Spyridon Louis: The Most Ordinary of Olympic Champions

We're in Greece, specifically in Maroussi in the north of the country, about 17 km from Athens 🏛️. Young Spyridon Louis is born into a poor family in the midst of winter ❄️. His father had the job of delivering water to Athens with a small cart💧. Young Spyridon often accompanied his father to work, running alongside him 🏃. This habit unknowingly built his endurance, which would serve him well in the years to come 🙃. 

As the years pass, Spyridon Louis carries on with his peaceful life, unaware of what fate has in store for him 😮. More than 2,000 years after the Ancient Games, Athens is set to host the 1896 first modern Olympic Games 🏅. Among the anticipated events is, of course, the marathon. The man tasked with finding Greek athletes is Colonel Papadiamantopoulos, a former senior officer of Spyridon Louis. Essentially, he is a 19th-century version of a coach. He selects Louis for a preliminary qualifying race where the budding athlete finishes 5th — not bad for a first try! 🤓 

An Ordinary Man...🧍‍♂️

On April 10, 1896, in Marathon, the historic town that gave the discipline its name, Georgios Papadiamantopoulos signals the start of the marathon 💥. A total of 17 runners take off, including 13 Greeks 🇬🇷. Admittedly, this is nothing like our modern competitions 🫣. Not all nations are represented, giving the Greeks a greater chance of winning! For "Spyros," however, victory was uncertain. After the leading two non-Greek athletes withdrew 🥴, Spyridon Louis claimed a deserved but unexpected victory 🏆. He completed this road race of approximately 40 km in 2 hours, 58 minutes, and 50 seconds ⏰. When he entered the Panathenaic Stadium 🏟️, the crowd went wild, and he recalls being showered with branches and flowers 🌸. Imagine hundreds of thousands of spectators chanting his name as he entered the stadium... it must have been incredible 👏. Yes, Louis was brave, but he was also in love! The athlete wanted to impress a certain Helen...👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 It's unclear if this feat wooed her, but he eventually married her! 💍 Love can indeed inspire great achievements ❤️.

...Becoming a National Hero 🏆

Following this victory, the 23-year-old becomes a national hero, celebrated by the entire Greek population. Some shops even adopt his name to attract customers 😧. The athlete received many gifts, including the monopoly on water supply to Athens from the sources in Maroussi 🚰. It's said that the King of Greece offered him anything he wanted, but all Louis requested was a donkey cart to aid in water transportation 🫏. From the spotlight, the first Olympic marathon champion faded back into the shadows, retreating to his hometown and never competing again ❌. Spyridon Louis led a quiet life, working as a farmer 🧑‍🌾 and later as a police officer 👮. He reappeared in 1936 as Greece's flag bearer for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Reflecting on his past achievement, he said: « That was an unimaginable moment, and I still remember it as if it were a dream. On that day, it rained branches and flowers. Everyone was calling my name and tossing their hats in the air. » 💬

Spyridon Louis left a lasting mark on history, showing that beyond victory, an ordinary man is capable of achieving something on a global scale 🌎.