Attempt to revive the Olympic Games
Many centuries have passed since the abolition of the ancient Games. At the beginning of the 17th century, Robert Dover opened the first Cotswold Olimpicks in the tiny village of Chipping Campden – an annual
festival of traditional sports which honoured the ancient Games of Greece.
festival of traditional sports which honoured the ancient Games of Greece.
Impact of the Cotswold Olimpicks
The Cotswold Olimpicks were one of the inspirations for the Wenlock
Olympian Society, established in 1850, and the story is now well known
about how the events in the small Shropshire town of Much Wenlock had a
significant impact on International Olympic Committee founder Baron Pierre
de Coubertin.
Born on 1 January 1863, he had a classical education at the Jesuit College of St Ignatius in Paris. In 1880, he passed his baccalaureate in literature. Although accepted by the Military School of Saint Cyr – like many sons of noble families at the time – he chose instead to study at the Law Faculty of the Political Sciences School. However, with little enthusiasm for a career in this field, he turned to education, which became a veritable passion. Thus it was that, in 1883, influenced by the work of French philosopher and historian Hippolyte Taine, and that of the Englishman Thomas Arnold (the Head of Rugby School), he went to England to compare the British and French education systems. After this trip, he began his life’s work, namely reforming the education system through sport. Convinced of the importance of including sport in the balanced education of a person, he then devoted himself to spreading this idea using all means available: lectures, publications, setting up sports or educational societies, etc. These included the Union des sociétés françaises de course à pied (1887), l’Association pour la réforme de l’enseignement (1906), the Olympic Museum and Library (1925), l’Union Pédagogique Universelle (UPU, 1925) and the Bureau international de pédagogie sportive (BIPS, 1928).
The first Much Wenlock’s traditional Olympian Society Annual Games were staged in 1850, the brainchild of the local doctor, scholar and hilanthropist Dr. William Penny Brookes. They reflected Brookes’ belief in sport as a way of addressing petty crime, drunkenness and theft, and his ultimate goal was the revival of an international Olympic competition in Athens.
In 1890, Coubertin was invited by Penny Brookes to watch the Much Wenlock Games, and witnessed the mix of athletics and traditional local sports, preceded by a parade with flag-bearers, competitors and officials.
Pierre de Coubertin, celebrated as the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, was a recreational horseman, rower and fencer. His dream of an international sporting festival was inspired by a preoccupation with improving the mental and moral condition of the French in the wake of the country’s defeat in the Franco-
Prussian war of the 1870s. He began with improving physical education in French schools
and went on to travel extensively, seeking to recruit like-minded foreigners in his drive to establish an international sports congress in Paris. Brookes and de Coubertin became great friends, with the Wenlock Games in many ways providing de Coubertin with a blueprint for a modern Olympic Games.
Olympian Society, established in 1850, and the story is now well known
about how the events in the small Shropshire town of Much Wenlock had a
significant impact on International Olympic Committee founder Baron Pierre
de Coubertin.
Born on 1 January 1863, he had a classical education at the Jesuit College of St Ignatius in Paris. In 1880, he passed his baccalaureate in literature. Although accepted by the Military School of Saint Cyr – like many sons of noble families at the time – he chose instead to study at the Law Faculty of the Political Sciences School. However, with little enthusiasm for a career in this field, he turned to education, which became a veritable passion. Thus it was that, in 1883, influenced by the work of French philosopher and historian Hippolyte Taine, and that of the Englishman Thomas Arnold (the Head of Rugby School), he went to England to compare the British and French education systems. After this trip, he began his life’s work, namely reforming the education system through sport. Convinced of the importance of including sport in the balanced education of a person, he then devoted himself to spreading this idea using all means available: lectures, publications, setting up sports or educational societies, etc. These included the Union des sociétés françaises de course à pied (1887), l’Association pour la réforme de l’enseignement (1906), the Olympic Museum and Library (1925), l’Union Pédagogique Universelle (UPU, 1925) and the Bureau international de pédagogie sportive (BIPS, 1928).
The first Much Wenlock’s traditional Olympian Society Annual Games were staged in 1850, the brainchild of the local doctor, scholar and hilanthropist Dr. William Penny Brookes. They reflected Brookes’ belief in sport as a way of addressing petty crime, drunkenness and theft, and his ultimate goal was the revival of an international Olympic competition in Athens.
In 1890, Coubertin was invited by Penny Brookes to watch the Much Wenlock Games, and witnessed the mix of athletics and traditional local sports, preceded by a parade with flag-bearers, competitors and officials.
Pierre de Coubertin, celebrated as the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, was a recreational horseman, rower and fencer. His dream of an international sporting festival was inspired by a preoccupation with improving the mental and moral condition of the French in the wake of the country’s defeat in the Franco-
Prussian war of the 1870s. He began with improving physical education in French schools
and went on to travel extensively, seeking to recruit like-minded foreigners in his drive to establish an international sports congress in Paris. Brookes and de Coubertin became great friends, with the Wenlock Games in many ways providing de Coubertin with a blueprint for a modern Olympic Games.
Developing the modern Games
When Coubertin returned to France, he wrote an article in a newspaper urging the revival of the Games in Greece, this time on an international basis. With this purpose, he founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 in Paris. The new committee set itself the objective of organising the first Olympic Games of modern times. The Frenchman’s congress first met in 1894 and voted to re-establish the Olympic Games, some 1,500 years after its demise.
Meanwhile, at the request of Loannis Fokianos – an athletics instructor heavily involved in Greek sport – a Greek sports-lover Demetrius Vikelas agreed to represent the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastics Club at the International Athletic Congress in Paris. Before this experience, Vikelas had no particular link to the world of sport. He nonetheless joined the second commission responsible for re-establishing the Olympic Games (OG). To his great surprise, he was appointed as the first President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For Coubertin, this represented the consecration of his huge education reform project. Indeed, he regarded the OG as the ultimate means of promoting sport, and sought – as he wrote in 1894:
Meanwhile, at the request of Loannis Fokianos – an athletics instructor heavily involved in Greek sport – a Greek sports-lover Demetrius Vikelas agreed to represent the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastics Club at the International Athletic Congress in Paris. Before this experience, Vikelas had no particular link to the world of sport. He nonetheless joined the second commission responsible for re-establishing the Olympic Games (OG). To his great surprise, he was appointed as the first President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For Coubertin, this represented the consecration of his huge education reform project. Indeed, he regarded the OG as the ultimate means of promoting sport, and sought – as he wrote in 1894:
To make them able to better fulfil the educational role incumbent upon them in the modern world
Controversy
Unfortunately, the news that Greece would host the revival of the Olympic Games was cause for much domestic deliberation and debate, as the country's economy was in a highly critical condition. Only the previous year Charilaos Trikoupis had declared the Greek State bankrupt. After much debate and argument, and the steadfast refusal by Trikoupis to undertake any financial obligation for running the Games whatsoever, the IOC even entertained the possibility that Budapest should host the Games. Instead, the unwavering stance
of Prince Constantine, heir to the throne, that Athens was the right choice for the Games, and the rise to power of Theodoros Deligiannis confirmed that Greek opinion had already been expressed. Thus the first Hellenic Olympic Committee formed, allocated the work that had to take place into specific Commissions, while for the financial problems that inevitably arose, they decided to call upon sponsors. The work of the Committee was indeed extremely difficult, as it had a relatively short period of time to coordinate all the individual details of
running the Games, and this comprised a very wide range of activities, concerning everything from athlete participation to their accommodation and food. The final result was clearly indicative of the seriousness and care taken in their preparation.
of Prince Constantine, heir to the throne, that Athens was the right choice for the Games, and the rise to power of Theodoros Deligiannis confirmed that Greek opinion had already been expressed. Thus the first Hellenic Olympic Committee formed, allocated the work that had to take place into specific Commissions, while for the financial problems that inevitably arose, they decided to call upon sponsors. The work of the Committee was indeed extremely difficult, as it had a relatively short period of time to coordinate all the individual details of
running the Games, and this comprised a very wide range of activities, concerning everything from athlete participation to their accommodation and food. The final result was clearly indicative of the seriousness and care taken in their preparation.
The Games finally revived
The opening ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games took place on 25 March 1896, a National Holiday, which also happened to fall on
Easter Sunday. The Panathinaiko Stadium sounded for the very first time with the Olympic Anthem, to lyrics by poet Kostis Palamas and music by Spiros Samaras. In 1958 this Hymn was established as the official anthem. Penny Brookes, who had been unable through ill health to travel to Paris for the congress, died four months before the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens. Today his Much Wenlock Games are acknowledged to have been a great inspiration in effecting their return.
Easter Sunday. The Panathinaiko Stadium sounded for the very first time with the Olympic Anthem, to lyrics by poet Kostis Palamas and music by Spiros Samaras. In 1958 this Hymn was established as the official anthem. Penny Brookes, who had been unable through ill health to travel to Paris for the congress, died four months before the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens. Today his Much Wenlock Games are acknowledged to have been a great inspiration in effecting their return.
I came to pay homage and tribute to Dr Brookes, who really was the founder of the modern Olympic Games.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, then President of the IOC, when he visited Brookes’ grave in 1994
The success of the Athens Games, which lasted for nine days, 25 March - 3 April 1896 (of the Julian calendar), was an event of major importance - as was proved later - for the establishment and the further development of the International Olympic Movement. That first organisation had a total of 13 participating nations with 241 athletes taking part in 43 events. Greek athletes won a total of 29 medals, not counting the three winners in
instances where the decision had been made that medals were not to be awarded. The victory of Spyridon Louis along the classic course of the Marathon road race, which was established for the first time after being
proposed by French professor M. Breal, was perhaps the most talked-about and most described in the history of the Olympic Games.
It was also the one that caused the greatest enthusiasm in Athens of 1896.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the Greeks revived the institution and set the foundations for its future success with only their enthusiasm and their faith. The euphoria and the spirit of optimism caused by the Olympic Games were directly responsible for the suggestion, before the Games had even officially
ended, by King George I, that the Olympic Games be held permanently in Greece. This appeal by the Greek monarch was not a solitary thought; it arose from a wider request, formulated on the streets of Athens during the Games and was spelt out in the columns of Athenian newspapers. However, despite the interventions to make Greece the permanent and constant site of the Games, there was no State provision made. The wider feeling of sporting euphoria expressed would not last for long, as both the lack of financial resources and
the unpleasant turn of national events in 1897 were not conducive to such an outcome.
instances where the decision had been made that medals were not to be awarded. The victory of Spyridon Louis along the classic course of the Marathon road race, which was established for the first time after being
proposed by French professor M. Breal, was perhaps the most talked-about and most described in the history of the Olympic Games.
It was also the one that caused the greatest enthusiasm in Athens of 1896.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the Greeks revived the institution and set the foundations for its future success with only their enthusiasm and their faith. The euphoria and the spirit of optimism caused by the Olympic Games were directly responsible for the suggestion, before the Games had even officially
ended, by King George I, that the Olympic Games be held permanently in Greece. This appeal by the Greek monarch was not a solitary thought; it arose from a wider request, formulated on the streets of Athens during the Games and was spelt out in the columns of Athenian newspapers. However, despite the interventions to make Greece the permanent and constant site of the Games, there was no State provision made. The wider feeling of sporting euphoria expressed would not last for long, as both the lack of financial resources and
the unpleasant turn of national events in 1897 were not conducive to such an outcome.