The Olympic Creed

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

There have been many permutations of this basic message throughout Games history, though this is the current creed which appears on the scoreboard during the Opening Ceremony. Baron de Cobertin adopted, and later quoted, this creed after hearing the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, speak at a service for Olympic athletes during the 1908 London Games.

In London for the Fifth Conference of Anglican Bishops, Talbot's exact words at the service on July 19, 1908 were: "The important thing in these Olympics is not so much winning as taking part."