John Martino - Olympia: The Birth of the Games

J.A. Martino & M.P. OKane

OLYMPIA

The Birth of the Games

Foreword by Professor Alexis Lyras

Addison & Highsmith Publishers

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Published in the United States of America by

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020951292

ISBN 978-1-59211-096-4 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-59211-187-9 (eBook)

Copyright 2021 by John A. Martino and Michael P. OKane

And as in the Olympic Games it is not the most beautiful and the strongest that are crowned but those who compete (for it is some of these that are victorious), so those who act win, and rightly win, the noble and good things in life.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

F

rom the philosophers of antiquity, Socrates, Plato, Zeno, and Aristotle, to the visionaries of the modern Games, Evangelos Zappas, Ioannis Fokianos, William Penny Brookes, Demetrios Vikelas, and Pierre De Coubertin, the richness of the Olympic heritage and ancient Hellenic civilization, also known as Olympism, has served as a source of inspiration and a point of reference for imagining a better, more peaceful world. I was fortunate enough to grow up around, learn and serve these ideals throughout my life as an athlete, actor, coach, policy maker and public intellectual, committed to preserving and re-infusing this heritage in order to meet the challenges of the modern world. From my days studying under an IOC scholarship to my early years in academia as a sports management professor committed to Olympism in Action scholarship, to becoming the founder and president of the Olympism for Humanity Alliance, to my many trips to ancient Olympia itself with students and faculty from many continents, eager to learn and be inspired by the significance of the Olympic Games both ancient and modern the first and oldest peace-building institution in human history.

I was born and raised in a region with a long history of conflict. I have had the opportunity to experience warfare, hatred, and division I have witnessed mass displacements firsthand and developed a lifelong commitment to understanding the complexities of peace and conflict. Growing up in Cyprus, in a family environment strongly influenced by the triptych of athleticism, Olympian heritage and giving, these values have shaped the core of my sociological imagination and political philosophy foundations over the thirty years of my academic journey. These foundations have provided me with the tools and the vehicle to design and deliver Olympism-driven inspirational ventures across fragile communities and regions of conflict. The core of this platform was grounded in what I now call Olympism for Humanity praxis (or in action). It has been further guided by the richness of ancient Hellenic civilizational ideals, blended with humanism and contemporary bodies of knowledge that embrace peacebuilding, personal and community resilience, human creativity and social innovation, international co-operation, and global cross-cultural dialogue. My scholarship and fieldwork were based on one proposition that this Olympic ethos and heritage can serve as both a universal platform and a peacebuilding process to address the many challenges of our current century. In other words, I argue (and practice what I preach) that the more we understand and connect with the depth of Olympic ideals and heritage enriched today with contemporary Sport for Development Theory and Olympism for Humanity praxis the more we can transform todays Olympic divide into pathways for an Olympic divine that triggers imagination, inspiration and human creativity. This is a proven pathway for regeneration, peace-building, and recovery across continents.

On March 11, 2020, I met John Martino at the birthplace of the Olympic ideal, ancient Olympia itself, during the Tokyo 2020 Games Torch Lighting Ceremony. This date was chosen by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee to honor the victims of the March 11, 2011, great East Japan earthquake and helped spread, in this way a message of hope, resilience, and recovery. The following day, John, my students, and I attended the Lighting Ceremony and the first stages of the Torch Relay while talking about this book you now hold before you and our shared vision. We began exploring synergies for doing more to restore the origins and the hidden treasures of the Olympian heritage as a vehicle of hope and inspiration as well as being a form of psychological recovery from man-made and natural disasters. A few hours later, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 was characterized as a pandemic; the Torch Relay was canceled, and the world was put into complete lockdown. Looking back, this can be seen as an opportunity and a call for action (guided by our Muses) to reconnect, re-imagine and spread Pelopss message and ideals from Delphi to Olympia, from Tokyo to Melbourne, from Colorado Springs to Georgetown and beyond across the globe. This novel is a tribute to this heritage, especially given the current global need for dreaming the ideal and for imagining a better world whose sources of inspiration transcend isolated pockets of humanity to become modern-day heroines and heroes for us all. The sporting stars of this novel operate as active and engaged global citizens who perform generous deeds, overcome lifes challenges, and build bridges of hope, resilience, and prosperity. Humanity needs narratives that are rich in the wealth of human learning with both anthropological and historical soundness expressed in a language that can be relevant and universal.

All these elements were brilliantly crafted into this novel. As we enter the post-COVID-19 new beginning for our world, this book filled with the light of Olympia is needed more than ever. It is a source of inspiration and a platform for the imagination, hope, and global action. Thank you, Mick and John, Drs. OKane and Martino, for this outstanding contribution and for giving me the privilege to introduce your great endeavor. As for the readers the future Olympic dreamers, visionaries, believers, fans, and sportspeople I wish you all an Olympism-inspired, life-long journey of action towards a better world. Let the hope, imagination and divine essence of Olympia light your way in theory and through personal application. Enjoy the ride!

Alexis Lyras, PhD

Georgetown University

Olympism for Humanity Alliance

Olympia, 1881 C.E.

U

nder a blazing midday sun, three men emerged from a copse of olive trees. Sweat dripped from their brows as they strode through knee-high grass toward a large patchwork of the countryside. Ahead lay a series of excavation plots of varying depths neatly divided by peg and rope. Equipped with spades, trowels, and prospector hammers, an archaeological field crew bustled around these plots. From within the dig pit of a large, partially exposed stadium, an archaeologist glanced up at the sweat-bedecked newcomers, only to resume his burrowing.