The Palaistria at Olympia - part of the complex surrounding the Stadium (© Getty Images)
Nestled in a picturesque, hilly, if sometimes, mountainous landscape, lushly carpeted with groves of olive, laurel and Mediterranean pine whose roots are fed from the Alfios and other nearby rivers, the Olympic Academy is cradled by its environment.
The Academy is carved sympathetically into a hillside just a few hundred metres from the site of Ancient Olympia. The trees of its immaculately tended grounds, shade it’s modern accommodation, conference and training facilities including a synthetic track and field event areas, from the heat and glare of Greece’s mid-August sunshine.
Living in the cynical times that we do, it is easy to scoff at terms such as ‘heroic’ or ‘godlike’ sporting achievement, yet any visitor to this internationally renowned training facility cannot fail to soak up the magic that is Olympia.
This area of the western Greek Peloponnese is truly the land of gods and heroes, and there is no question why Athens or Sparta the two chief city protagonists of the Hellenic era, fought for so many years across two Peloponnesian Wars to control such a rich paradise.
Most appropriately, because the ancient Games of Olympia gave birth to the concept of an Olympic truce, present day Olympia and its surrounding area personifies peacefulness.
Well, that was the situation until this week at least!
Today numerous banners are strewn and multiples of flags are flying along the side of what are usually the plain, promotionally bereft streets, of Olympia, while along the same normally calm thoroughfares Police motorcycle outriders with their bike's lights flashing and sirens blaring, escort the cars and coaches of the great and the good of the Olympic family.
The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad have certainly awoken this sleepy town.
One senses that this is the first real excitement that Olympia has witnessed since AD393, the year when the ancient Games were abolished.
Tomorrow, the men’s and women’s Shot Put competitions (18 August) which mark the Athens Olympics homage to its roots and the history of the sport of Athletics, have made Olympia once more the centre of the sporting world.
True the flame of each Olympic Games is ignited every four years in Olympia’s sacred grove.
However, even counting this year’s lighting which attracted so many thousands of spectators that crowd control became a serious issue, this has remained a ritual which while of immense cultural significance has until now left Olympia lacking the competition element which is at the heart of both the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
As such Wednesday's shot putting action which starts at 0830hrs with the women's preliminary round will return the substance back to Olympia. No longer will Olympia represent just the spirit of the Games, it will once more be host to the reality.
With 15,000 spectators creating the atmosphere in such an historic setting, perhaps the ancient belief in heroes and gods might even witness a renaissance.
Chris Turner for the IAAF
