H.O.C.

In his first statements right after his election, the new President Isidoros Koubelos told the members of the Plenary:

“Dear colleagues,

I am deeply moved and ι want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the honor by electing me. I am succeeding a man with a huge contribution to Greek sports, Spyros Ψapralos, who will always be by our side, and I thank him warmly for his support.

I want to express my gratitude to all of you, both those who voted for me and those who did not. I assure you that from today the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) is moving towards to the future.

I believed that a renewal in the EOE was necessary. Spyros Capralos has offered a lot over the years, but the next day requires the participation of new people. I am sure that this renewed team, full of prestige and vision, will contribute substantially to the Olympic Movement that we all dream of.

My experience in the HOC, first as Vice President and then as President of the International Olympic Academy, where globally recognized work was accomplished, fills me with responsibility for the future. The key areas of the HOC—Olympic preparation, Olympic Education, the Olympic Torch Relay, and the IOA—are crucial. The IOA, as a mirror of the Olympic Movement, promotes the Values of Olympism, knowledge, respect, and diversity. The competition must always be fair and clean.

I want to sincerely thank our Olympic medallists, who believed in my vision and supported this effort with integrity. I also approached all federations, even those thatdid not support me. I did not just ask for their votes, but for their cooperation so that we can face challenges together.

I would like to honor Spyros Capralos for his great contribution. As President of the European Olympic Committees, IOC Member , and a candidate for significant international positions, his presence remains vital for Greek sports. Spyros, we thank you and need your wisdom and support.

Finally, I want to underline that the HOC must have the first word in matters of Greek sports. It is not acceptable to make decisions without its opinion. We claim fairly, honestly and ethically the recognition of our role by the State.

A big thank to all of you – the federations, the athletes, the volunteers and the election committee – for your contribution to the process. A long and difficult effort begins tomorrow. With your support, we will build a new HOC, as it deserves.

Thank you very much!”

Isidoros Kouvelos 

President, Hellenic Olympic Committee

The mission of the HOC is to oversee and act to ensure the development, promotion and safeguarding of the Olympic Movement, the spirit of fair play and out-of-school physical activity, in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Ideal and the traditions of the Hellenic sport. The HOC’s role is: To supervise the Olympic Sports and cooperate with the State as well as with the public and private bodies for the promotion of healthy sport policies. To encourage love for sports and respect for the spirit of sportsmanship among the young. To organise in cooperation with the National Federations the Olympic preparation of athletes. To proceed, on its sole responsibility, to the final selection of athletes who will represent Greece at the Olympic and Mediterranean Games.

Regarding the selection of athletes who represent Greece, the decision of the HOC with Ref. No. 40/15-12-1987, was a landmark. Following the proposal of Mr. Ioannis Papadogiannakis, the HOC decided the implementation of a coordinated programme of Olympic Preparation and set precise criteria for the athletes who would participate to the Seoul Olympic Games. For the first time are set criteria more strict that those of the International Federations. Despite the initial protests of the National Federations, the correctness of that decision was proved with the later success of the Greek athletes. The same issue had been brought up for discussion in 1978, by then HOC Secretary General, Nikos Filaretos, who had proposed a system of “5 Olympic stages” – implemented with great success by the Belgian Olympic Committee for the athletes of its Olympic preparation – based on criteria set by the International Olympic Committee. The HOC administers, manages and sees to the maintenance of its facilities under its jurisdiction such as: the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens and the Olympic Swimming Center in the centre of Athens, the neoclassical building of Kapsali Str, Kolonaki (HOC headquarters until 1998), including all facilities therein and appurtenances thereto as well as all surrounding public premises, the International Olympic Academy and the Olympic Museum in Ancient Olympia. The HOC is also represented on the board of directors of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA). The HOC is also solely responsible for the Lighting and Hand over ceremonies for the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as for the correct interpretation and implementation of the articles of the Olympic charter. In addition, the HOC can make suggestions to the IOC regarding the Olympic movement and the organising of Olympic Games in general. The HOC is also charged with selecting the candidate city to host the Olympic or Mediterranean Games. Therefore, it submitted the candidature of the city of Athens for the Olympic Games of 1996 and the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, on the 15th of December 1995. The HOC takes action to ensure the writing, publication and distribution of special editions aiming at the development and promotion of the Olympic Idea and the history of Olympism, out-of-school physical education and sport in general; it also takes action to ensure that HOC information material and all sort of material in print be published and circulated in order to help fulfil the mission of the International Olympic Academy. Finally, the HOC recommends to the Minister responsible for sport issues and supervisor of the HOC, actions that should be taken for the achievement of its goals. According to the new statutes of the HOC, also approved by the IOC, the Committee is administered by: (a) The Plenary Session which includes necessarily (ex-officio) the IOC members for Greece (permanent members of the HOC), the representative of the National Federations of Olympic sports, an active male athlete or former male athlete and an active female athlete or former female athlete that have participated at least one time in Olympic Games (in case a former male or female athlete is elected, he/she should have participated at least once in the last three Olympic Games prior to the day of their election) and two eminent personalities (with contribution to sports and the dissemination of the Olympic Spirit). (b) The Executive Committee which is composed by five (5) members. By right its members are: the HOC President, the IOC members for Greece, the A’ Vice President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer. It should also be noted that the participation of the abovementioned members is realised in one of the abovementioned capacities, while the Plenary Session elects from its members the rest of the E.C. members until they reach the number of 5. The HOC also comprises the following Commissions: Olympic Preparation Commission, Olympic Torch Relay Commission, Athletes Commission, Gender Equality Commission, Marketing Commission, Ethics Commission, Sports and Environment Commission and the National Olympic Academy. The HOC offices, as well as the International Olympic Academy’s offices are situated in Halandri, Athens, at a street, which – following HOC’s request to the Municipality of Halandri – was renamed to Dimitriou Vikela Ave. in honour of Dimitrios Vikelas, reviver of the Olympic Games and first IOC President.

The H.O.C. has as its statutory mission:

a) To oversee and act to ensure the development, furtherance and safeguarding of the Olympic Movement, sport, the spirit of sportsmanship and out-of-school physical education, within the scope of the principles of the Olympic Idea and the traditions of Hellenic Sport; to exercise supervision on the Olympic disciplines;

b) To see to it that the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Charter are properly interpreted and correctly applied;

c) To disseminate love for sport and respect for the spirit of sportsmanship among the young;

d) To organize, in liaison with the proper National Federations, the preparation of athletes and make, under its sole responsibility, the final selection of athletes who are to represent Greece at an Olympic or Mediterranean Games competition, as well as at such continental and transcontinental competitions as are held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee;

The history of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) is strongly connected to the history of the revival of the Olympic Games. The HOC was founded in Athens, November 24th 1894 (according to the Julian calendar), with first President Crown Prince Constantine. Its first session was held on the same day with the subject of the organizing of the first Modern Olympic Games, which were finally held in 1896 in Athens from March 25th till April 3rd, in the newly restored Panathenian Stadium. The restoration was achieved thanks to the donation of 920.000 gold drachmas (huge amount at the time) of the magnanimous Georgios Averoff. It should be noted that since its foundation and until the year 2000, the name of the HOC in Greek, had been Committee for the Organizing of the Olympic Games as the purpose of its foundation was the organizing of the first International Olympic Games.

Historical archive

The historical archive of the H.O.C. covers the period from 1894 to 1972.  The archive includes the following contents :

• documents, manuscripts in ink and pencil, typed in black and blue ink
• dublicated copies, carbon copies and photocopies
• telegrams
• invitations
• journals
• photographs
• postcards (commemorative of sportevents)
• architectural plans
• tickets to sportevents
• newspapers
• albums

There is also a special section with books (volumes with copies of correspondence, minutes of meetings, copies of letters).

In addition to the preservation of archival material – in accordance with the rules and regulations established by archival science – great emphasis has been placed on its preservation through computerized data entry. The cataloguing software was developped specially for the H.O.C. archives taking into account its special features and the respective research interest. For the period 1894-1936 the computer input was carried out on a document-by-document basis, while for the period 1937-1972 per file.

The project of classifying and cataloguing the archive was entrusted to Christina Koulouri, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and current Rector of the Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences. The research and cataloguing team consisted of historian Yiannis Yiannitsiotis, and currently Assistant Professor (tenured) of Social History at the Department of Social Anthropology and History, of the University of the Aegean and Dr. Vassiliki Tzachrista, archaeologist and currently responsible for the Hellenic Olympic Committee’s Archives. The conservation works was carried out exclusively by the conservator – restorer, Dr. Penelope Banou, a permanent employee of the Department of Archival Material and Books Conservation of the General State Archives Central Service. The work continued even after the completion of the cataloguing.  The entite project was funded by the Olympic Solidarity of the International Olympic Committee.

Photographic Archive

HOC Photographic archive dates back from 1889 to 2000 and includes a total of 9.824 photos (color and black & white) of which 8.033 are originals and 1.791 are copies. There are also 204 postcards which refer to the period from 1896 till the 1970s, while the majority relating 1906  Intermediary Olympic Games. Funds for this specific project were provided by the Secretariat General of the Olympic Games 2004, Ministry of Culture. Implementation of the project was entrusted to the Democritus University of Thrace under the scientific direction of Christina Koulouri.  Leading responsible for classification, research and recording was the historian, Dr. Katerina Dede, Senior Researcher – Section of Neohellenic Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation. The conservation work was carried out by Penelope Banou.

Once the classification of the photographic archive has been completed, it was digitized along with the HOC archives from the period 1894-1936. The Digitization was carried out by the software company Oracle – Hypersystems S.A which specialises in the management of Electronic Document and works exclusively in an Intranet/Internet environment and technology . A total of 18.442 documents from the historical archive were digitized (15.888 documents  for the period 1894-1936 and 9.755 photos).

The classification, cataloguing and digitization project was followed by three original premium editions that showcased to the fullest extent the Archives of the Hellenic Olympic Committee– both in English and in Greek– sponsored by the IOC Olympic Solidarity which showcased the HOC Archives.

The first edition, Archives and History of the Hellenic Olympic Committee,  was written by the same academic team that had worked on the Historical Archives immediately after its compilation, was completed and was published in 2002. The aim of this volume was to highlight aspects of the Greek History of the Olympic Games and the HOC through selected topics from the archives and to make the best possible use of the primary information’s potential provided by the archives.

The second edition, Athens, the city of the Olympic Games 1896-1906  was published in 2004 with the dual intention; on the one hand to rediscover elements of the HOC archives, and on the other, to attempt a multi-level approach to the modern Olympic Games, all contained in an anthology written by Greek University historians and researchers.

The third edition, The International Olympic Academy – The history of an Olympic Institution was published in 2007 following two-year of primary research and writing and jointly highlighted the archives of the Academy and the Committee.

Reference: Vassiliki Tzachrista “Archives of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (1894-1972) and the International Olympic Academy (1961-1996) in magazine Comma (International Journal on Archives), Liverpool University Press, 2009, vol. 2., pp. 31-40).

HOC Archives are open to public for study and research

Address: Dimitriou Vikela 52, Halandri 152 33 – Athens

Working days/hours: Tuesday – Thursday 11:00-16:00 upon request

Contact person: Dr Vassiliki Tzachrista, Archaeologist

Tel. 210 68 78 816

Email: VASSILIKI TZACHRISTA – HOC Library: library@hoc.gr