today's post is dedicated to the memory of the Greeks of the Balkan wars,
which I present, through the life of a great Greek, Konstantinos Tsiklitiras
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He was born in Pylos, Messinia, in 1888.
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Born into a wealthy and bourgeois family, he learned English and French as a child, and at the age of 16 he settled in Athens on his own,
to study economics according to his father's dictates
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for some things his father has sent him to Athens and others he does...
Rents a house by chance, very close to the Panhellenic facilities
(The Panhellenic Gymnastics Association is one of the oldest sports clubs in Greece)
and
almost immediately he is won over by sport
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Very soon the club's coaches find that they have a diamond in the rough on their hands.
tall,
athletic,
with an impressive jump
and
very great plasticity in his body and movements
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to make a long story short, he's going to the races with his feet
and
in 1906 he won third place in the long distance race at the Panhellenic Games.
In the same year at the Athens Olympics, he placed 6th in the height of the uneven bars.
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in 1907 he won three gold medals at the Panionian Games in Smyrna,
in the high jump,
at the height of the unquestioned
and in the length of the length without a suit.
then at the Panhellenic Games won 2 gold medals.
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in the same year he became involved with a new sport for Greece, football, which few people knew and even fewer played.
He becomes a goalkeeper and plays in the 1907 championship with the PGS (Panhellenic) team
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but football is a simple game for him, the important thing is the track that continues
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at the 1908 London Olympics in 1908, he wins the
silver medal in the length without a doubt
and
silver medal in the unattached height
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in 1908 he leaves the Panellinios football team with a friend and goes to a new team that is created
the Athens Football Club (later Panathinaikos)
and wins 2 football championships
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in the summer of 1912 at the Stockholm Olympics, is the flag bearer of the Greek delegation
and conquers,
gold medal in the length medley
and bronze in the unattached height
and becomes a real legend in Greece
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On his return to Greece he is panjurism
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But the joys don't last long, but it does, and I can say that it's only getting hotter,
the enthusiasm in all Greeks everywhere
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Why?;
but because at the beginning of October 1912 Venizelos succeeds in getting Greece into the alliance of our Balkan neighbours
and on 5 October Greece declares war on the Ottoman Empire
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No, don't listen to it like that.
it's not for fear, at least that's not how the Greeks felt at the time,
on the contrary,
there's such a frenzy of people rushing to enlist.
even the minors who, since they are not taken because of their age, form volunteer battalions!!!!
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The sons of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos are a good example,
where both are classified
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the great Sophocles, leaves for the front and the minor Kyriakos, joins a battalion of volunteers
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and so was the son of the Minister of National Economy, Emmanuel Benaki,
Antonis Benakis 39 years old at the time.
even though he is the richest young man in Athens, he didn't take any of the charters of the time to leave,
instead, he ran to enlist as well.
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then Crete is not yet Greek territory
and yet, boats with thousands of volunteers arrive daily.
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the same in Cyprus, where the 40-year-old Mayor of Limassol, Christodoulos Sozos, is also joining the ranks.
(although he was offered by Venizelos to stay in Athens in a staff position, he himself left for the front and was killed on the front line)
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the same from the USA where ships of Greeks were arriving who wanted to enlist
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in the same mood was our Olympic champion who, although the recruiters suggested him to stay at the recruitment office of Kalamata,
he refuses.
goes and joins the 11th Company of the 1st Infantry Regiment.
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Gods and demons fall upon him at least to keep him in the garrison in Athens but it is completely impossible
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He leaves with his regiment for the front line
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his younger brother, Cross,
Still a minor,
takes the example and volunteers.
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such is the frenzy of the people, that only 13 days after the declaration of war,
the Greek government publishes a proclamation that has no equal in world history:
«the Greek government does not want any more volunteers»
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However, on February 2, 1913, our Olympic champion develops a high fever
and
On February 10, 1913, Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breathes his last at the age of 25.
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one of the finest athletes this country has produced
but also a great patriot,
as most of us will never be today
