In 2005 young people from fifteen countries in four continents came to Radstadt to take part in the CIPC (International Pierre de Coubertin Committee) Youth Games, organised by the town’s grammar school. This was followed in spring of this year by a welcome announcement from the CIPC annual congress that the grammar school can officially call itself a “Pierre de Coubertin School”. The committee’s decision was unanimous and was cause for great celebration in both Radstadt and the State of Salzburg.
Last weekend, the President of the CIPC, Norbert Müller, performed the official ceremony, which was attended by the Governor of the State of Salzburg, Gabi Burgstaller. In her speech, she made specific reference to living the Olympic Idea in everyday life: “The peaceful and cosmopolitan spirit of the Olympic Games does not just reign every four years for a select few top athletes. It is all around us every day. Radstadt grammar school is a particularly positive example of how the Olympic Idea is still as alive as it always was. We can clearly see from the school’s guidelines and above all from the way that the school conducts itself that this idea can also be incorporated into daily life. This also shows how deeply rooted the Olympic Ideals are in Salzburg today. Once again this demonstrates that the Salzburg bid for the Winter Games in 2014 is not primarily motivated by economics, but is fundamentally concerned with the great tradition of hospitality in this region and the enthusiasm for winter sports. I am proud that a Salzburg school is the first in Austria to be able to use the honorary title of "Pierre de Coubertin School".”

Fedor Radmann, head of the Salzburg 2014 bid, is also delighted: “I hope that this award shows that there are people in Salzburg who live the Olympic values. I offer my sincere congratulations to the people of Radstadt. It makes our work easier when we know that we have amazing young people here who demonstrate their own great initiative. These are the people who would make the Winter Olympics in 2014 a quite special experience, very much in the spirit of the founder of the Modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin.”