Olympics
The Olympics ( English Zappas Olympics , Greek Ζάππειες Ολυμπιάδες or Ολύμπια, Olympia) were sporting events in Greece organized by the merchant Evangelos Zappas . They were held in Athens in 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1889 and were modeled on the ancient Olympic Games, also known as the "Olympics" .
Who went from the 1896 Olympien modern Olympic Games under the patronage of of de Pierre Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee out.
History of origin
Inspired by the romantic zeitgeist, various people made suggestions during the 19th century to revive the ancient Olympic Games . In his poem “Dialogue of the Dead,” published in 1833, the poet and publisher Panagiotis Soutsos used the Olympic Games as a symbol of ancient Greek tradition. Soon afterwards, he specifically proposed the revival of the Games by the newly formed Greek state and in 1835 even sent the government a corresponding memorandum. The Wittelsbach Prince Otto, who ruled the country as King Otto I from 1832 to 1862, accepted the proposal, but despite Soutsos' relentless efforts, nothing happened in the years that followed.
In 1852, the German archaeologist Ernst Curtius also made the suggestion in a lecture to revive the Olympic Games. Evangelos Zappas , a successful businessman and member of the Greek diaspora in Romania , was inspired by these ideas and strove to implement them with his own resources. At the beginning of 1856 he sent a letter to King Otto via diplomatic channels and offered him to finance the entire project to revive the Olympic Games himself and to donate prizes for the winners. However, there was also opposition. The opinion was widespread among Greek politicians that athletic events were merely a throwback to archaic times. Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves , foreign minister and leader of the conservative anti-athletic lobby, proposed instead an exhibition of industry and agriculture.
For months there was no official response from the Greek government. When Panagiotis Soutsos made Zappas' ideas known to the public in a newspaper article in July 1856, he triggered a broad debate. Finally, King Otto gave his consent to the staging of sporting events every four years. He saw the focus in promoting the domestic economy and ordered the "Olympics" to be embedded in an industrial and agricultural exhibition. Zappas pledged the necessary financial resources to set up an Olympic trust fund.
Otto's role model for the Olympics was the Oktoberfest in Munich , at that time a combined show of agricultural products and sporting competitions. A reference to the Olympic Games in antiquity was also recognizable here. In 1832 three envoys from Greece traveled to Munich for his enthronement . At that time the Oktoberfest was postponed especially so that the Greek delegation could take part. The ambassadors reported about it in their homeland: “In the afternoon we returned an invitation to take part in a special festival that takes place every year on the eighth of this month and is called 'Oktoberfest'. It is held on a large area outside the city. The said festival is an imitation of the Olympic Games and the events can be traced back to ancient Greece. "
A 16- article Royal Decree “on the establishment of the Olympics” from 1858 finally had the primary aim “to stipulate general competitions in Athens, which should be held every four years under the title Olympics, and in each case the products from Greece Works should be exhibited, particularly those from industry, agriculture and livestock ” . In addition, “gymnastic games should be played at state expense in a suitably prepared stadium” . The regulation also referred to the direction, supervision, referees, prizes and individual competitions. Important personalities of the country support the project and the public was open-minded.
Events
Olympics 1859
On November 15, 1859, the first Olympics took place in the center of Athens on today's National Resistance Square in front of the king, politicians and respected citizens. Only Greeks took part in the competitions, either from Greece itself or from the Greek diaspora. The central part of the exhibition with a good thousand exhibitors competing in 15 categories was a success.
However, the sporting part of the competition with run , jump , discus throw , javelin throw and other disciplines is to be classified as a failure. The press was positive, but the thousands of Athenians who were present could not see what was happening or did not understand the point of such an event. The terrain was unsuitable and the weather was too cold. Since there were no competitive athletes in the today's sense, participation was open to everyone. Several curious incidents also occurred: For example, a policeman who was supposed to be monitoring the crowd left his post and took part in the runs. Even a beggar pretending to be blind took part.
Olympics 1870
The Olympics planned for 1863 fell victim to the political events in Greece - the expulsion of King Otto. Evangelos Zappas died in 1865. He had bequeathed the greater part of his fortune to the Committee of the Olympics on the condition that a suitable site for the Olympics, the Zappeion , be built. Again, a royal decree, this time from King George I , was supposed to secure the measures to fulfill Zappas' will. The so far only makeshift committee of the Olympics was officially founded under the leadership of important and leading figures of Greece.
For the second Olympics, the committee drew up a statute with contents that can later be found in their basic features at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The formation of special committees in the Greek provincial capitals is similar to the formation of National Olympic Committees . The exact definition of the celebrations included elements that are still in use today at the Olympic Games, for example an opening speech or the proclamation of the winners, naming them with musical accompaniment. Old traditions of the ancient Olympic Games were also taken up again, such as the solemn oath that the athletes had to take.
On November 15, 1870, the second Olympics took place, this time in the Panathinaikon Stadium , which was discovered in 1868/69 by the architect and building researcher Ernst Ziller , who immigrated from Saxony , and excavated by him in coordination with the king. Ziller's colleague Anastasios Metaxas had provisionally prepared the excavation site for the games according to Ziller's plans. The competitions had been postponed for two weeks due to bad weather. Around 25,000 spectators followed the action, a huge number for the time. In general, the competitions were better organized and the athletes were uniformly dressed.
All those who reported on these Olympics were full of praise for the organization and performance of the athletes. Sports historians describe this event as the most serious attempt at a significant interdisciplinary sports festival to date worldwide .
Olympics 1875
The success of the second Olympics strengthened the preparations for the third Olympics, which, despite all efforts, could not quite follow the given four-year rhythm. In 1874 the foundation stone for the Zappeion was laid. The third Olympics was organized by Ioannis Fokianos, Rector of the Athens High School. He was convinced that the ideal athlete came from the educated and cultivated class of society and for this reason only admitted students as participants.
The sporting competitions took place again on May 21, 1875 in the Panathinaikon Stadium. They were embedded in a show with 1200 Greek and 72 foreign exhibitors. The competition program had been expanded, for example by jumping over the double bar . There was not enough space for the numerous spectators and Fokianos had to put up with criticism despite his efforts and the good preparation of the athletes. The press was particularly disturbed by the poor organization and the exclusion of the working class. Fokianos was so upset about this that he resigned as organizer of the Olympics.
Olympics 1888/89
After the third Olympics, the committee was primarily concerned with legal disputes over the implementation of Zappas' legacy. Finally, his cousin Konstantinos Zappas was able to prevail. The government built the "Central Gymnastics Hall" with Zappas' money, which was inaugurated in 1878. The Zappeion was also completed in October 1888 after construction work had been interrupted for several years. On the occasion of the inauguration, the fourth Olympics were also opened, but initially only with the exhibition part.
The sporting part of the fourth Olympics had to be postponed to April 30, 1889 due to financial problems. Fokianos organized it independently of the Committee of the Olympics and also ensured the financing. 30 athletes competed in the central gymnastics hall. The public showed great interest, but the audience was very limited.
Another Royal Decree in 1890, signed by Crown Prince Constantine I and Foreign Minister Stephanos Dragoumis , was intended to ensure that the fifth Olympics would actually take place in 1892. However, renewed financial problems prevented the event.
Impact on the Modern Olympic Games
William Penny Brookes awakened enthusiasm for the sport in Great Britain as early as 1850 when the Wenlock Olympian Games were held for the first time . In 1859 he took over parts of the program of the first Olympics and also touted his own event as the rebirth of the Olympic Games. Brookes was the first to propose an international Olympic Games in Athens that should be different from his own "national" event. The Greek government ignored the support he often offered. However, Baron Pierre de Coubertin , who attended the Wenlock Olympian Games in 1890, adopted many of Brookes' ideas.
On June 23, 1894, the renewal of the Olympic Games was decided at an international sports congress in Paris . At the suggestion of the Greek businessman and writer Demetrius Vikelas , these were to be held at a historical site in Athens. The idea did not meet with immediate approval in Greece, on the one hand because no statements were made about the funding, but also because of the feared loss of national identity associated with the Olympics. This would inevitably have to be abandoned, because the Committee of the Olympics should take a leading role in the organization of the Olympic Games. The decision for or against the Olympic Games became a matter of national importance that even helped spark a government crisis in Greece. After the incumbent government finally resigned in January 1895, the way was clear for the supporters of the Olympic Games, and the Olympics were history.
literature
- Karl Lennartz , Spyridon Lampros: The Olympic Games in Athens 1896: Explanations for the reprint of the official report . Agon, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-91-6 .
- David C. Young: A Brief History of the Olympic Games . Blackwell Publishing, Malden (Maryland) 2004, ISBN 0-8018-5374-5 .
- David C. Young: The Modern Olympics - A Struggle for Revival . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1996, ISBN 0-8018-5374-5 .
- Christopher R. Hill: Olympic Politics . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1992, ISBN 0-7190-3792-1 .
- Olof Gigon : Olympics. In: Lexicon of the Old World . 1990, Volume 2, Col. 2129 f.
Web links
- From Ancient Olympia to Athens of 1896: First Zappian Games ( Foundation of the Hellenic World )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Young (1996), p. 15
- ↑ a b Young (2004), pp. 141-142
- ↑ a b Hill (1992), p. 16
- ↑ Young (2004), p. 145
- ↑ Young (1996), p. 21
- ↑ Young (2004), p. 146
- ↑ a b Zappian Olympic Games. In: Olympics through time. Foundation of the Hellenic World, archived from the original on May 22, 2008 ; accessed on December 2, 2009 .
- ↑ Friedbert Ficker; Gert Morzinek; Barbara Mazurek: Ernst Ziller - A Saxon architect and building researcher in Greece; The Ziller family . Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg i. Allgäu 2003, p. 18. (there drawing by Ziller).
- ↑ a b c Young (2004), p. 148
- ↑ From Ancient Olympia to Athens of 1896: Second Zappian Games ( Foundation of the Hellenic World )
- ↑ Young (2004), p. 149
- ↑ Young (2004), p. 151
- ↑ Young (2004), pp. 150-151