It was 1896, the Olympic Games were being revived. The motto, citius, altius, fortius— meaning “swifter,” “higher,” “stronger,”—coined by Father Henri Didon, urged athletes to do their best. The Dominican envisioned the games as a means of using physical competition to achieve spiritual greatness: “You who wish to surpass yourself, fashion your body and spirit to discover the best of yourself.”  One Irish-American did precisely that.