STEPS WALKED: 
“Respect, excellence, friendship, courage, determination, inspiration, equality.”
The Olympic & Paralympic Values
Day 19 and another rest day brings a wonderful opportunity to realise what the Olympics are truly about. I am invited by Spyros Capralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee to join him for a schools sporting event at the ancient Panathenaic Stadium in the centre of Athen. It was first built in 330 BC and was re-built for the first Olympic Games of the modern era in Athens in 2020. It remains the finishing place for the Marathon and has a capacity of 68,000 people. History oozed every pore of the stadium and trickled down the gleaming marble terraces, but what brought it to life were the screams and laughter of the school children who are invited to take part in sporting events and tour the stadium every day in a programme organised jointly by the Hellenic Olympic Committee and the international Olympic Truce Centre.
Spyros Capralos is a wonderful host, warm, knowledgeable and humble, and as a former Olympian (Water Polo) and a national champion at swimming, he has the touch of greatness that evokes a reverence not only in myself, but in the children and their coaches. We wander around watching the children compete in the various disciplines of the ancient Games. You begin to see what a glorious education can be evoked through competitive sport. Children love to compete and the lesson in life was that when you lined up for the race over the hurdles, it did not matter one jot what your social/ethnic or religious background was, you all had the same chance of winning, but all had the even greater joy of just taking part. As we followed the various groups around the five disciplines, I was struck by how it wasn’t the same kids winning every time and this spoke of the fact that we all have gifts and talents and that the true purpose of education, is to allow us the opportunity to play to our strengths.
On the way around I talk with Spyros candidly about the prospects of the Truce. He is very knowledgeable and longs for the Olympic Truce to regain its rightful place at the centre of the games, but recognises if that is to be brought about, then it will require leadership from governments, and non-government groups involved in conflict, but he reflected, “If we can show that a Truce can be kept for a little time, we may be able to manage more.” I spot the sporting analogy in the answer; as we clear one hurdle, then we are allowed to raise the bar.
At the end of this inspiring tour I was given the opportunity of speaking to and presenting the awards to the school children—it was a huge privilege. I said to them that:
“What Greece had given the world through the Olympic Games, was a treasure of which they should all be very proud. I thanked them but said that the gift they had given was even more special than many people realise because inside the competition, celebrity and sponsorship was wrapped an ideal which could bring peace and hope to children all around the world and that it was their duty to peel back the layers so it’s glory could be fully revealed for this generation.”
