Nick Butler
Nick Butler Picture it if you will. A ceremony in the oldest of settings but with all of the action caught on a flickering sea of cameras and smart phones. Winter torchbearers clad in hats, thick trousers and fleeces despite the searing humidity and cloudless sky. The new Olympic boss Thomas Bach using the occasion to preach about "peaceful coexistence and mutual respect..."

Such is the incongruity of the Olympic circus as it returned to its oldest home of Ancient Olympia.

This is without even mentioning the Ceremony itself and features therein: ranging from a Flame lit by the rays of the sun to honour long extinct Gods, to the release of a white pigeon and to robe wearing dancers on the hillside.

Yet as the Olympic Torch embarked on its four month journey to Sochi on Sunday (September 29) we were reminded that this hotchpotch of different styles and traditions - as well as technologies and climates - is what the Olympics are all about.

The blending of the old and new, natural and human and physical and mental, and its permutations well beyond the world of sport.

This was the crux of a strong speech by Bach on his first official overseas trip since taking over the Presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) earlier this month. He spoke about "being aware of our own Olympic limits" but also the ability to use the "strength of our values and symbols for the positive development of global human society."

New IOC President Thomas Bach pictured alongside other dignitaries during the Flame Lighting Ceremony made a strong speech laying a basis for his future aimsNew IOC President Thomas Bach, pictured alongside other dignitaries during the Flame Lighting Ceremony, made a strong speech laying a basis for his future aims



The example of Greece, and Ancient Olympia itself, is as good a way as any to illustrate Bach's point.

In recent years this once great nation has lurched through an unseemly cycle of recession, debt, bailout and woe with a succession of leaders arriving almost as often as predictions of further misery.

Even this week the news carries tales of anguish. The rise of the ultra right-wing Golden Dawn movement, the return to "drachma-era wages as strike waves gather pace," and disillusionment with evermore influential European Union powerbrokers. With Champions League defeats and EuroBasket exit even sport appears to bring only more failure.

The streets of Ancient Olympia revealed signs of these times. The empty shops for example, the mass of residents sitting in cafes all day apparently doing nothing, and the plying of restaurant customers with free courses in return for favourable online reviews (gladly accepted of course).

In this context the significance with which Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos' hailed Bach's promise to "stand by and assist Greece in every way possible in tough economic times" is unsurprising as the Olympics offers a beacon of hope.

Come Saturday the Flame Lighting Ceremony weekend indeed brought an all too visible transformation. Colour, crowds and vibrancy returned to the streets. The shops were full, bands played and tourists and locals gathered together to sample the festivities. All was well.

The main shopping street on Ancient Olympia was busy and vibrant at the weekend but was less so the rest of the time in a sign of Greeces economic malaiseThe main shopping street on Ancient Olympia was busy and vibrant at the weekend but was less so the rest of the time in a sign of Greece's economic malaise




But this beacon proved an illusion and by late afternoon on Sunday sleepy normality had been restored with alarming speed.

This shows both sides of Bach's words. The Ceremony had helped by bringing a weekend of celebration and revenue but it was short term and certainly did not permanently solve problems. It showed both the "strength of our values" and "our Olympic limits" and it seemed almost cruel to bring a glimpse of relief then to snatch it away again so quickly.

Yet there are benefits to this backwardness. It was remarkable how utterly untouched by commercialism the whole event was. No sponsors, no litter, no cheap Olympic Torch replicas. No big screen relaying the action at the Temple of Hera. In fact the aforementioned cameras appeared the only exception to an otherwise tranquil preservation of ancient norms.

This was another theme highlighted by Bach. He described how, when converting the Olympic Games from Ancient to Modern Times in 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin "took the idea, breathed new life into it, developed it and, together with Greece, presented it to the entire world".

A trip around the Olympic Games History Museum brought this fact home by revealing just how much these Ancient Greek values still live on today.

Alongside almost constant provincial warfare for example, after officers travelled the land to announce an Olympic Truce, the quadrennial Games were held peacefully and without a break for almost four centuries.

Despite the boycotts at Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 the Modern Games have survived through a similar maelstrom of political trauma. Today this sense is stronger than ever and, in spite of the furore over Russian anti-gay rights law and Bach's insistence that the Games "accuses no-one and excludes no-one", nobody is seriously or even halfheartedly considering boycotting Sochi. The Olympics are too strong for that.

There was also a strong Ancient focus on eradicating cheating. From an ingenious rope and barriers system to outlaw false starts to the fines and disqualifications handed out to any athlete who subjected to bribery.

With the allegations surrounding last week's International Cycling Union Presidential Election and the 25th anniversary of Ben Johnson's 100 metre "triumph" in Seoul in 1988, this might not seem an appropriate time to talk about cheating. Yet as in Ancient times huge effort has been made and progress has resulted.

The benefits of becoming a revered Olympic champion were also striking. They were welcomed home on a par with returning Gods: returning on a horse driven chariot through a specially broken segment of city wall before receiving exemption from taxes among other such bonuses.

This is more apt today than ever, and the evolution from chariots smashing through city walls to open top bus parades and the customary "freedom of the city" for returning heroes bears a strong correlation.

You could go on. The boys events held alongside the Ancient Games preceded the Youth Olympics revived in Singapore in 2010, and the presence of professionally motivated poets, philosophers and politicians rather mirrors the mass of statesmen, royalty and celebrity who took advantage of London last year.

Priestesses during the Flame Lighting Ceremony are the perfect example of ancient traditions persevearing into modern timesPriestesses during the Flame Lighting Ceremony are the perfect example of ancient traditions persevering into modern times...although women could not attend or compete in Ancient Olympic Games

There are of course many differences between old and new - with the absence of women and the tameness of today in comparison with the unmitigated violence of Ancient events two such examples.

Yet the point is that the integral values of the Olympic Movement remain as relevant today as ever before.

These values may not be strong enough to rid Greece of its economic problems but they can help and are a key way to evoke peace, unity and humanity today as in ancient times. This should always be remembered.

So as we enjoy the absurdity of robe wearing dancers and released white pigeons we should celebrate the perseverance of these traditions in the modern world.

But most of all we should remember the messages within this madness and, as Bach said, work to convey these Olympian values in sport and elsewhere, to Sochi and beyond.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames