Modern Olympic Games

In the 19th century, intellectuals such as Evangelos Zappas and Demetrios Vikelas who believed in the spirit of noble contests and the Olympic ideals, lent their voices and efforts to the revival of the Olympic Games. However, it was French Baron Pierre de Coubertin who orchestrated the reestablishment of the Games, by advocating the marriage of sports and Greek classicism and leading the way to the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896.

From the very beginning, the Greek public embraced the revival, and joined the efforts to organise the Games. Any financial difficulties faced by the Greek state at the time, were met through the mobilisation of people and benefactors alike. The marble renovation of the ancient Panathinaikon Stadium that hosted the first modern Games was financed by George Averoff, a Greek benefactor from Northern Greece.

With the revival of the Olympic Games, a number of symbolic Olympic Traditions were also developed and established (i.e. the Olympic Anthem, the Olympic Creed, the Olympic Flag, the Olympic Oath, the Olympic Flame and Torch, the Olympic Truce).

Over the years, the Olympic Games travelled to different countries and continents, and in 2004, they will return to the country of their birth and the city of their revival for the hosting of the XXVIII Modern Olympic Games.