Adam Nelson in action US Open (© Getty Images)
“This proposal is a unique opportunity to link the ancient origins of our sport with athletics in the 21st Century,” said IAAF President Lamine Diack after the IAAF Council unanimously agreed in Berlin last November that the Shot Put competitions of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad should be held in Olympia.
Yet what is the opinion of the sport as a whole?
What they have to say - The athlete, the coach and the historian
Adam Nelson, the reigning Olympic silver medallist, while still needing to win a place in the American Olympic squad for 2004, feels privileged to have this unique opportunity to compete in Olympia. The American is fully aware of the historical context in which this event will be steeped:
“It’s a mixture of the ancient and the modern Olympics and, considering the Shot is the only event they are able to do that with (it requires only a small competition in what is an archeological site), hopefully it is going to be really special.”
Mauri Auvinen, the Finnish head coach for throws, whose men’s Shot Put national squad currently contains the reigning Olympic champion and two top-8 finalists from last summer’s World Championships, is equally enthusiastic:
“Arranging the Olympic Shot Put competition in Olympia is the best possible promotion for the event. The names of past athletic heroes will echo in the Olympia Stadium. Any athlete would be proud and honoured to compete there.”
“The organisers have planned a great athletics event in Olympia…it should be a fitting way to start the Olympic athletics competition.”
Stan Greenberg, renowned statistician and author, among others, of the “Guinness Book of Olympic Facts and Feats” and "Whitaker’s Olympic Almanac" also senses the history of the occasion:
“The contests at Olympia will be a tremendous boost to the knowledge of the origins of our sport. It will be a return to the glory that was once Olympia. It will put the spotlight on the town, putting it on the map for the modern audience. The sport is coming back to its roots with world attention focused on the origins of the Games.”
A unique opportunity
The athletes can look forward to a very special Olympic rendezvous on 18 August. Neither will they miss out on the wider acclaim of the Olympic world as both medal ceremonies will take place inside the Olympic stadium in Athens on Friday 20 August during the first evening of the main Athletics programme.
Athletics now keenly awaits this momentous occasion, a journey back to its very foundations in Olympia.
Click here for our historical feature on Olympia
IAAF
