Proposal for IOC Presidential Elections to be held in Olympia

Proposal for IOC Presidential Elections to be held in Olympia

by Philip Barker

With little more than a week and a half until the Paris 2024 Flame is lit in Ancient Olympia, Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos has called for future International Olympic Committee Presidential elections to also be held at the site of the Olympic Games of antiquity.

“My dream is to have this election in Ancient Olympia, to remind everybody where the Games started, 2,800 years ago,” Capralos told Agence France Press,

“This is something that is feasible. I think that overall it would give positive vibes to everybody in the Olympic movement,” he said.

Capralos is due to welcome incumbent IOC President Thomas Bach to Olympia for the Ceremony to light the Olympic Flame on April 16th.

Bach’s term of 12 years is set to end in 2025 when the IOC Session is set to take place in Athens.

It had originally been scheduled to take place in 2021 but was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Capralos made the ceremonial opening speech from the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens before the remainder of the session was conducted on a virtual platform.

Olympia has traditionally played a central role in symbolic celebrations.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was present in 1927 for the unveiling of a monument in honour of the Olympic movement.

When the IOC gathered 90 years ago for the 1934 Session Athens, the members also made an excursion to Olympia.

Two years later, the Olympic Flame was kindled in Ancient Olympia for the first time.

In 1938, the year after Coubertin’s passing, his heart was interred in the memorial at Olympia in accordance with his wishes.

In 1961 the International Olympic Academy was established a short distance from the site of the Games of antiquity.

As political problems continued to loom over the Olympic movement a number of politicians revived the idea of a permanent home for the Games in Greece.

As the prospect of an American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics grew, Constantine Karamanlis, then Prime Minister of Greece, despatched a proposal for the Olympic Games to be held at a permanent site in Olympia.

This claimed to offer “the best possible continuation of the institution of the Olympic Games, in the service of world peace and the high ideals of mankind.”

The IOC responded by describing the suggestion as “proof of the loyalty of the country from which the Games originated and which was the site of the first Games of the modern era in Athens.”

IOC Vice President Louis Guirandou N’Diaye was put in charge of a Commission of enquiry.

In April 1980, the Commission flew over the proposed sites at Cylene, Katakolon and Kafaya.

The Commission continued its work under the new IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch but tellingly the IOC Congress in Baden Baden concluded that the Games should continue to circulate around the world.

Athens tabled a bid for the 1996 Olympics marking the Centenary of the Modern Games but lost out to Atlanta.

However celebratory events were held in Greece and the Executive Board held a meeting in the IOA Premises in Ancient Olympia.

When Athens was successful in winning the right to host the 2004 Athens Games, the shot put contests were both held at Ancient Olympia.

It was the first time that women had taken part in Olympic competition at the Ancient Stadium.

Four years ago, Rio 2016 pistol shooting gold medallist Anna Korakaki became the first woman Torchbearer in the stadium.

Tokyo single sculls gold medallist Stefanos Ntouskos is to be the first Torchbearer for the Paris Relay. He is to receive the Flame from actress Mary Mina who performs the role of High Priestess for the first time.