Nobel and Coubertin
The modern Olympic idea and movement were created in the era of the international peace activism of the 1800s. Both Alfred Nobel and Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC, were strongly influenced by Bertha von Suttner’s book “Lay Down Your Arms!”. Nobel's will was written in 1895 and Alfred Nobel died the following year, the same year as the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens.
11minutes behind best time in marathon at the time