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100 meter race 1896.
In ancient Greece, the home of the Olympic Games, the period between the two festivals of the most prepared athletes was called the Olympics. It lasted four years. When the games took place, the wars were interrupted. Peace reigned. The modern games were renewed in Athens in 1896. They were not at the end of the Olympics only when peace was broken in modern civilization.
Olympism suffered because of the First and Second World Wars. Today, in peacetime, the war of humanity with the corona virus has taken its toll.
For the first time in history, the competitors will not be reflected in the leap year, but in the so-called idle. Tokyo was supposed to host the XXXII Olympic Games 2020, but necessity postponed the celebration of a healthy body and a healthy spirit for this summer (July 23-August 8).
Pierre de Coubertin was one of the founders of the French Sports and Athletics Society in the early 1990s, which advocated complete amateurism in sports, accessible to all. That association also had a decisive influence on the founding of important international sports organizations in Paris, such as the International Cycling Union (1900) and the World Football Federation (1904), whose first president for two years was Robert Guerin, secretary of the French Athletics Association.
At the annual congress of the Society, on November 25, 1892, at the Sorbonne, Coubertin first came out publicly with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games. He received thunderous applause, but he was still tempted until the founding of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on June 23, 1894, also at the famous University of Paris, and until the beginning of the First Olympic Games two years later. One of the problems, for example, was how to assemble the horns in a sack, the French and the Germans, who bore the scars of mutual war (1870-1871). Germany did not send a representative to the Sorbonne. Among the founders of the IOC were France, Greece, England, the United States, Russia, Hungary, Sweden, Belgium and Italy, and Australia and Japan sent written consent.
The king replaced the president
Greece was represented at the Congress on behalf of the All-Greek Athens Club by Demetrios Vikelas (1835-1908), Coubertin’s friend from the Paris days. The French baron advocated the opinion that the first games of the modern age should be held in Paris in 1900, at the turn of two centuries, but it was the Greek merchant and philologist who answered him, stubbornly defending the view that only Athens as the capital of the Games in the last six years of waiting, the interest in reviving the ancient manifestation may dry up. A compromise was found, although a strong current advocated that the first organization should be entrusted to London. Vikelas was automatically elected president of the IOC, because according to the first statute, that place belonged to the representative of the host country. Coubertin was appointed Secretary General. He was in charge later, from 1896 to 1916 and from 1919 to 1925.
The news about the revival of the Games excited the world public, and the Greek public with special enthusiasm. However, the difficulties that the organizers had to overcome soon became obvious. The serious level of competition required significant financial resources, and the political and economic crisis was raging in Greece. Prime Minister Harilaos Trikupis has made efforts to disrupt the organization. On his orders, his deputy Skuluzis, a member of the organizing committee, sharply criticized Coubertin’s unreasonable budget, trying not to hold the Games in Greece. The French aristocrat had to stumble from his heels in order to win over various important structures to his side. The costs really exceeded the estimated amount of money three times. Trikupis issued an ultimatum to King George: either he or Crown Prince Constantine, who was at the head of the organizing committee. The king cut short on January 24, 1895. And, the prime minister resigned!
An agile prince
The prince, George’s eldest son, reorganized the supporting body. He removed from it all the opponents of the Games in existence. He took measures to attract private capital to the budget. Funds began to come from all over the country. 332,756 drachmas were poured into the Olympic fund, but even that was not enough.
Demetris Sakarafos, the founder of the Greek Association of Stamp Collectors, came to the rescue with a saving idea. He proposed the printing and sale of stamps with Olympic motifs, and the Greek parliament passed a suitable law on that. Coubertin later recalled:
– After the issuance of postage stamps, the success of the Olympic Games was guaranteed!
The games were held from April 6 to 15, 1896, according to the Gregorian calendar (the Julian calendar was used in Greece). There is a lot of controversy among sports historians regarding the number of participants. It was established with complete certainty that there were 176 of them, and with a small error based on fragmented data 246, in the vast majority of Greeks. The names of at least 41 competitors in gymnastics, 22 in archery and seven in swimming have not been preserved.
Competitions were held in athletics, gymnastics, swimming, cycling, fencing, archery, wrestling, weightlifting and tennis. It took both sailing and rowing, but they didn’t. According to one version, the reason was bad weather, and according to another, the host did not even provide boats for its participants, since there were no foreign applications.
Whose Greek is from Egypt
There is no agreement in the number of countries that gave participants either. The IOC says there were 14 of them. Some sources do not include Bulgaria and Chile, and some estimate that 15 countries had representatives, giving that right to Cyprus as well. However, from Cyprus, Egypt and Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire came competitors under the Greek flag. Hence, there is no single position on Egyptian participation. Some attribute to that country Dionysios Kasdaglis, the only participant from its territory, who competed under the Greek flag.
Vikelas’ empty wish
Driven by the echo, Vikelas already proposed at the Second Olympic Congress in Avra that the Games be held in Greece for four years, which was the wish of King George. His exclusive proposal, of course, was not accepted, so he withdrew from the Olympic movement and dedicated himself to the educational mission. Dizgine IOC was taken over by Coubertin.
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