100 Days, 125 Years

We've officially hit the 100-day countdown until the Tokyo Olympics!  The 100-day mark is one of the major milestones in the lead up to any Games.  It's when you know they're getting close, and, as if on cue, a number of countries had their own 100-day celebrations where they unveiled their national team uniforms.

The 100-day countdown to Tokyo is significant for another reason, too.  It just happens to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the first-ever Olympic Closing Ceremony on April 15, 1896 in Athens.  That's a pretty cool coincidence.  And it wouldn't have been possible had the Tokyo Games taken place as scheduled last year.  So, as horrible as the pandemic-caused delay was, it actually gave us that pretty cool symmetry.

Last week, on the 125th anniversary of the Opening Ceremony, Getty Images released a gallery of photos from those 1896 Games.  It really was remarkable to see some of those historic images, which really do help paint a picture of what those inaugural Olympics must've been like.  Especially the shots of a packed Panathenaic Stadium!

It's also crazy to think of how far things have come over the past 125 years.  I'm not just talking about the obvious advancements in technology, either.  Those 1896 Games were so small and simple.  They were the "most international" sporting event in history up to that time, yet almost all of the competitors were European, outside of the American team and an Australian who lived in London.  More than half of them were Greek!  There were just 43 events.  Only about 250 athletes (all men), and so many of them competed in multiple sports.

Those 1896 Games were also an unqualified success.  Had they not been, the Olympic Movement would've ended then and there.  Instead, they've turned into a global phenomenon.  The Olympics are the biggest sporting event on the planet, bringing together athletes from more than 200 countries with a worldwide television audience that reaches into the billions!  (I'd expect that TV audience to be even greater this year since foreign spectators won't be allowed to attend.)

None of that would've been possible if not for the 1896 Games.  That's why the 125th anniversary deserves to be celebrated.  And the delay of the Tokyo Games created the unprecedented and unique circumstance that we can celebrate the anniversary in the same year that an Olympics will actually take place.  It was completely coincidence, but there's something special about the fact that the Tokyo Olympics ended up 125 years after the first Modern Games.  125.  A nice round number.

Quasquicentennial.  That's what a 125th anniversary is called.  We've seen plenty colleges and various other organizations reach their quasquicentennials, and they normally do so with all kinds of events as part of year-long celebrations.  Now the Modern Olympics have reached their quasquicentennial (I didn't even know that word 10 minutes ago, now I've used it three times in the same paragraph!), and what better way to celebrate than by having an Olympics?!

Of course, that wasn't the way things were planned.  This year wasn't supposed to be an Olympic year...and it wasn't until 13 months ago.  But now that it is, they might as well embrace it.  Because not only is this unprecedented, it's also highly unlikely it'll ever happen again.  After all, anniversaries that people care about only come around every five years, so it's hard for them to line up with something that takes place every four years!

Obviously, the one major anniversary that the Olympic Movement previously celebrated in a Summer Olympic year was the Centennial Games in 1996.  It's crazy to think that those Atlanta Games were 25 years ago already!  And, in another cool coincidence, the new dates for Tokyo line up almost exactly with the Atlanta Olympics, so Olympic champions in some events can end up being crowned exactly 25 years apart!

That was actually the first thing I noticed when the Tokyo Games were rescheduled.  Then it dawned on me that it also meant this year's Olympics would be held 125 years after the first one!  So, while last year was screwed up for any number of reasons, and making us wait an extra year was excruciating, the fact that these will be the only Olympics to take place five, 25 and 125 years after previous editions adds another unique element to Tokyo 2020/21.

In 2024, we'll have another unique Olympic anniversary, as the Games return to Paris 100 years after the city last hosted.  Don't think that went unnoticed.  It was one of the main focal points of the Paris bid, and it's why they weren't budging on hosting 2024 when the idea of the dual-awarding with LA 2028 was first broached.

What's ironic about 2024 is that, while it's the 100th anniversary of the first Winter Olympics, there won't be a Winter Games that year!  I'm sure the IOC will do something in Chamonix to recognize those inaugural Winter Olympics (maybe have the torch relay pass through the town on its way to Paris?), but that's not quite the same as having a significant Olympic anniversary in an actual Olympic year.  (I'm also willing to guarantee that anniversary will be completely ignored in the U.S. since it'll fall during Super Bowl Week.)

Although, the Winter Olympics have had some of their own unique anniversaries as a result of the move to the opposite even-years in 1994.  Those Lillehammer Games were the first of three straight Winter Games that were held on the 10th anniversary of another.  Italy, meanwhile, has hosted the Winter Olympics twice, 50 years apart (Cortina 1956, Torino 2006), with another scheduled 20 & 70 years later (Milan-Cortina 2026).  Since 10 and 50 aren't multiples of four, that wouldn't have been possible without the schedule change.

So, let's celebrate the fun of these two dates colliding.  It's the perfect opportunity to both look back at where it all began, 125 years ago in Athens and look forward to the next Olympics, the long-awaited Tokyo Games.  An Olympics that, at long last, are now less than 100 days away.