AIMS Restores Michel Bréal's Grave, Launches Global Marathon Day
Paris – September 12, 2026 -- The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) has funded the complete restoration of Michel Bréal's grave at Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, including a new memorial stone, and will mark the work with a ceremony on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, from 14:00 to 15:00.
AIMS names Michel Bréal 'Founder Emeritus' for the first time
The organization, which represents 470 marathons and distance races across more than 120 countries, is conferring on Bréal the honorary title of Founder Emeritus in recognition of the 1894 letter he wrote to Pierre de Coubertin proposing a race from Marathon to the Pnyx for the revived 1896 Olympic Games. Bréal, a Collège de France professor and classical philologist who never competed in athletics, personally commissioned and funded the winner's silver trophy, awarded to Spyridon Louis at the first modern Olympics.