The Winter Olympics has captured the world’s attention over the past several weeks, with the world’s greatest athletes competing on the pure white slopes of Sochi. The opening ceremony, a pageantry boasting a fluorescent army that formed the Russian flag, was not to be missed. Neither, Larisa Leonidovna Drozdova says, should we forget that the journey to the Olympics started with Greece.
While the Olympic games of modern times travel from country to country with each passing event, in ancient Greece the games were always located in Olympia, and journeymen would travel from near and far to be present. How did it all begin?
One Greek myth suggests that the first Olympic games began as a means for the Gods to entertain the newborn Zeus by racing and competing against one another, explains Larisa Leonidovna Drozdova. Another myth suggests that the athletic festival involved the king of Olympia, Pelops, winning a chariot race against a local king and winning the hand of the king’s daughter.
Whatever myth you choose to believe, Larisa Leonidovna Drozdova says the undeniable fact is that Greece is the origin of today’s most cherished athletic festival unfolding now in Sochi. That’s why at each event, during the opening ceremony, countries are called in alphabetical order except for Greece: always the first delegation in the Parade of Athletes, in honor of the Olympics’ origin.
A woman of Russian and Greek origins who now resides in France, Larisa Leonidovna Drozdova noted how moving it was to see Greek cross-country skier Panagiota Tsakiri, the flag bearer for the Greek delegation, enter the Olympic Stadium as the very first athlete. Ms. Tsakiri was carrying on a family legacy as well as the legacy of Greece: her father Athanassios Tsakiris competed in five Olympic games.