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Home > Olympics > Gold Medalists > Spiridon Louis
Spiridon Louis
The Olympic Games, or Olympics, is an international multi-sport event taking place every four years which comprises of summer and winter games. Though the first ancient games were held in 776 B.C, the modern games started from 1896.The unity of the 5 continents is shown on the Olympic flag by five colorful intertwined rings of red, blue, green, yellow, and black, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to represent atleast one color of the participating country’s national flag.
Spiridon Louis was born on January 12, 1873 in the town of Marousi and died March 26, 1940. His nickname is Spiros. He was a Greek water carrier who won the first modern-day Marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming a national hero.
After the decision to revive the Olympic Games in 1894, preparations were made to organise the first modern Olympics in Athens. One of the races would be the Marathon, an event which had never been held before. It had been suggested by Frenchman Michel Breal, who was inspired by the legend of the messenger Phidippides, who had run from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce the Athenian victory in the Battle of Marathon.
The first qualifying race the first ever marathon race was held on March 22, and was won by Kharilaos Vasilakos in 3 hours, 18 minutes. Louis participated in the second qualifying race, two weeks later. Papadiamantopoulos, who knew Louis's running talents, had convinced him to participate, and Louis crossed the line at fifth place, behind winner Dimitrios Deligiannis.
After 32 km, Lermusiaux was exhausted, and had to abandon the race after a collapse. The lead was taken over by Teddy Flack, an Australian runner who had already been victorious in the Olympic 800 and 1500 m. Louis slowly closed in on Flack. The Australian, not used to running long distances, collapsed a few kilometers onwards, giving Louis the lead.
His last public appearance came in 1936, when he was invited as a guest of honour by the organizers of the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin. After bearing the standard of the Greek team during the opening ceremonies, he was received by Adolf Hitler and offered him an olive branch from Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, as an, obviously inopportune given the circumstances, symbol of peace.
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