INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

CULTURAL AND POLITICAL PARAMETERS OF THE
OLYMPIC GAMES OF ATHENS IN 1896
Dr Kostas GEORGIADIS (GRE)
The organization of the Zappia - Olympia athletic competitions,
which were the National Olympic Games in Athens (1859, 1870,
1875, 1888/89), had appropriately prepared the ideological base in
Greece for the undertaking of the organization of the first International
Olympic Games in 1896. On a national level, during that particular
period of time, it is obvious that Greek people searched for the most
suitable mechanisms to support the newly established state and the
country’s cultural, economical and political recovery continued to
constitute a concern of primary importance. Sports, as a movement,
were not particularly developed in Greece, with the exception of some
individual efforts to support them. The interest for the idea of the
Olympic Games derived mainly from the desire to achieve political
aims and not because the social contribution of sports was highly
appreciated.
The determination of the date for the Olympic Games
demonstrates undoubtedly their political significance. The day of 25 th
March 1896 (the day when the Annunciation of Virgin Mary is
honoured and the Greeks’ revolution is celebrated), considered as the
opening day of the Olympic Games in Athens, constituted the absolute
combination between the two cultural poles of the neo-Hellenic state:
the living memory of the ancient Greek past and the Christian religion.
So, at its 75 th anniversary (1821-1896), the modern Greek state
was not alone; personalities from the “civilized and developed” world,
attended the ceremonies of the Olympic Games and honoured with
their presence the newly established state.
During that time, for the Greek population, the deeper meaning of
the Olympic Games’ organization, which was considered as a means
of realization of the national independence and of search of the
cultural identity through the classical heritage and the oral tradition, is
clearly expressed in the description of the Games’ diploma by
Nikolaos Gyzis who also painted it. The theme of the diploma was:
“While the Phoenix of the Olympic Games is reborn, Hellas, inspired
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