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War and Peace in the Ancient and Modern Olympics*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2011

MARK GOLDEN
MARK GOLDEN
Affiliation:
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Extract

The past sleeps lightly at Olympia. Recall the opening sequence of Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film, Olympia. In a misty landscape of ruined buildings, broken columns, and weeds run wild, a Greek temple stands amid the wreckage. Statues appear and then waken to life; a naked athlete throws a discus, another a javelin – this heads towards a bowl of fire. Another naked youth lights the Olympic torch and holds it high. It is carried from hand to hand in a relay and then reaches the stadium in Berlin, home of the 1936 Olympic Games, which the film is meant to celebrate. Adolf Hitler salutes the spectators, 100,000 strong.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , April 2011 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2011

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References

* A version of this paper was delivered at ‘From Athens to Beijing: West Meets East through Sport, Part III: The Past in the Present of the Olympic Games’, International Olympic Academy, Ancient Olympia, Greece, 23-4 May 2008. I am grateful to the organizers, Christina Koulouri and Susan Brownell, and to the other participants for their questions and corrections. The present version has profited from the assistance of Nigel Crowther, Don Kyle and Thomas Heine Nielsen.