Zappas.org
for the founders of the Modern Olympic Games



Scotland on Sunday (Scotland, United Kingdom)

July 10, 2005

Olympic Origins

STEVEN Downes' article (Ultimate city slicker, July 3) contains a common historical error. Baron Pierre de Coubertin did not found the modern Olympic Games.

He did found the International Olympic Committee in 1894, but had not been born when the first modern Olympics took place in 1859 in a square in Athens.

Financed by Greek philanthropist, Evangelis Zappas, the first modern Games to be held in a stadium were at the Panathenian stadium, Athens, in 1870, and another gathering took place in 1875.

He also paid for the refurbishment of the ancient Panathenian stadium and the building of the first indoor Olympic arena, the Zappeion.

Yours faithfully,
Zappas.org

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Recommended reading by Zappas.org:

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The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival

cover

by
David. C Young

published by
The Johns Hopkins University Press

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A Brief History of the Olympics

cover

by
David. C Young

published by
Blackwell Publishing

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