1896 Athens, Greece
"Every athlete's victory, Greek or not, is an equal honor for Greece
and should be greeted with enthusiasm".
Dimitrios Vikellas
Baron
Pierre de Coubertin may be the famous person behind the actual revival
of the modern Olympic Games as we know them today, but if we read back
in recent history we will discover that two attempts were made, primarily
by a Greek named Evagelis Zappas and later on by an English doctor named
William Penny Brooks.
Zappas organized four venues under a different name that we know today as "the Olympic Games". He had named the venue as "Olympia" but they had been terminated by 1859. Research in Greece, Germany and the United States have found and recorded the effort of Evangelis Zappas and recognized his input and efforts in the revival of the Games in 1896.
William Brooks wrote an article that was published in a Greek newspaper in 1881 that proposed the staging of the International Olympic Games in Athens. Brooks admired the Greeks, he was a known "philellin" that organized "Olympic Games" in his area. Match Welock in England, created an "Olympic Company" and an extracurriculum educational program under the name "Olympic Class".
The Baron Coubertin visited William Brooks in England where the latter expressed his ideas on the Olympic Games. The Baron forwarded the ideas at the "Sorbonne Convention" where he spoke on the "study of the principles of athleticism".
At this convention, Greece was represented by a world reknown novelist, Demetrios Vikellas who acted on his behalf and managed to alter the pre-agreed staging of the first Olympic Games in Paris 1900, to Athens, four years earlier.
Baron Coubertin recognized that Demetrios Vikellas as the person who proposed that the first Games should be held in Athens. This decision as we will see is considered to be a milestone for the successful continuation of the Games.