Athens Authentic Marathon

 More than 45,000 runners from 92 countries participated in Athens' Authentic Marathon run on November 13, 2022

The run traces the steps of Phedippides, a news bearing Athenian soldier, who announced the victory of Greeks against the Persians at the Marathon battle in 490 BC.

Pheidippides collapsed and died after he said νενικηκαμεν that translates to "we won"

The Marathon race became one of the most competitive events during the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens.  Spyros Louis won the gold medal in the first modern Olympics and became a legend in Greece.

The Marathon Race represents the highest effort in which the human body, soul and mind are tested to their limits as the runner presses to reach the finish line.

Here the young and not so young runners near the finish line in the Panathenaikon Stadium in Athens an unforgettable moment for the athletes, their families and friends.

This year a 91-year-old, Stelios Prassas participated and completed the Marathon run.  His success reminds us what humans can accomplish if they are physically gifted and have the will to train and prepare for the ultimate test in human endurance.

The Tokyo Olympics

 

The Summer Olympics originally scheduled for 2020, opened a year later on July 23, 2021 with dance performances highlighting the struggle to overcome the pandemic that infected close to 200 million people and has been the cause of death in more than 4 million people worldwide.

Japan is a country in East Asia of 126 million that inhabit multiple islands.  According to legend Emperor Jimmu, the grandson of Amaterasu goddess of the rising sun, formed the kingdom of Japan in 660 BC, forming a continuous imperial line. In 1868, Japan opened trade with the West.  In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western modeled constitution and pursued industrialization and modernization.  Today, Japan is a member of both the G7 and G20 groups of nations.

As of today August 1st, the IOC said there have been 259 Covid-19 cases two of which were treated in a hospital.  Twenty athletes have tested positive.  Japan has dealt well with the pandemic reporting 937,203 cases and 15,209 deaths that correspond to 121 deaths per million.

The tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron with the flame that was brought to Tokyo from Olympia, Greece.

The flame is lit according to the ancient method using the sun's rays.  The flame is given to the first runner by the high priestess of Hera, the wife of God Zeus, the preeminent God on Mount Olympus.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens' Stadium in 1896.  Although the Tokyo Olympics will be celebrating the 125th year since their rebirth, the ancient Games began in Olympia over 2700 years ago.  They were held every four years between 776 BC and 392 AD. 

The Olympic Games were attended by approximately 50,000 people from all over the Greek world and were celebrated as a religious festival for Zeus, the supreme God of the Greek pantheon.  The main event at the games was the sacrifice of 100 oxen to God Zeus. 

Unlike in today's games, the ancient athletes wouldn't have medals but instead, they were given a wreath of leaves and they were welcomed back to their home towns as heroes.

Discus, javelin throwing as well as running were popular events.  The toughest running race was called the Hoplitodromos and athletes run wearing armor and carrying a shield.

Wrestling and boxing were popular.  One of the toughest events was called Pankration - the only rules were that those wrestling could not bite or poke their rival in the eye.

Sumo which originated in Japan is its national sport.  Sumo will not be one of the 2021 games. A two-day tournament will take place between the completion of the games and the beginning of the Paralympic games. 

On August 1st Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi after the bar was set to 2.39m and each missed three times decided to share the gold in men's high jump.  The friendship and humanity the two athletes showed exemplified the spirit of the Olympics.  

           This was the best moment of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics!

People would travel from faraway places to compete in the ancient and modern games.  Two young athletes, Mark and Chloe - my children - traveled 5,000 miles to visit Olympia.  On July 23, 2007, they run the length of the stadium on a very hot day.  Hip hip hooray!

                                             Long live the Olympic Games

The first Modern Olympics and the Boston Marathon

In the first modern Olympics, 64 athletes, all men, from ten nations competed. 17 runners began the race at Marathon and only 9 finished at the newly constructed all marble Stadium that is close to the Acropolis.  Spyridon Louis a native of Greece with no prior running experience or training finished first.  He ran the 40 kilometers over dusty roads in 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds.  The Greek public was overjoyed and when he arrived in the stadium the Greek Crown Prince accompanied him on his final lap.     

Louis would never again compete in a race, but his victory made him a national hero.

In the 1896 Athens Olympics, the United States was one of 9 nations that competed thanks to sponsorship of the athletes by the Boston Athletic Association.  The United States won 17 medals, to 10 for Greece, 3 for Hungary, 2 for Australia, France and United Kingdom, and 1 for Germany.

 

The first annual Boston Athletic Association marathon was conducted on April 19, 1897, the date chosen to commemorate the famous ride of Paul Revere in 1775.  Fifteen runners started the 24.5 mile race, which was lengthened to 26.2 miles in 1924, and ten finished. Two nations claim, John J McDermott, the athlete who won the first Boston Marathon.  He was either American from New York or Canadian from Nova Scotia.  He finished in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.  The illustration that appeared on April 20, 1987 on the Globe depicts the race through the eyes of the artist.

 

In 1946, on the 50^th Boston Marathon another Greek, Stylianos Kyriakides, won the race at 2 hours, 29 minutes, 27 seconds.  According to a press release "The winner used his victory as a call to action to aid his war and famine-ravaged homeland. Kyriakides, who narrowly escaped execution during World War II, hadn't run in six years when he came to Boston in 1946, with the help of Greek-American benefactors (George and Spear Demeter). He was emaciated from the famine during the World War II Nazi occupation of Greece, and at one point was told by doctors in Boston he wouldn't be allowed to run because they were afraid he would die in the streets. That backdrop only added to the almost mythic race performance, in which he defeated the defending champion and set the best time in the world for 1946. Nearly a million people greeted him on his return to Athens in May 1946, when he came back with food, medicine, clothing and other essentials donated by Americans who wanted to help the war-ravaged Greece."

In 2013, two bombs exploded near the finish line at Copley Square in Boston.  This year Meb Keflezighi who came to the U.S. at age 12 from Eritrea became the first American since 1983 to win one of the most memorable victories in the Boston Marathon’s 118-year history.  With the backdrop of last year’s tragedy, and in front of those wounded and to commemorate the memory of those killed – Martin Richard, 8, Lingzi Lu, 23, Sean Collier, 27, Krystle Campbell, 29, - Keflezinghi raised his arm in victory when he crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds.  He then kissed the ground, took a bow, broke into tears and said, “I just used their energy” referring to the four killed and the many wounded a year ago.