The wax likeness of the French baron, who was born in Paris in 1863, will be unveiled at the famed museum in July, before the start of the Olympic Games on 26 July. The figure is being produced in the museum's workshops in the French capital's 13th district.

The French aristocrat was a champion of sport in education and proposed a revival of the ancient Olympic Games in 1894. The first edition of the modern Games was held in Athens in 1896, with more than 200 male athletes from 14 countries taking part.

Coubertin died in Switzerland in 1937 at the age of 74, a year after the Olympic Games organised by Nazi Germany, which he had not attended. The baron is now seen as a controversial figure due to his racist and misogynistic views, according to AFP.

Coubertin described himself as a "fanatical colonialist" and believed that women should be excluded from the Olympic Games. Restrictions on women's participation reflected the prejudices of the time, including that sportswomen might lose their femininity or become sterile. 

He argued that an Olympic Games with women would be "impractical, uninteresting (and) unaesthetic". A year before his death, Coubertin said: "The only true Olympic hero is the individual male athlete. Therefore, no women's sports and no team sports." 

A descendant of Coubertin argued that he was a man of his time and that his views had evolved throughout his life. "We reduce him to writings that are shocking from today's perspective. They were not shocking at the time," Diane de Navacelle de Coubertin told the French daily Le Parisien.