The sportsman knows that a sport is a recreation, a game, an amusement and a pastime, but his eyes are fixed on a higher goal, on the most important thing in his life, which is his education or his vocation.

There before the audience in the stadium and the millions watching on television Brundage offered what Guttmann called "the credo of his life":

The crowd in the stadium responded to Brundage's statement with loud applause; according to Stars & Stripes "Brundage's statement that 'the games must go on' took much of the heavy gloom away which has permeated Munich since early Tuesday [September 5 the day of the attack]. " He often concluded speeches by quoting from John Galsworthy:

This ideal was best realized Brundage believed in amateur sports: the athlete he stated should compete "for the love of the game itself without thought of reward or payment of any kind" with professionals being part of the entertainment business. In the first of several well-publicized run-ins he had with female athletes Brundage replied that he had not had any problem with the rules when an Olympic athlete himself and stated "You know the ancient Greeks kept women out of their athletic games.

Although Brundage was successful in getting a team to the Games in Berlin its participation was controversial and has remained so. Following his retirement from athletics Brundage became a sports administrator rising rapidly through the ranks in United States sports groups. In retirement Brundage married a German princess; he died in 1975.