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Olympic Games
Resuscitation Of The Olympic Games
"... nor any contest than the Olympian greater to sing."
Pindar
 Centuries
of earthquakes and floods buried Olympia and the Temple of Zeus until
1870 when German excavations unearthed the beauty and magnificent
statues of the classical Greek Games. These archeological findings
in the sacred ground of Olympia fascinated Baron Pierre de Coubertin
so much that he was inspired to conceive the idea of reviving the
modern Olympic Games. On June 23 of 1894, speaking at the Sorbonne
in Paris to a gathering of international sports leaders from nine
nations, together with the Greek Dimitrios Vikelas, proposed that
the ancient Games be revived on an international scale. The idea was
enthusiastically received and the Modern Olympics, as we know them,
were born.
 The
first contemporary Olympic Games took place with great glamour in
1896 in Athens, where an estimated 245 athletes (all men) from 14
nations competed in the ancient Panathenaicon stadium before large
and ardent crowds. Americans won nine of the 12 track and field events,
but Greece won the most medals with 47.
The highlight was the victory by native peasant Spiros Louis in the
first marathon race, which was run over the same course covered by
the Greek hero Pheidippides after the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.
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 The
head quarters of the International Olympic Academy are in Olympia
now. Also in Olympia is the altar of the Olympic flame, which is transferred
every four years to the city that hosts the Olympic Games. The lighting
of the flame takes place at the altar of the Temple of Hera and it
is done with the convergence of sunlight onto a metal reflector. This
process is part of a ritual combination that includes the prayer and
the hymn to Apollo. The high priestess enters the stadium holding
the lit torch which she then hands over to the first runner in order
for it to start its long journey to the ends of the earth.
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