Re: Dunn hits the bullseye by Hisham Al Gizouli (22 November 2005)

I would like to correct an error in the above noted article. Baron Pierre de Coubertin did not found the modern Olympics.

De Coubertin did found the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. But the first modern Olympic Games took place in an Athens square in 1859. It was followed by the first modern Olympic Games to be held in a stadium in 1870. The same stadium (the Panathenian stadium) was used for Olympic Games in 1870, 1875, 1896, 1906 and 2004. The Olympic Marathon ended in the Panathenian stadium at the Athens 2004 Games and Olympic archery was also held there.

A man called Evangelis Zappas paid for the refurbishment of the ancient Panathenian stadium and also paid for the building of the first indoor Olympic arena called the Zappeion. The Zappeion was used for the Olympic fencing events in 1896 and 1906. It was also used as the Olympic Media Centre in 2004.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin borrowed many of the ideas that were used in the Modern Olympic Movement from a man who founded an "Olympian" Games in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. De Coubertin visited Dr Brookes and was inspired by him to go on to found the IOC.

De Coubertin is a founder of the Modern Olympic Games but he is preceded by other founders and is therefore not the sole founder.

Yours faithfully,
Zappas.org