Olympic document hits $8.8M auction record for sports item

NEW YORK – A record price of $8.8 million for a sports memorabilia item at auction has been achieved for the 1892 manifesto to launch the modern Olympic Games.

The 14-page document written by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin had been expected to reach up to $1 million in the sale in New York on Wednesday.

Sotheby’s auction house said competition between three bidders drove up the price beyond the previous record for a sports item — $5.6 million for a game jersey worn by baseball great Babe Ruth sold six months ago.

The identity of the document’s buyer was not disclosed.

De Coubertin’s manifesto for relaunching the Olympics was delivered in a speech at the Sorbonne university in Paris.

Two years later he founded the International Olympic Committee, and the first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896.

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