SARASIJ

MARATHONER WHO SAVED GREECE

Boston Marathon’s Greatest Underdog Story

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

The Nazi commander pointed a pistol at the man's head and shouted - "Tell me, who are you?" The man quietly lowered his head and took out his passport and some documents from his pocket. Seeing all that, the Nazi commander was surprised - this skeletal man is an Olympian? This man ran the marathon in Berlin Olympics in 1936! And that picture? Hitler shook hands with himself!

The Nazi commander left.

Greece was first attacked by Fascist Italy in October 1940. Though the initial invasion was repelled, a secondary attack led by Nazi Germany overwhelmed the country by June, 1941.In 1943, Greece was then occupied by the Nazis - a Nazi officer was attacked by a group of villagers but no one admitted who was behind the attack. Not finding the culprit, the Nazis lined up every male in the village and shot them. Our man was the only one who survived the massacre.

But the Nazi commander didn’t know that our man had fought against the Nazis as a member of the Greek Resistance during the German Occupation.

After this, a strange sense of guilt gradually engulfed this man. His survival became miserable. Sometimes the man wondered why he showed up at the Olympics - he didn't win the marathon. He finished 10th in that race, sinking Greece's name. The Greek papers gave him a new title - " Looser”!

After being in self-pity for almost two years, this man decided that when he was alive, he had to do something for the country. At the end of the World War, there was a severe famine in Greece. Thousands of people and thousands of children are dying out of starvation!

Suddenly he remembered—" “My son , you should always run, because we Greeks were born to run. This is how we managed to live for so many centuries.” These were the words of Spiros Louis, the first modern Olympic Marathon winner.

This man stood up with his jaw tight. Before he dies he must prove himself a true marathoner - the successor of Pheidippides, and Pheidippides also did not live. But he died - a hero's death - delivering the news of the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon.

This poor man, couldn’t eat well due to shortage of food, wrote a letter to his friend and competitor in the 1936 marathon, American marathoner John Kelly. He said he wanted to run in the 1946 Boston Marathon in America. His wife got up! Running in a marathon with this starving look and suicide is the same! This man did not listen to anything. This marathoner took the American ship with his 14-year-old son by selling all his Medals, and Prizes.

Helped by Greek-Americans like George Demeter, Kyriakides made it to the 1946 Boston Marathon. Nason, who hadn’t seen him since before the war, was shocked at the Greek’s appearance.

“The history of those grim years are etched in the travail-wrinkled features of this man with a mission,” Nason wrote.

A marathoner from the country of marathons will run in the Boston Marathon, there was quite an uproar in America on this news, but he didn't even have the necessary shoes for running. His friend John Kelly bought them! But this time the doctors strike down his name. They declared him unfit. With the help of friend John Kelly, he secured permission from doctors to run the Boston Marathon. Before starting the race, he stuffed a paper in his son's pocket. Written on that paper was the oath of the Greek heroes - "Either I win today, or die like a hero"!

He got off to a good start in the Boston Marathon, but with the last mile to go, his friend John Kelly found himself far behind. I feel there is no hope! At that time a Greek in the audience shouted to him "Run, run for Greece, for our children". John Kelly wrote in his autobiography that after he heard the scream, he felt like an avian horse flapping its wings – the man who was trailing, sprinted to the finish line was not a human - the father of the marathon, the Greek hero, Pheidippides himself!

Such an extraordinary marathon victory made the front pages of America's papers - he was cheered everywhere!. The Newspapers agreed to pay big money for an interview with him. But what a surprise! At the press conference this poor man folded his hands and pleaded "I don't want anything, save Greece!"

The man appealed to the US Congress to save Greece and received an unprecedented response. “The whole thing became so famous at the time that American newspapers had on the front page that the Greek winner of the Boston marathon was asking and begging for help for his country and his people”, says Dimitri. When President Truman heard about this story, Kyriakides was invited to the White House, on May 3rd of that year, along with Johnny Kelley.

Impressed by his story, and as a result of Kyriakides’ successful publicity, the U.S. government contributed an extraordinary four hundred thousand dollar financial aid package to Greece, known as “ PACKAGE KYRIAKIDES”.

Although HE was invited to stay in the United States, he declined, saying that he was there only to help Greece. Within one month, he had raised $250,000, while the Livanos ship-owning family sent two ships with emergency supplies back to the country.

After sending three shiploads of food, medicine and two hundred and fifty thousands of US dollars to Greece, the man boarded the plane with his son back home.

“This is where the patriotic, humanitarian part of his life starts”, says his son--Dimitri.

After arriving at the Athens airport, his feet did not touch the ground. Around one lakh people were waiting for him at the airport. And another 1 million people came down the streets to catch a glimpse of him - the starving poor marathoner rode home on their shoulders. Then, a formal ceremony was held at the Temple of Zeus, where Kyriakides stating: "I am proud to be Greek " moving to the crowd. For the first time since the Nazi's Occupation, the Acropolis was illuminated in his honour.

The first time since World War II! To honour Kyriakides—the most able successor of PHEIDIPPEDES

Famine-stricken Greece welcomed in style the "Hero" marathoner!

He ran in the Boston Marathon wearing jersey number 77, this marathoner died at the age of 77! The first mile of the Boston Marathon is marked by a statue of him. The name of that statue - "Spirit of Marathon"! Like Pheidippides, this man has become immortal in the history of marathon and though never won the Olympics!

The name of this marathoner is - Stylianos Kyriakides!

He was born in the mountain village of Statos, near Paphos, Cyprus on January 15, 1910.

The youngest of five children, he left home to find work and help his poor farming family. Following a variety of jobs, he ended up as a "house-boy" for Dr. Cheverton, a British medical officer. (Cyprus was still under British rule at the time).

Kyriakides' running story began whilst working for British medical officer, Dr Reginald Cheverton. Following pain in his knees, Dr Cheverton discovered that Kyriakides had an unusually low heart rate and, as an athlete himself, told Kyriakides that this would lend itself to long-distance running. Dr. gave him his first running gear, coaching advice and taught him to speak English. So, Kyriakides joined the Olympia Running Club in Limassol, where he trained for the Balkan Games. At his first Pan-Cyprian games in 1932, Kyriakides won both the 1,500 and 10,000 metres on Friday, followed by both the 5,000 and 20,000 metres on Sunday. Hailed as a great talent, he was asked to run in the national championships in Greece, where he came first in the Marathon. Kyriakides competed for Greece in the 1936 Summer Olympics, placing 11th . At the Olympic Games, Kyriakides met four-times Boston Marathon champion, Johnny Kelley, who would later join Kyriakides’ on his route to charity running success.

But before that, World War II happened, where our storey began..

And he also represented Greece twelve years later in the 1948 London Olympics and finished in eighteenth place. The great runner, who had fought the Nazis and then put his entire heart into the greatest race of his life in 1946 at Boston Marathon, died in Athens in 1987.

Kyriakides is proof that running for a cause can provide the motivation needed to make change---making achievements, even during those times when it feels like the odds are stacked against us. Kyriakides’ charity work raised vital awareness, money and aid to help the starving, war-strewn nation of his home nation in Greece. “This is a lesson for all of us”, says Dimitri. “If you want to do something in life, it doesn’t matter how difficult things are. After all, life is a marathon. You have your ups and you have your downs. You hit the wall many times. Not just once. And this is life. If you want to do something, you can do it. All of us can do incredible things if we believe in them”.

Kyriakides dedicated his life to the local community, encouraged young people to take up sports and found sponsors who helped him to build an athletic club. “We have Olympic champions coming out of this club, still today”, says Dimitri, “and now, running for charity has become very popular”.

SPIRIT OF MARATHON STATUE:-

The “Spirit of the Marathon” statue was unveiled in 2006, commemorating Kyriakides’s emotional win.

‘Spirit of the Marathon’ is a 12-foot-tall statue that stands at the 1-mile mark of the Boston Marathon route. Commissioned by New Balance, coordinated by the Hopkinton Athletic Association (the former name of the 26.2 Foundation), sculpted by Mico Kaufman, and unveiled in 2006, ‘Spirit’ depicts Greek marathoner Stylianos Kyriakides, who represents one of the Boston Marathon’s greatest underdog stories.

Kyriakides won the 50th Boston Marathon in 1946 against all odds, having survived the horrors and deprivations of the Axis occupation of WWII Greece. He then turned his achievement into an opportunity to highlight the plight of his nation, which was still starving and rebuilding from the war. He returned home to a hero’s welcome with boatloads of food, medicine, clothing and other essentials donated by the American people. As a result of those efforts, he is considered by many to be the first Boston Marathon ‘charity’ runner.

Flanking him in the sculpture is a fellow Greek, Spyridon Louis, winner of the first modern Olympic marathon, held in Athens Greece in 1896, showing Kyriakides the way forward.

A twin version of the statue stands in Marathon, Greece, Hopkinton’s sister city.

REFERENCES:-

1.0 https://blog.letsdothis.com/blog/article/stylianos-kyriakides-the-original-charity-runner

2.0 https://www.26-2.org/spirit-of-the-marathon

3.0 https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-marathon/2023/04/14/first-boston-marathon-charity-runner-stylianos-kyriakides/?amp=1

4.0 https://greekreporter.com/2023/11/26/boston-marathon-winner-ran-seven-million-hungry-greeks/

5.0 https://www.limassolmarathon.com/index.php?pageid=265

Image:- BOSTON OLYMPICS SITE.