Written by TASSOS K. KONTOGIANNIDIS, journalist, author
The institution of touching the Olympic Flame may have been established in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, but its origins lie in Ancient Greece. According to tradition, the king of Ilid, Ifitos, together with the kings of Sparta, Lycurgus, and of Pisa, Cleosthenes, at the beginning of the 8th century BC. century, they established common worship next to the temple of Zeus in Olympia, at the same time holding athletic competitions every four years.
As Plutarch mentions, the aim of this event was, during these Games, to establish the Olympic Truce and to enforce, as long as they last, peace. They even asked Zeus to grant peace to all peoples and to crown the winners of the holy fight.
Then, during the Olympic Games, in Ancient Olympia, the touching of the Olympic Flame took place in the form of a religious ceremony. The touch was done by the priest and the athlete who received the torch handed it to the next one, so that it would reach the altar unextinguished, as long as the Games lasted.
In 1936, the Nazi regime, in an effort to stage the Berlin Olympics with pomp and propagandize Hitler’s ideas, revived the touch of the Olympic Flame after 27 centuries.
A brilliant and talented director, a favorite of Hitler, the 32-year-old Leni Riefenstahl, who died in 2002 at the age of 102, undertakes the organization of the touch in Ancient Olympia. In a special ceremony, the choreographer-priestess Kula Pratsika relays the supplications to Zeus:
“O Zeus, lord of all and everything, guide, to you O Zeus, I send this request as the beginning of my hymns…”.
The flame was manifested with a concave mirror from the rays of the sun in the sacred area of Olympia on July 20, 1936 and was handed over by the priestess to the first torchbearer Kostas Kandilis. Riefenstahl, with a large team of technicians and cameramen films the touch and the route from Ancient Olympia to the packed Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
The Flame, with one runner per kilometer, passed through Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia and reached Berlin on August 1, after eleven days. The German champion Fritz Schilgen carries it to light the altar, causing emotion in the tens of thousands of spectators, while the philharmonics played the Olympic Anthem…
Tragic irony: Five years later, the Germans who took the light of Olympism and peace from Ancient Olympia, are now entering Greece with arms as conquerors. And the tragic coincidence: The one who will raise the swastika on the Holy Rock of the Acropolis is Leni Riefenstahl’s husband, Commando Captain Peter Jacobi.
12 years had to pass before the Olympic Flame lighting ceremony took place again. World War II intervened, canceling the 1940 and 1944 Olympics.
This is how we arrived at the summer of 1948, where the touching ceremonies begin in Ancient Olympia. But the country is plagued by civil war. The forward Maria Angelakopoulou, with her and Aleka Katseli, due to the situation, cannot get there. Around the hills of Ancient Olympia, by order of the prime minister, Themistocles Sofoulis, an infantry regiment is stationed and measures are taken to ensure that the ceremony of the touching takes place without a hitch. Shortly afterwards the Flame will be transported by ship to London.
The Olympic Flame traveled to four of the five continents, except Africa. In Europe he traveled twice to London and once to Rome, Helsinki, Berlin, Munich, Moscow, Barcelona and Athens. In America he traveled to Los Angeles, Mexico, Montreal, Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro. In Australia he traveled to Melbourne and Sydney, in Asia to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing, while twice, due to war, the Olympic Games were canceled and there was no touch of the Olympic Flame, in 1940 for Tokyo and in 1944 for London .
THEMATOFYLAKAS GREECE
Since the first touch of the Olympic Flame 84 years ago, another 16 followed and we have reached today’s 18th. More will follow in the future, with the strong Greek seal imprinted on the triptych: Olympic Games, Olympic Flame, Olympic Anthem. That is why Greece, the cradle of Olympism, the country that spreads the light of civilization, the constant lamp, must remain the guardian of the Olympic Idea, with which it will illuminate, inspire and guide the world to peace and the civilization.
From the print edition of the Free Press on Sunday
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