Alexei Dmitrievich Butovsky

Alexei Dmitrievich Butovsky

Alexei Dmitrijewitsch Butowski (also: Aleksey Butovsky ; Russian Алексей Дмитриевич Бутовский ; born June 9, 1838 in the Poltava Governorate , Russian Empire , today's Ukraine ; † February 25, 1917 in Petrograd ) was a Russian general as a founding member of the International , the military educator of the Olympic Committee (IOC) was involved in the revival of the modern Olympic Games .

Butovsky's surname is translated into French , English or German in a number of historical documents with different spellings . Even Pierre de Coubertin , the Butovsky had appointed as a founding member of the IOC, used in various handwritten notes spelling Boutowski . Other spellings are Butovski or Boutowsky .

Butovsky was the son of a Russian landowner and landlord. According to his later Francophile inclinations, he was also called de Butovsky on official occasions in order to adequately honor his parentage . The young Butovsky, who was interested in literature, began training at various officer schools . At the age of 19 he was already working as a tutor at these schools. In 1871 he finally became a teacher at the Petersburg Military High School .

Butovsky realized that the traditional physical education at the officer's schools was no longer sufficient for the requirements of the time, which had been completely changed by modern war techniques. He wrote new theories and methodologies of physical education, which he, meanwhile working in the main administration of the officer's schools, tried to implement. Butovsky also attracted attention outside the military, and so the Ministry of Public Enlightenment appointed him in 1888 to a committee that was supposed to improve physical education in civilian schools.

In addition to his military training, Butovsky had very in-depth knowledge. He was fluent in several foreign languages, with a particular preference for French. He went on a number of study trips, primarily to France . On a journey of several months in the spring of 1892, with which he wanted to study the local system of gymnastics and fencing in various countries, he first met Pierre de Coubertin, who at that time was already intensively involved in the revival of the Olympic Games.

To implement his idea for the International Olympic Committee founded in 1894, Coubertin needed representatives from as many politically and geographically important countries as possible at the time. This also included Russia, which had come close to France on a political level through the friendship treaty (1891) and the military convention (1893). His choice fell on Butovsky. The educated gentleman from a good family with an interest in pedagogy and modern physical education fit exactly into the image that Coubertin had made of the members of the IOC.

In preparation for the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 , Butovsky launched a campaign to send Russian athletes to the Olympic Games. However, it was unsuccessful. No athlete from Russia took part in the competitions. Butovsky was the only representative of Russia at the Games. The official assignment for his several months' trip to Austria , Italy and Greece was to study the physical exercise system in these countries.

Butovsky followed the games very closely and then wrote a book called Athens in the spring of 1896 . This work with many detailed descriptions of the course and the celebrations is one of the few contemporary witness reports that comprehensively reproduce the events of the first Olympic Games.

Butovsky's efforts to get Russia to participate in the Olympic Games remained unsuccessful even after 1896. Perhaps this was the reason for his retirement from the IOC in 1900. The real reasons lie in the dark. Nevertheless, Butovsky remained connected to the Olympic movement and also to Pierre de Coubertin. So he took in 1905 on III. Took part in the Olympic Congress in Brussels , on which he then wrote a widely regarded report. Finally, thanks to his commitment, the National Olympic Committee of Russia (Olimpijski Komitet Rossii) was founded in 1911 .

Physical education had meanwhile become a fundamental educational tool for Butovsky, and it was important to spread it and introduce it to as many educational institutions as possible. He no longer limited his teaching activities to military schools. In 1910 he taught at the newly established gymnastics and fencing school in Saint Petersburg . In order to spread his theories and methodologies, he wrote numerous books and reports that are now considered to be important evidence of the change in the educational system of that time.