Greek public opinion is fickle and shaped by national pride. This was proven by the sea change it displayed between the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris Summer Olympics. A scene with drag artists and dancers was interpreted as an offensive rendition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting ‘The Last Summer’. Several other moments assumed too avant garde for such an occasion were all roundly criticized in Greece. This reaction came with a flood of comments of how the opening ceremony in the Athens Olympics of 2004 was much better suited to the spirit of the Olympic Games. But all was forgiven when the same artistic director, Thomas Jolly included a spectacular homage to Greece in the closing ceremony. It consisted of a moving performance of the Greek national anthem and the planting of a huge Greek flag at center stage. The closing ceremony was met by effusive praise in Greece.

This French acknowledgement of the Greek roots of the Olympic Games went much further than the standard references to Greece which are included in all opening and closing ceremonies. This was because the revival of the modern Games was a French and Greek affair. France’s baron de Coubertin who spearheaded the revival of the modern Games was supported by Greek author Dimitrios Vikelas in his successful quest to hold the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The next Olympics, in 1900 were held in Paris.

In 2028, when the next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, there may be no such allusions to their Greek legacy beyond those required by the protocol of the Games. There were none when Los Angeles hosted the Games in 1984. Indeed there was some tension between the organizers and the Hellenic Olympic Committee. At the time the future of the Olympic Games was in doubt because of the rising costs involved in hosting them and the huge burdens placed on taxpayers. The Los Angeles organizers broke new ground in 1984 by relying on private corporate funding which in retrospect is considered the right way of covering the costs of hosting the Olympics. The Greek government and the sports authorities objected to what they considered an unacceptable form if commercialization that undermined the true spirit of the Games. Public funding was considered the only right way to finance the Olympics. And the argument about not wanting to overburden taxpayers made little headway in a country whose citizens used (and still use) their resourcefulness to avoid tax burdens. Greece even threatened, momentarily, not to send the flame that is lit at Ancient Olympia and sent to the host cities of every Olympics.

Private sector financing of the Games is now the norm, so there will be no such tension, but the question remains of how much will the Greek legacy be featured in 2028 beyond the standard references. The answer may could be through initiatives taken by the Los Angeles Greek-American community. There is an impressive example of such an initiative which undertaken by Greek Americans at the Games held in Atlanta in 1996. Those were the Centennial Olympics Games awarded to Atlanta instead of Athens. “Coca Cola won over the Parthenon” was actress and politician Melina Mercouri’s famous reaction. Greece swallowed its pride and did its duty as far as the protocol was concerned, but there was lingering bitterness towards the city of Atlanta. In stepped a group of Greek-American Atlantans, who were also Ahepans, and they sought to repair the damage. They raised funds to commission a sculpture that would pay tribute Ancient Olympia that hosted the Ancient Games, Athens that hosted the first modern Games, and Atlanta, the host city of the centenary. Peter Calaboyias, a Greek-American sculptor born on the island of Ikaria and raised and educated in Pennsylvania created the ‘Tribute’ a series of large bronze plates that form a fan and depict three athletes representing and uniting the three cities. It was installed in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic park and unveiled a few weeks before the Games begun in the presence of Archbishop Iakovos, Andrew Young, the Co-Chairman of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as well as other dignitaries. To this day this evocative work of art remains standing in downtown Atlanta.

It might be appropriate for the Greek-American community in Los Angeles to come up with a public project that will remind the city and all who attend the Games of the Greek role. There is already one such installation outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum which will serve as the main venue in 2028. It is a large stone from the Altis, the sacred grove of Zeus in Ancient Olympia in which next to the temples of Zeus and Hera were the administration buildings for the Ancient Olympic Games. Maybe that could serve as the foundation of a project showcasing Greece’s Olympic legacy.