The tough olympic battle of the gold Achaean Ioannis Mitropoulos in Marble in 1896

The “motto” of who wrote history and why the…rings are our national sports…
On April 9, 1896 a packed Panathenaic Stadium was delirious from excitement. On the highest step of the podium he was standing after an eventful race too tight to call so the first athlete who gave our country a gold medal in the history of the modern Olympic Games.
The applause of the audience, spontaneous, related to winners and losers. In the small and poor Greece, which counted just sixty-six years of independence, the revival of the Games was seen as a national issue and caused unbounded enthusiasm in almost all of the stratification of society: from urban living rooms up to the popular courtyards expectations of any kind in excess of the reality.
On that day, however, the History written on the first page of a story, the sequel of which was destined to be more than a century after…
Why can recently the Greeks to be celebrated with emotion the first Lefteris Πετρούνια at the Olympic Games in Rio, few, however, know that the sport in which he excelled the Πετρούνιας, the rings, he had come the first olympic gold medal taken by Greece in the history of the modern Games…

Document by the end of the rings in the Olympic Games of 1896
It was then, the remote of April, 1896, when John Mitropoulos, a 22-year-old athlete who lived in Athens, he won the first gold for our country by giving the rings symbolic for Greece.
The success was received with enthusiasm by the Greeks fans even though most had never seen rings from a close…

The big winner, Ioannis Mitropoulos, who gave our country its first gold medal in the modern history of racing and in honor of the released and statue – miniature.
Mitropoulos originally from Zahlorou of Achaia, was a Law student. In the 1st Olympiad in Athens were not exclusively for professional athletes but anyone who was motivated by the olympic ideal, with a typical case of the marathon runner Spyros Louis. “Εκγυμναστής” was John Χρυσαφης, one of the pioneers of the renaissance of Greek sports in the 20th century, which was destined to go down in history for his contribution to the establishment of the Balkan Games and the belief of the importance of the strengthening of grassroots sport compared to the search for medals.
This philosophy is reflected perhaps in the phrase “I Love Gymnastics” which was the motto of Mitropoulos, the words recorded from the lips of the journalists of the time, when he was honored with the gold medal.
Difficult prevalence The unexpected victory had not come easily: I Had to give a tough fight with the main opponent, the favorite of the Race and leading trainer Herman Βάινγκερτνερ. That year in the event the rings had taken part a total of eight athletes from three countries, Greece, Germany and Hungary. Things looked that they will clear up fairly easily: the start of The match and the German Βάινγκερτνερ makes a very good presence, with the result enough to consider him a winner. But Giannis Mitropoulos will surprise you. The remarkable performance puts you in a dilemma the judges, whose vote, as reported by the American historian of sport, David Ουαλεσίνσκι, confusing you even more things: three judges give the lead to the Greek champion and the other three in German. Under these circumstances, and in the absence of any other method, solution to the impasse of a tie called to the… prince of Greece, Georgios: Is the vote of preference to the Mitropoulos that will determine the final result..
On the podium of the winners in the Mitropoulos won’t be the only one Greek: The bronze medal he received the Peter Περσάκης whose performance, according to sources of the period, was almost equal to those of Mitropoulos and Βάινγκερτνερ.
The Περσάκης, athlete of the Panhellenic Gymnastics Association, was just 17 years old when crowned Olympic champion. The reports speak of an athlete with a great physique and suppleness that made him look “dislocated on of the pair of links”. The successful course not limited to the Olympics. The chroniclers of the time note that the same year had come first in the international tournament “Τήνια”, competing against the rings of seven athletes from abroad.
It was not, in fact, the only Olympic champion of the family: the 1896 Olympic Games bronze medal in the triple jump and took, and his brother, John Περσάκης, with whom he had amazing type of facial resemblance.

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