George Hirthler’s new historical novel, “The Idealist,” is the inspiring and tragic story of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the French visionary who founded the modern Olympic Games. When the novel opens in early 1937, Coubertin is 74, he's broke, his health is failing, and although he has created one of the most influential international movements of the 20th century, he is completely unknown outside a small circle of admirers, whose financial help he has repeatedly declined. His wife can hardly withhold her bitter animosity, his son is an insensate abyss of sadness, his daughter in and out of touch with reality, and his great creation is about to fall into the hands of a Nazi madman leading the world to war. But hope begins to rise again when a new ally appears.
We’ll talk with Hirthler about the fascinating life of Baron de Coubertin and the beginnings of the modern Olympic Games. We’ll also talk about the Olympic Movement today: the inspiring stories (including Salt Lake City’s generally positive experience) as well threats to the movement such as cost overruns and the growing number of cities refusing to bid on Games.
Over the last two decades, George Hirthler, has served as a lead writer or communications strategist for ten Olympic bid cities: The campaigns of Atlanta 1996, Istanbul 2000, Stockholm 2004, Klagenfurt 2006, Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010, NYC2012, Salzburg 2014, Chicago 2016 and Munich 2018. While helping each of these cities shape their Olympic message and image, he has written and produced more than 2500 pages of Olympic bid books, brochures, and speeches plus dozens of films and numerous major presentations. He also wrote the theme for the Beijing 2008 Olympics One World, One Dream and the winning bid for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games for Innsbruck 2012.
In 1996, the Republic of France awarded him the title of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters for his work in promoting the Olympic Ideal and the legacy of Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In 2004, Sports Business Journal named Hirthler one of the 20 Most Influential People in the Olympic Movement for his Olympic bid work. In 2011, Hirthler turned his attention to historical fiction and four and a half-years later, finished The Idealist, the first major novel on the life and times of the founder of the modern Olympic Games.
A graduate of Temple University's School of Theatre and Communications, Hirthler lives in Atlanta with his wife, Carole.
