Aristid D. Burke, Sc.D
Private Individual
07/06/02
The friends of Hellenic Studies
To
whom it may concern:
It has been recently proposed
that record of the victors of the Olympic games, from
their inception in 776 BC to the present and beyond,
be perpetuated by the exection of an appropriate monument
at Olympic, Greece. I believe this proposal has great
merit.
First, there is no similar monument extant, endowed
with due permanence, stature and Worldwide visibility
that serves as a central repository of Olympic feats
of the modern era. And what exists of the ancients – inscriptions
on statues, tables and ceramic vases – is scattered
in museums, archeological sites and libraries.
Second such an undertaking is unique human competitive
endeavors in that the criteria used in selecting the
Olympic winners are, with few exceptions, concrete,
and measurable. In contact even Nobel prize winners
in sciences are selected on the basic of the subjective
judgments of a committee.
Third, the proposed memorial would be eminently suitable
and helpful as part of a movement to reorient the Olympic
games away from the current rampant commercialism and
the dominance of the professional athletes, toward
a restoration of the purity of the Olympic spirit of
the amateur athlete and the revival of the observance
of a truse among warring parties while the games are
in progress.
Finally, based on reasons too obvious to stare I can
think of no better alternative to Olympia as the proposed
site.
There are, of course, many problems that have to be
solved before the proposal is implemented. But none,
I believe, serious enough to hinder the realization
of such a meritorious idea.
Aristid D. Berk,
Sc.D.