Dear President of the IOC Rogge: NO, the Olympic Games have NOT - in any sense of the word - Come 'Home' to London...

Dr Jacques Rogge 

President of the International Olympic Committee 

London 2012 Opening Ceremony

'In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight. This great, sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern sport. It was here that the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play were first codified into clear rules and regulations....

Dear President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr Jacques Rogge,

No, the Olympic Games have NOT - in any sense of the word - come home to London...

No, the concepts of Sportsmanship and Fair Play were not first codified in London! They were around long before that...

After having spent so much time in Greece during the preparations of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games it is impossible to believe that you do not know that the Olympic Games have only ONE home and that is indisputably, irrevocably and forever,   GREECE, 

and GREECE alone.  

In case you have forgotten however, let us remind you that the Olympic Games were born in Ancient Greece and they were reborn in Modern Greece, in Athens, in 1896.

No one, and we repeat, no one, can dispute that, no matter how many carefully chosen words and speeches you make, as you apparently attempt to draw a distinction between the Ancient Olympic Games and the Modern Olympic Games.

 

In case you have forgotten, let us remind you that Fair Play (Ευ Αγωνίζεσθαι) and Sportsmanship (Ευγενούς Άμιλλας) were concepts related to sport in Ancient Greece and were codified way back then.  

The world owes a huge cultural and scientific debt to Greece, which, as a country, has never received, or asked for, any financial benefit from any of the tremendously significant legacies which her ancestors so generously gave the World, including the Olympic Games.

On the contrary, in 2004, when the time came for the Games to come home in every sense of the word, they ended up being an enormous additional burden for the Greek taxpayer. The excessive financial demands and extreme security requirements imposed on Greece, whilst not the cause, were nonetheless contributing factors to Greece’s dire financial situation today.

In contrast to that,  the IOC has benefited and continues to benefit from the Olympic Games on a daily basis, reaping broadcasting and merchandising royalties, as it takes advantage of the most exclusive and well-controlled ‘brand’ in the world.

Instead of trying to downplay Greece’s role and her significance in the creation of this exclusive ‘brand’, perhaps the time has come for the IOC to give something back to the country that gave birth to the Olympic Games, other than the privilege of parading first in the Athletes Parade of Nations… 

 

 Even the Olympic Anthem  composed for 1896 by Spiros Samaras with words full of symbolism and significance, traditionally sung in full at most recent Opening Ceremonies, was relegated to 'accompanying instrumental' status in London. 

In Beijing, the original words below were sung beautifully, in Greek, by the children's choir...

Αρχαίο Πνεύμα αθάνατο, αγνέ πατέρα 
του ωραίου, του μεγάλου και τ' αληθινού 
Κατέβα, φανερώσου κι άστραψε εδώ πέρα 
στη δόξα της δικής σου γης και τ' ουρανού

Στο δρόμο και στο πάλεμα και στο λιθάρι 
Στων ευγενών αγώνων λάμψε την ορμή 
Και με το αμάραντο στεφάνωσε κλωνάρι 
και σιδερένιο πλάσε και άξιο το κορμί 
και σιδερένιο πλάσε και άξιο το κορμί

Κάμποι, βουνά και θάλασσες φέγγουνε μαζί σου 
σαν ένας λευκοπόρφυρος μέγας ναός 
Και τρέχει στο ναό εδώ προσκυνητής σου 
Και τρέχει στο ναό εδώ προσκυνητής σου 

Αρχαίο Πνεύμα αθάνατο, κάθε λαός, κάθε λαός 
Αρχαίο Πνεύμα αθάνατο, κάθε λαός

Ancient Greece, apart from the Olympic Games, the concepts of Fair Play (Ευ Αγωνίζεσθαι) and Sportsmanship (Ευγενούς Άμιλλας) which you made such free reference to at  Friday’s Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in London, also gave birth to thousands  of other words and concepts which have been bequeathed to our modern civilization. 

Hubris is one of them. 

Hubris, defined in Wikipedia as extreme pride or arrogance which often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power…  

By using the power vested in you by virtue of the existence of the Olympic Games, to build up one country at the expense of another, which happens to be the very country whose history has allowed you to wield that power, and in front of billions of people worldwide, is simply ingratitude and hubris.

Leadership carries responsibility. 

It is a mark of true leadership, when one uses the power one has to give credit where credit is due, to inspire and motivate rather than diminish, divide and rule.

Noblesse oblige, 

 Dear Dr Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee

Noblesse oblige...

  

 ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥΜΕ... 

as you said so beautifully in Greek only 8 years ago in Athens, 

when the Olympic Games really did come home, 

in EVERY sense of the word!