Olympics History: 1906 ATHENS (Intercalated Games)

Greece staged an attempt to revive interest in the Olympics, which was flagging after after Paris and St Louis. It was quite successful and helped ensure the modern games continued but medals were not recognised by the IOC.

The 1906 Games were called Intercalated Games. A proposed series of International Olympic Games, half-way between what is known as the Olympics or Olympiad now, was to always be held in Athens. They were to be given equal status as the international games. Later, though, the only such games transpired in 1906.

The failure of 1900 Games in Paris and 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri due to expositions, led to a widely accepted belief that Greece needed to hold international games. Thus 1906 was fixed as the year of the Intercalated games. It was a huge success as neither were the games too stretched nor were they hampered by any exhibition.

Even the 1908 Games in London were not a great advertisement for Olympics and it proved that the Greeks did have some magical touch when it came to holding international events. But Greece could not keep up to the pace and rigours for the 1910 Intercalated games. Modern Greeks realised that their ancestors were right when they rejected a two-year gap, although problems in the Balkans too was a major reason for the cancellation. The Intercalated games had breathed their last.