GREECE IS THE WORD Greece has been the setting for some crucial decisions of the Olympic Movement over the years. Philip Barker explores the historical significance of the country as the world of sport prepares to meet there once more.
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ack in March, an Olympic Flag was raised above the historic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens at the start of the first International Olympic Committee Session of 2021. The entire meeting was scheduled to take place in the Greek capital, but the pandemic showed no signs of diminishing. Organisers were forced to cancel the physical gathering and instead the IOC met on a virtual platform. By a twist of fate, Greece will, after all, welcome much of the Olympic world in 2021 after it was chosen to replace Seoul as host of October’s
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Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly. Athens was originally picked as the setting, but in September organisers changed tack and plumped for Crete. The Mediterranean island has come into contact with the five rings before, and ANOC’s invasion is due to be the biggest Olympic event held there since the Torch arrived en-route to the Athens 2004 Games. After journeying across the world, it was Crete where the Flame first touched down again on Greek soil. Organising Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki carried the Torch from a special plane, named Zeus, and it was greeted by thousands in the island’s capital Heraklion. A cauldron was ignited by Stella Pilatou, a long jumper from Crete who went on to compete at the Games. The Flame continued to make its way around the island, and the London 2012 Relay also visited. Heraklion hosted matches as part of the Athens 2004 football tournaments, including a women’s semi-final, and Cristiano Ronaldo was among those to play there. There have often been difficulties of one kind or another when the Olympic family is about to gather in Greece. When Athens hosted the first Olympics of the modern era in 1896, an IOC Session was held by what was then a fledgling movement
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with an uncertain future. Only a handful of members were able to join IOC President Demetrios Vikelas and secretary Pierre de Coubertin - a smaller gathering than most Executive Board meetings today. At the time, there was a complex political situation in Crete which was seeking independence from Turkey. Pro-Greek feelings fuelled by the Games saw conflict in the immediate aftermath of 1896. Ten years later, Athens staged “Olympic” Games once again. These were originally intended to be held at the midpoint of every Olympiad, but were only held on this occasion. Crete, with an unusual status as a “semi-independent” territory, is thought to have sent seven athletes to compete for the island. By the time a full IOC Session returned to Athens in 1934, more problems loomed. Preparations were now in full swing for the 1936 Games in Berlin, after the German capital had been chosen as host five years earlier. However, two years after this, Hitler rose to power. The brutality of the Nazi regime towards the Jewish community was soon revealed. Assurances had been given at the 1933 IOC Session in Vienna, but the subject again generated headlines. British member Lord Aberdare reported “new and violent opposition in the press” and “a certain hesitation” in accepting
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