THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES BEFORE THEY BECAME MODERN.
The watch in my car showed seven in the evening. Time for a place to spend the night. Along the motorway its rather difficult to discover some hotel or a B&B. After Shrewsbury I left the main road. My experiences concerning smaller places were rather good – both charming settings and the possibility of finding a vacant bed.
At random I
chose the road towards Kidderminster. Whatever minor road was to prefer to the
motorway south to Ludlow, as long as even this minor road brought me
southwards. In position for my next day search for Castell Gwyn - "The
White Castle" – in the Abergavenny area in Wales. Last time I drove
around among an undefined number of ancient castles and fortresses in Wales, I
didn’t manage to discover this ruin. Now I had made up my mind to find it - whatever time I had to spend to realize the
adventure. A bed close to the border and the area I was to investigate, was
definitely an advantage.
The first inn
awaited me outside a small place called Cound. "The Riverside Inn" had
an idyllic site along one of the many curves of Englands’s longest river, The Severn, on its
way to the Bristol canal. Huge parking space, but also quite a few cars...
And quite right
– unfortunately I was half-an-hour late for their last vacancy. But if I
continued...
The young
receptionist held in. If I could just wait some minutes, he’d make a call for
me? But he was also in charge of the pub and two of his clients waited for
their pints.
The recetion
was close to the main door, and the bar formed an angle with the reception. In
front of the bar was a rustic restaurant. At the ende of the restaurant there
were large windows, showing people sitting outside with their meals and beers. This
might have been a charming...
Suddenly he was back,
the young one. Called a number on the phone while he told me ”there’ll be a
room now that the games were almost finished". Games? Did he want to put
me into some playground?
- Of course, I'll tell'im...
The cal ended and by
his smile I understood there was a bed waiting for me. In "Much
Wenloch". But I had no idea of what more that was waiting in Much Wenlock...
Much Wenlock was a small town. But
the hotel – enormous! For a small town. With a parking area close to some
Sainsbury center.
There was a
room for me, and they served evening meal until nine o’clock. So I went out to
fetch my travelling bag from the car.
When I was
about to return inside, I saw a banner above
the door of the house opposite
side of the road: "Wenloch Olympian Society - OLYMPIAN GAMES - 5th
-21st JULY".
What? Had someone forgot to pull down some PR for the Olympic Games in London
two years ago? I brought up the issue when I entered the reception.
Oh! Didn’t I know the Olympian games arranged every year in Much Wenloch?
Olympian games – every year?
A huge hotel in Much Winloch was built to lodge participants for the
games. At this moment most participants had left since this was the last week
of competitions. Only the competitions of gliding (!) were still going on. They
were ending their “battles” on a local air field at Church Stretton.
Not many guests left now, but some of them – and the manager – were eager
to tell me the strange story of the modern Olympian games in i Much Wenlock. I
was up until late – consuming quite a
few pints of "1664".
The reason for the games of Much Wenloch to cal themselves "olympian"
depended upon the fact that the first modern Olympic games stated exactly here
in Much Wenlock!
In 1850 a local doctor, William Penny-Brooks, introduce "physical
education" in the schools, although he had a broader vision. He wanted
youngsters to compete against each-other – not only in the area, but against
young people from all parts of the country in an old-fashioned Olympic manner. This
happened! Only ten years later was the first Olympian games arranged including
the traditional marathon as the main discipline giving the winner the Wenloch Prize. These "games"
were not only inspiration for young athletes, but the idea from Much Wenlock
also fascinated Baron Pierre de Coubertin – and we all know what happened next.
He created in 1894 the IOC, the international olympic comitee. Unfortunately
the doctor so dedicated to sport died the year before the first modern olympic
games was held in Athen 1896. But the games in Much Wenloch were alowed to be
called "olympian", although not the use of the symbol – the rings.
William Penny-Brooks and Much Wenlock are not forgotten – even if I believe a lot more than me were/are unfamiliar
with this event. When the modern Olympic games were to celebrate their hundred
anniversary in 1994, Juan Antonio Samaranch – who at that time was in charge of
the IOC, arrived in Much Wenloch to venerate the doctor who manufactured the
idea. While laying down a wreath on the doctor’s tomb, Samaranch said that
"Penny-Brooks is the reel founder of the modern Olympic games".
The
annual olympian games i Much Wenlock consists of several traditional
competitions as athletics, fencing, riding, footbal (5-a-side for participants
and public!), triathlon and of course marathon... Among competitions that do
not belong to the ordinary olympics there are (apart from gliding) golf, boule,
cricket (of course) and biathlon for the young. Svimming and running on two
different days. This year (2014) they had also introduced volleyball for the 11
years. The main part of the participants are children and youth, and there are
no qualifications whatever to participate. Several countries are sending
participants, even Norway. Norwegians had participated in something called road race. Swedes had
tried a kind of "group golf". This years participants had also come
from Germany, Belgium and New Zeeland.
The next day I had to do a trip around the site of Much Wenloch. The
center was rather charming, but in spite of my encounter with the birth of
modern olympic games, I was eager to find my welsh ruin. That’s why I didn’t
sit down with pencil and paper to make some sketches of the old City Hall with
its market. I simply had a photo.
I
must add to the story that I did find “my” old ruin in Wales. After two hours
of searching – and more reverse driving than I’ve done all together during my 50
years behind the wheel. What are called "roads" in the welsh
countryside, are as broad as the side mirrors of the car – on both sides. Happening
to come up against another car – or a tractor, isn’t the easiest way of keeping
your temper at ease. But in Much Wenloch I had met the Olympic spirit. A spirit
quite necessary to keep when I lost the ”competition” of who got the shortest
reverse to a place to meet… When we both had the Olympic spirit of discussion –
it was like winning or loosing in sports. And everyone in those narrow passages
were sportsman’s like. Maybe they all were acquainted to Much Wenloch.
Yours
Thor Thorstensen
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