The success of the Olympic Games and Spiros Louis' celebrated victory in the marathon race so filled the Greeks with pride, that even today people talk about these crowning moments of Greek athletics.

View of Athens from the Panathinaikos Stadium. In the centre is the “Panorama”

An article in the daily Estia in May 1896 is a testament to the fact that the embers of the athletic fever prevalent at the time were still alive and needed a mere breath to stoke them. “…all the New Market was in a turmoil yesterday evening. There was to be a race! The butchers, fruit and vegetable sellers and fishmongers contributed a sum of money [for a prize] and invited the porters to a race. They were to run around the market fifteen times…”. Truly, eleven runners took their places at the starting line, but only three crossed the finishing line. They “…entered the grocery and were offered brandy and after a time were given the prize money…”. The newspaper informed its readers that such races would be held on a daily basis, every afternoon, “…after the work of the Market dies down…”. As was natural, such athletic events were linked to the professional activity of those who held them.

Hundreds of sports fans attended the Games. The victors' parade

The fact that Greeks had been carried away by their enthusiasm for athletcs was evident both in the numbers of young people who went to the newly built or renovated athletic centres and in the foundation of new athletic clubs. Some of these were short-lived, others continued to perform respectably for many years.