supreme god of Greek religion.

Held between 776 BC and 393 AD, the ancient games attracted competitors and spectators from all over Greece and beyond (as long as they were citizens, a class-based category at the time reserved for the elite).

It was the most important cultural event in ancient Greece and spanned 293 consecutive Olympiads. The games were so important in the ancient world that they were even used as the basis for the calendar.

The Frenchman, an educator and sportsman (he excelled in pistol shooting), took inspiration from English schools and competitions organised in the second half of the 19th century to incorporate the teachings of ancient Greece.

He also took note of the Olympic Games of the medieval village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire (between western England and Wales), where a local doctor named William Penny Brookes revived the Olympic flame in 1850 with the 19th century aim of "promoting the moral, physical and intellectual improvement of the inhabitants of the village and of the Wenlock district, especially the working classes". 

This British inspiration, who founded the "Wenlock Olympian Society", was adopted by the French Baron to create the modern Olympic Games.

Celebrated for his dedication to using sport to promote peace and international cooperation, he began with a dream of not just laying the foundations, but establishing true Olympic Games that would endure over time.

Of course, he did this in accordance with the cultural norms of the time, where women were generally marginalised (even among women themselves) and sport was kept separate. Years later, he would be criticised for being sexist, misogynistic, a class snob and even a supporter of colonialism, while partial to the Nazi regime.

"He created the movement, he had the idea, he laid the foundations," said Daphne Bolz, a sports historian at the University of Rouen, after a recent seminar in Paris. "In that sense, he will never be completely forgotten. But he was a man of his time, out of step with the contemporary values of France and those promoted by today's International Olympic Committee (IOC)," the historian added.

The question of how much prominence to give him when France next month organises its first Olympic Games in over a 100 years - the last Paris Games in 1900 and 1924 were in Coubertin's time - has posed a great dilemma among his countrymen.

Some acknowledge him, while others criticise him for not thinking nearly 130 years ago as he is judged today. This is the case of Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee, who said: "Paris will host its third Games and we know what we owe to the Baron. If we are here, it is thanks to him".

However, France and the Paris 2024 organisers have been careful not to mention Coubertin. He does not feature in the official narrative of the Games, nor is there a major stadium in Paris named in his honour, apart from a municipal sports centre in the south-west of the capital that will be used as a training base.

Next Sunday there will be a tribute at the Sorbonne University in Paris to commemorate the speech he gave there on 23 June 1894 when the International Olympic Committee was founded, but the French authorities are turning their backs on him for ideological reasons.

Although 130 years have passed and no one in their right mind would think the same as they did then, French politics seems to care little, especially with the snap elections called by President Macron for 30 June (with a possible second round on 7 July) after his failure (15%) in the recent European elections.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said that she had another event that made it "impossible to attend the tribute" but clarified that she has no interest in "starting a fight to tear down the image of Pierre de Coubertin". However, she warned on Wednesday: "We need to add to history, explain history, complete history, including the darker areas of some people."

Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also seems to ignore the issue, with the French government wracked by uncertainty.

"Paris 2024 has not done much around Pierre de Coubertin, neither to show appreciation nor to raise awareness," said his great-grandniece Diane de Navacelle in an interview on behalf of the family.

It is true that many statements or articles written by him were at least controversial, especially when seen in today's parameters. In fact, only the first generation of human rights (civil and political rights, limited to men) existed at the height of his intellectual influence in the Olympic world. The second generation came decades later with the workers' struggle, and the third and fourth generations well into the 20th century.

This evolution of human rights went hand-in-hand with the evolution of thought, without hiding the fact that it was also the product of the catastrophe of world, regional and anti-colonial wars.

In the last 100 years there have been dramatic changes in paradigms, thoughts, cultures and, logically, rights, which are merely the consolidation of the actions and norms that a society imposes on itself according to the values of each moment in history.

Pierre de Coubertin left behind numerous writings, speeches and more than a thousand articles which, seen through a modern lens, would not cast him in a favourable light without proper analysis. The promoter of Olympism was an advocate of colonisation and saw sport as a useful tool for "disciplining the natives".

He proclaimed that "the white race is essentially superior to which the others owe allegiance" and opposed the presence of women at the games, believing that they should only be present to applaud, among other things that are reprehensible by today's standards.

The fight against colonialism began in 1945 (well into the 1960s, although colonialism still exists on all continents). Before that, most former European colonies had to fight bloody wars to gain independence (especially in America). Indeed, even today, powerful countries still exert control, not with traditional weapons as in the past, but through neo-colonial means in Africa and other regions of the world.

Closer to home, France itself, reluctant to acknowledge Coubertin for political reasons, exerts pressure and controls a large part of the economies of several African countries with the CFA franc - 14 countries - exercising acts of neo-colonialism, or at least not allowing them a fully sovereign development. Not to mention French overseas territories such as Tahiti (where the Paris 2024 surfing events will be held) where, despite having local governments, the most important decisions are taken thousands of kilometres away.

Despite his controversial or misguided statements and thoughts, which were shared by others in his class, he also argued that sport was important for its own sake, that it was important to practise it beyond the results: "The important thing is not to win, but to participate."

Over time, the Olympic movement has evolved to reflect today's values and culture, and now includes more than 10,000 athletes of all genders. It includes participation from almost every country in the world, excluding only those that violate the Olympic Charter or values. It also provides a platform for refugees and stateless people, ensuring that non-powerful nations can participate through the universality criterion. Furthermore, Paralympic athletes have their own tournament if they do not qualify for the traditional Olympic Games.

The debate over Coubertin comes at a time when there is a broad ideological struggle about how to remember great historical figures in the modern era who are tainted by their beliefs or actions, particularly in relation to colonialism or what is now considered machismo or sexism.

In recent years, left-wing student groups in Western countries have toppled or defaced statues of people associated with slavery, in a movement criticised by its detractors as "cancellation culture".

Coubertin had quite typical opinions for a man of his class and time, namely a belief in the superiority of white men and western civilisation. The great personalities of history, like all mortals, were people who had multiple facets and thoughts, some more accurate than others.