The First Call for the Revival of the Olympics (part 2 of "the real story of the Olympics")

In 393 AD, Emperor Theodosius I issued an edict putting an end to pagan festivals. As a consequence, the Olympics, dedicated to Zeus and intertwined with sacrificial rites and festivities, could no longer be held. Modern archaeological evidence suggests that the Games may have lingered into the 5th century, yet they were already in decline, and Theodosius’ decree merely drove another nail into their coffin.

The ancient Greek ideal of the body could not survive within a Christian empire. Christianity focused on the salvation of the soul, often to the neglect of the body, and anything associated with physical display or competition was viewed with suspicion. As a result, athletic pursuits faded through the Middle Ages. Although the Renaissance revived an appreciation for the human body and its beauty, it took time before sport regained social acceptance and began to develop again.

The Byzantine Empire rose and fell, its capital, Constantinople, ultimately falling to the Ottomans in 1453. The Ottoman Empire, which encompassed all of Greece, rose in power but was already in decline by the 19th century. In 1821, a revolution succeeded in liberating part of Greece from the Ottoman rule, giving birth to the modern Greek state. (The term 'modern' is used here merely to distinguish it from ancient Greece). Internal strife—long a national spécialité—led European powers to conclude that the Greeks were incapable of self-government. Consequently, they imported a Bavarian prince, Otto, to serve as the first king of Greece. During this period, poets and writers sought to inspire the population with renewed self-confidence by invoking the nation’s glorious classical past.

It was in this spirit that, in 1833, Panagiotis Soutsos, a Constantinople-born poet, politician, and journalist, published his poem Νεκρικός Διάλογος (Dialogue of the Dead).

In his poem, Soutsos presents the ghost of Plato addressing the modern Greeks, particularly the ministers of the throne, urging them to renounce their internal quarrels and divisions.

…Wretched people, think what your Greece once was!

Can you tell me, where are your ancient centuries?

Where are your beautiful Olympic contests?

Where are your Panathenaea?

Your great ceremonies, your great theatres?…  

This work was the first reference for the revival of the ancient Olympic Games, as part of the revival of the ancient Greek tradition.

Panagiotis Soutsos did not content himself merely with a poetic expression but took active steps toward the realization of these ideas. In 1834, he had the opportunity to promote his proposals in the form of a memorandum to the Minister of the Interior, Ioannis Kolettis, who, in turn, presented them to King Otto as his own. In the proposal he suggested that March 25th, the anniversary of the outbreak of the Greek war of independence, should be declared a national holiday and included thoughts on organizing grand festivals modeled on the Panhellenic Games of antiquity (the Olympic Games, the Isthmian, the Pythian, and the Nemean). The concluding lines of the memorandum referred to the splendour of the ancient Greek contests and to the essential reasons for their revival. The idea of marking March 25 as national holiday was approved, but the Olympic revival plans stalemated.

The memo failed to revive the Games. Yet it may have inspired a law passed in 1837 under King Otto, which called for a national festival featuring competitions in three categories: agriculture, industry, and the athletic games of ancient Greece: “discus, javelin, long jump, footraces, wrestling, and chariot racing” (though notably without the term 'Olympic'). Otto’s national festival, however, was never realized. On March 25, 1838, the inhabitants of the village Ag. Ioannis (ancient Letrina) near ancient Olympia, proposed to revive the Olympic Games on that very site. They envisioned holding the celebration every four years on March 25. This proposal, too, came to nothing. Seven years later, in 1845, Panagiotis Soutsos once again advocated for the Olympic revival in a public speech, but still without success.

The ideas of Soutsos would inspire both the people and later advocates of the revival. Dimitrios Vikelas characteristically notes that the notebooks containing Soutsos’s verses circulated from hand to hand and had a great influence on public opinion. 

The most direct recipient and continuer of Soutsos’s efforts, however, would be Evangelis Zappas. But this will be the subject of the next post.

Women shot-putters and the de facto world record

When Jessica Schilder threw a world-leading 21.09 m in May, I realized that it had been 15 years since a woman had gone beyond 21 m—the 21.24 m achieved by Valerie Adams in 2011. This brought to mind an article from last year’s Track & Field News, which discussed Chase Jackson’s preparation for the World Championships, where she was aiming for a third title (a goal she ultimately missed, with Schilder taking gold and Jackson silver).

One particularly striking detail in that article was the mention that, one day before the USATF Championships, Jackson threw 21.24 m in training. Upon measuring the throw, her husband remarked that she had just equalled the world record. The following day, Jackson threw 20.95 m—still her official personal best to date.

This naturally raises a question: is it reasonable to regard Adams’s 21.24 m as the de facto world record? The official mark, of course, remains Natalia Lisovskaya’s 22.63 m from 1987. (Lisovskaya later married Yuriy Sedykh and, after the fall of the USSR, they emigrated to France, where both continued to compete around 2000—at levels far removed from their earlier performances. Their daughter would go on to represent France in the hammer throw, becoming Youth Olympic champion and surpassing 70 m).

Natalia Lisovskaya

Much has been written about that era. However, so much has changed since the 1980s that any meaningful assessment of current performances requires a more recent frame of reference. I therefore chose to examine results since 2000. The choice is admittedly arbitrary, but a quarter-century provides a reasonable window.

I began by compiling all throws over 20 m since 2000. There are 23 such performances (out of 87 all-time). The first entry on that list, ranked 17th all-time, is Larisa Peleshenko’s 21.46 m from 2000. She had returned from a four-year doping ban, which had already cost her a 1995 World Indoor title, so it is reasonable to set her mark aside. Valerie Adams follows, ranked 23rd all-time with her 21.24 m. In that context, treating her performance as a de facto world record appears entirely justified.

Once one adopts this perspective, the exercise becomes quite instructive. The next post-2000 20 m performer is Nadezhda Ostapchuk, with 21.09 m from 2005. However, all her results from 2005 onward were annulled due to doping violations, leaving her with the unusual distinction of a lone major medal—a silver from the 2003 World Championships. Removing her from consideration places Schilder just behind Adams and just ahead of Jackson.

Next comes Christina Schwanitz, the 2015 world champion, with 20.77 m. Michele Carter’s 20.63 m is bracketed by performances from Natalya Mikhnevich—European champion in 2006, later stripped of her 2008 Olympic silver—and Yanina Korolchik-Pravalinskaya, the 2000 Olympic champion, who was later banned and missed the 2004 Games. Altogether, 6 of the 23 athletes in this post-2000 list have doping violations associated with their careers.

Extending the analysis further, we find 15 women who have thrown beyond 20 m since 2010, and 10 since 2020. A glance at the names shows that nearly all are still active, with the possible exception of Gong Lijiao (the Tokyo Olympic champion, who announced her retirement at the end of 2025 at the age of 36—after an extraordinary 15-year span of 20 m performances: 2009–2024). The current depth at the top end is a clear indication that the discipline is thriving.

And one cannot but remember the ignominious remarks of A. Brundage (who has been honoured by an eminent place in my Gallery of Shame), who wrote:

"I think it is quite well known that I am lukewarm on most of the events for women for a number of reasons which I will not bother to expound because I probably will be outvoted anyway. I think women's event should be confined to those appropriate for women; swimming, tennis, figure skating and fencing but certainly not shot putting".

History has provided its own rebuttal. Women’s shot put is not only alive but flourishing. And while physiques vary, many of today’s top athletes are powerful without fitting outdated or simplistic stereotypes.

This brings us to a more serious issue raised by the notion of a de facto world record: how long can World Athletics continue to ignore the growing disconnect between historical records and modern reality? Adams is nearly one and a half metres behind Lisovskaya. Valarie Allman-Sion, with her 73.10 m performance (obtained in the discus-throwers paradise of Ramona), remains close to four metres short of Gabriele Reinsch’s 76.80 m world record (set in Neubrandenburg, reputed to be the Ramona of East Germany). There is no way un-enhanced women could have established those records, and there is equally no way today’s champions could approach them.

So either WA maintains records that function less as sporting standards than as historical artefacts or takes the bull by the horns. But past experience suggests that such courage is unlikely to materialise. 

A great article in the Deca Passion blog

It has been quite some time that my friends Frédéric and Pierre Gousset had not published a long article in their WordPress blog. (Of course, the fact that Pierre was defending his PhD earlier this Spring and is now preparing for a post-doc abroad is reason enough). Well, the dry spell has ended with an excellent review of the Götzis Hypomeeting, by Frédéric Gousset who attended the meeting. 

I will not summarise the article: you should read it. Don't worry about that fact that it is written in french. Google translation now-a-days is excellent. (Believe me! I checked). You may have already seen reports on the out-of-this-world performance of Ehammer: with 8.51 m he established a new decathlon long jump record and won the event with a 8778 personal best. O. Neugebauer again lost the victory due to a not up to his standards discus throw of 50.77 m (finishing 48 points behind Ehammer) while N. Kaul secured third place thanks to a great 78.21 m throw in the javelin. 

So, go and read the article in Deca Passion.

PS. While there has been a lull of activity as far as the blog is concerned, the Facebook Décapassion page is active and keeping abreast of events. While reading the combined event news there, I happened upon the announcement of the Master Women's Decathlon to be held at the end of the month in Châteauroux. (It is organised by the French Commission for Masters Athletics but it is an open competition). Unfortunately somebody trusted an Artificial Intelligence program for the poster of the event.

And it is horrible! I don't think that there is any element that is correct in the picture. How could the organisers accept this monstrosity? I am not even sure that the bell-tower one can see in the background is a faithful representation of the Notre-Dame of Châteauroux (not to be confused with that of Paris).