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Address
By Mr Georgios AIDONIS (GRE)
Mayor of Ancient Olympia
The great moment of the celebration of the 2004 Olympic Games is drawing
near. The Games have returned to their origins, to their native land. Ancient
Olympia is in its turn called upon once again to make known and spread its everlasting,
universal messages.
Going back to the past, it would be worth stopping over at certain
organisations, like the one by our friend, the Spanish City. Barcelona had set some
really high goals for 1992, which she proved entirely up to, thus carrying out a
successful experiment as to the upgrading of the city's greater area and the
creation of an admirable infrastructure.
But also Sydney, in far away Australia, was successful in the carrying
out of its ambitious plans during the last Games, of the year 2000, thanks
to the spirit of Cupertino among its citizens and the really great numbers of
volunteers.
In the case of Sydney, standards were very high. Nevertheless, they were
more than adequately met, thus offering the global community one of the best
organisations ever.
We, in our turn, are now asked to take over and present the best Olympic
Games in modern history. We do not just hope that; we are sure of that. This
Games must be and shall be the most perfect ones so far, not simply because
we are going to create the necessary infrastructure, but because they are coming
back to their native land and have, therefore, an important guarantor, their
authenticity.
Ancient Olympia, on its part, can also have a contribution to the achievement
of this high objective, because, for thousands of years, it has been the place which
attracts people's attention world-wide, being a point of reference in the eternal
and ever prevalent spirit of the age-old universal Values that constitute the
Olympic Ideal, Values which constitute the cohesion mechanism of a humanity
worth of the noblest human dreams.
In ancient times, in the mythical times, the Olympian Gods chose this place
for mortals to present both their physical abilities and the vigour of their spirit
every four years and reaffirm the values leading their lives in general.
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