Today -- April 6, 2021 -- marks the 125th anniversary of the first Modern Olympiad.
With a bit of luck, Tokyo 2020 may just turn out great!
Day or night the Acropolis and Parthenon loom nearby -- no wonder de Coubertin worked so hard to revive things.
Happy Birthday, Olympic Games!
Or as coined by a Funk & Wagnalls editor, we've reached the five-ringed quasquicentennial.
A quick check of Olympedia reveals the premiere opening ceremony took place at Athens Panathenaic Stadium on Easter Monday of 1896, as did the sports competition yielding the first medalist of the new era, track and field competitor James Connolly of the USA.
According to additional sources, in the months before the Games commenced 125 years ago, the limestone stadium circa 330 B.C. received an extensive refurbishment for the occasion, increasing seating capacity to over 80,000, visible in some historic footage from the celebration:
As reported by select news outlets last week, the latest stadium upgrades -- in the form of new LED lights -- were illuminated with the push of a button by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
I liked reading excerpts of Bach's remarks at the Hellenic Olympic Committee-hosted ceremony. In addition to thanking Greece for giving the Olympics to the world, he quoted Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC, stating,
"Olympism calls for air and light for all."
It was also fun to discover that, perhaps as test run or a slight nod to Connelly -- whose parents were from Ireland -- on March 17 the stadium was bathed in emerald hues in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
I'm very thankful for the positive impact of the Olympics, stitched into the fabric of my upbringing and countless personal and professional milestones since my teenage years.
Now 47, I obviously won't make it to the Games' bicentennial, but in spite of ever-evolving challenges for the IOC, the sesquicentennial in 2046 is bound to be a cause for a bigger, pandemic-free anniversary celebration than was possible in 2021.
For those who've not yet been to Athens, standing in front of or inside the ancient stadium inspires awe. In the daylight -- as during my second visit their during a Greek holiday of 2007 -- the stone seating glows almost white.
At dusk -- as I found one breezy summer evening during the Athens 2004 Games -- one can sit almost anywhere in the stone stands and hear the rustle of wind in the surrounding trees almost drowning out nearby traffic. A wonderful place to meditate on Olympic feats of all ages.
Thank goodness he and countless millions kept the Olympic Movement on a mostly progressive path since.
April 6, 2046, will mark the approach to my 73rd birthday, and I'm betting they light up the 150th celebration like a cauldron. Where will you be? I hope to see you then and there!
Image credits: 125th anniversary emblem via Shutterstock, stadium ceremony images via Xinhua and Greek City Times (also here). Olympic stamp via The Philatelic Database.
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