{"id":1388,"date":"2021-08-02T10:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/library\/?p=1388"},"modified":"2021-08-02T11:02:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T11:02:30","slug":"the-first-modern-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/library\/2021\/08\/02\/the-first-modern-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Modern Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite\u00a0Covid,\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0hosts\u00a0the delayed\u00a0summer\u00a0Olympics\u00a0of 2020\u00a0this month\u00a0representing\u00a0the\u00a0ultimate\u00a0challenge\u00a0to the\u00a0world\u2019s\u00a0top athletes.\u00a0\u00a0Organisers\u00a0estimate\u00a0some\u00a011,000 athletes,\u00a0from\u00a0205 countries\u00a0will\u00a0compete\u00a0in 330 events\u00a0in\u00a028 sports\u00a0in front of TV audiences numbering billions.\u00a0Today\u2019s intense interest, however,\u00a0contrasts\u00a0markedly\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0more\u00a0haphazard\u00a0nature of the\u00a0very\u00a0first\u00a0modern Olympic\u00a0Games\u00a0held\u00a0in Athens in 1896.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Reproduction<\/p>\n

Reproduction of the cover of the\u00a01896\u00a0Olympics\u00a0Official\u00a0Report\u00a0(Olympic Studies Centre)<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then,\u00a0300\u00a0competitors,\u00a0all men\u00a0and mostly local,\u00a0took\u00a0part in 43 events in\u00a0athletics, cycling, swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, gymnastics, shooting\u00a0and\u00a0lawn\u00a0tennis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These sports, with the exception of shooting and tennis, would have been broadly familiar to any ancient Greek. However, some of the events, one armed weightlifting for example, appear slightly odd to us today.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The indifference shown by the established sporting authorities to what they\u00a0all\u00a0then\u00a0regarded as a passing fad meant that\u00a0the non-Greek competitors\u00a0tended to be\u00a0sportsmen of the amateur and gentlemanly\u00a0kind rather than\u00a0necessarily\u00a0the\u00a0world\u2019s\u00a0best.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take the tennis, for example, a sport pretty unfamiliar in Greece at the time. The singles was won by an Irish undergraduate, named John Boland. Boland was spending the Easter holidays in Athens with a friend and had no intention of competing. However his friend, one of the local organisers, persuaded him to enter the tournament at the last minute. A recreational player, with little experience of competition, Boland ended up winning all his matches.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He then repeated the feat in the doubles forming a scratch partnership with German player, Fritz Traun. Their success no doubt helped assuage Traun\u2019s disappointment at having previously lost both in the singles and also in the 100 metres sprint.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike future winners of\u00a0Olympic tennis,\u00a0Boland did not\u00a0enjoy a\u00a0stellar\u00a0career\u00a0in the game. In\u00a0fact there is no record of him ever winning anything\u00a0again.\u00a0He did,\u00a0however,\u00a0go on to\u00a0serve as\u00a0an\u00a0MP for\u00a018years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carl\u00a0Schuhmann\u00a0was the most successful\u00a0athlete at the games, winning both the\u00a0individual vault\u00a0and contributing to the Germans\u2019 success in both team gymnastic events.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Bizarrely,\u00a0Schuhmann\u00a0then fought his way\u00a0to the final of the wrestling where he faced local man, Georgios\u00a0Tsitas. The contest\u00a0turned into a two-day affair. Darkness forced an end to proceedings on the first day with\u00a0Schuhmann\u00a0winning his 4<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0medal on resumption the next morning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Carl<\/span><\/p>\n

Carl\u00a0Schuhmann\u00a0and Georgios\u00a0Tsitas\u00a0at\u00a0the 1896 Wrestling final\u00a0(ac-wuestenrot.de)<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To\u00a0huge\u00a0national\u00a0acclaim the marathon, which\u00a0actually\u00a0started\u00a0in Marathon,\u00a0was won by\u00a0an Athenian mineral water salesman\u00a0Spyridon Louis.\u00a0Hailed as a national hero, his colourful later life included\u00a0serving jail time\u00a0for falsifying papers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather\u00a0than\u00a0spending\u00a0millions\u00a0on purpose built stadia,\u00a0as is the norm today,\u00a0the Greeks\u00a0used what they had available.\u00a0The swimming events took place in the sea off Piraeus,\u00a02 out of the 3\u00a0open\u00a0events\u00a0being\u00a0won by a\u00a0Hungarian\u00a0Alfred\u00a0Hajos.\u00a0Entry to a fourth event\u00a0was\u00a0peculiarly\u00a0restricted to\u00a0members of the\u00a0Greek\u00a0Navy.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Panathenaic\u00a0Stadium\u00a0hosted 4\u00a0sports,\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0formal ceremonial. It\u00a0was a refurbished facility excavated\u00a0out of\u00a0solid\u00a0marble\u00a0on the site of\u00a0a\u00a0stadium\u00a0that\u00a0hosted the\u00a0ancient games\u00a0dating\u00a0back to 144CE.\u00a0\u00a0The track,\u00a0a narrow\u00a0horseshoe shape,\u00a0caused some\u00a0runners\u00a0problems when cornering.\u00a0It\u2019s still\u00a0possible to\u00a0channel one\u2019s inner Olympian today and\u00a0run\u00a0round\u00a0that same track\u00a0provided\u00a0you\u00a0pay the\u00a0stadium\u00a0tour\u00a0entrance fee of 5 euros.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Panathenaic\u00a0Stadium Athens\u00a0(Greeka.com)<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oddly\u00a0no\u00a0Gold\u00a0medals\u00a0where\u00a0awarded.\u00a0Gold, silver and bronze medals\u00a0didn\u2019t appear until\u00a0St Louis in\u00a01904.\u00a0The first winners\u00a0each received a silver medal and a laurel branch, runners\u00a0up a copper medal. There was nothing\u00a0for coming 3rd.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retrospectively,\u00a0however,\u00a0the IOC upgraded gold, silver and bronze to the top 3 in\u00a0all the Athens events.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From\u00a0this\u00a0fairly\u00a0modest\u00a0start\u00a0and\u00a0despite\u00a0the\u00a0initial\u00a0lack of international enthusiasm\u00a0the\u00a0Games\u00a0developed\u00a0into the\u00a0multi-million dollar extravaganza\u00a0we\u00a0are now enjoying.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By John Baillie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite\u00a0Covid,\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0hosts\u00a0the delayed\u00a0summer\u00a0Olympics\u00a0of 2020\u00a0this month\u00a0representing\u00a0the\u00a0ultimate\u00a0challenge\u00a0to the\u00a0world\u2019s\u00a0top athletes.\u00a0\u00a0Organisers\u00a0estimate\u00a0some\u00a011,000 athletes,\u00a0from\u00a0205 countries\u00a0will\u00a0compete\u00a0in 330 events\u00a0in\u00a028 sports\u00a0in front of TV audiences numbering billions.\u00a0Today\u2019s intense interest, however,\u00a0contrasts\u00a0markedly\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0more\u00a0haphazard\u00a0nature of the\u00a0very\u00a0first\u00a0modern Olympic\u00a0Games\u00a0held\u00a0in Athens in 1896.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0   Reproduction of the cover of the\u00a01896\u00a0Olympics\u00a0Official\u00a0Report\u00a0(Olympic Studies Centre)\u00a0 \u00a0 Then,\u00a0300\u00a0competitors,\u00a0all men\u00a0and mostly local,\u00a0took\u00a0part in 43 events in\u00a0athletics, cycling, swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, gymnastics, shooting\u00a0and\u00a0lawn\u00a0tennis.\u00a0 These sports, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":319,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[112,111],"class_list":["post-1388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-athens","tag-olympics","post-preview"],"yoast_head":"\nThe First Modern Olympics - 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