The Olympic Motto and Creed
The motto and creed were developed and promulgated by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the creator of the modern Olympics, but in both cases he credited clergymen.
The Olympic motto is Citius - Altius - Fortius, Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger." A friend of de Coubertin, the Dominican priest Henri Didon, coined the phrase in an adress delivered to the members of a sports association in Grenoble, France, on March 7, 1891. It became the Olympic motto in 1894, when the International Olympic Committee was first organized.
On July 19, 1908, Anglican Bishop Ethelbert Talbot of Pennsylvania addressed Olympic athletes at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He said, in part, "The important thing in these Olympics is not so much winning as taking part."
De Coubertin adapted and expanded that into 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."