Monday, 16 November 2009

A Fun Olympics

Yesterday, I unaccountably overlooked the 150th anniversary of the first modern revival of the Oympic Games - the 'Zappas Olympics' of 1859, financed by a wealthy businessman called Evangelis Zappas. The plan was to hold such events in the suitably renovated ancient Panathenaic stadium, but it wasn't ready, so Zappas made do with Loudovikou (now Koumoundourou) Square in Athens, where half the population of Athens joined an impressive array of dignitaries to watch a games firmly based on the ancient disciplines of running, jumping, discus and javelin throwing, wrestling and of course pole climbing (surely due for a revival?). The games were, just about, international, accepting entrants from the Greek state and the diaspora - provided they were 'ethnically Greek' - but the site was far from ideal, the weather was cold (it was November, after all), and most of the crowd couldn't really see anything. Entry was open to anyone who fancied a crack at the cash prizes, so all sorts pitched in, including (according to reports) a policeman who was supposed to be controlling the crowds, and a beggar who normally made his living pretending to be blind. Surely here we have a model of everything an Olympic Games should be. If only London 2012 would learn the lessons of 1859. It would be fun - but fun seems to be the last thing the organisers of modern Olympiads are after.
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7 comments:

  1. mahlerman16 November 2009 at 12:12

    Fun? The word itself seems positively anachronistic, yet wonderfully descriptive no? Fun sounds like fun. Sad it is that lucre has so distorted the original aims of not just the Olympics, but just about every sport, and non-sport (F1) that you care to cast your mind over.

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  2. Brit16 November 2009 at 12:55

    Too true, Mahlerman. We could call it (Frank) Zappas Olympics and make it all pole-climbing, bog-snorkelling and tiddly-winking, but soon enough the pole-climbers would be spending years getting up at 5am to train and talking about how at the end of the day you've got to take each climb as it comes and the result being the main thing, the bog-snorkellers would be sponsored by Persil and the tiddly-winkers would be on steroids.

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  3. Anonymous16 November 2009 at 13:30

    Perhaps the proof of your thesis would be if we could show that not one athlete at the Zappas Olympics told a reporter that he just wanted to go out there and have fun.

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  4. malty16 November 2009 at 14:47

    I once joined Poles-climbing on Ben Nevis, two of them unfortunately died on K2 in 1987.
    Health and safety may refuse to include the sport.

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  5. Sir Watkin17 November 2009 at 21:59

    Much Wenlock's William Penny Brookes beat Zappas by nine years:


    http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/

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  6. Nige18 November 2009 at 13:23

    Hurrah for Brookes and Much Wenlock! That's what I call an Olympic - no Olympian, much better - Games...

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  7. Sir Watkin18 November 2009 at 13:35

    Thought it might appeal!

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