The Consul General Of Greece In Boston Continues A Marathon Tradition

German ultramarathon runner Jurgen Mennel wears an olive wreath after finishing his run at the Panathenian marble stadium, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010, after running 2200 kilometers (about 1360 miles) from his home in Heilbronn, Germany to Athens, Greece, to mark the 2,500-year anniversary of the ancient Battle of Marathon in Greece. Mennel is one of several athletes taking part in events marking the anniversary of the original marathon run, culminating in the 28th Athens Classic Marathon at the end of October. The story of the marathon dates back to in 490 BC, when an Athenian soldier, Pheidippides, is said to have been sent to Sparta to announce that the Persians had landed and to request help. After running to Sparta and back, he then ran from the battlefield near Marathon to Athens carrying the news of a Greek victory over the Persians, before collapsing and dying at the end of his effort.

Jason Turesky is an Associate Producer for Boston Public Radio.

April 09, 2019

For nearly 40 years the Consul General of Greece in Boston has presented the Boston Athletic Association with olive branch wreaths to crown the four first-place winners of the race.

Stratos Efthymiou, the current consul general of Greece in Boston, will present the wreathes to the Boston Athletic Association at the the State House on April 11. The BAA will use those wreathes to crown the winners on April 18, three days after the marathon.

"It is an ancient Greek tradition," said Efthymiou during an interview with Boston Public Radio Tuesday. "The Greeks at the Olympic games, they didn't give money to the winners, they crowned them with olive wreathes. It was the glory and the symbolism that the wreath brought to the competition," he said.

Efthymiou joined BPR to talk about the wreath ceremony, the history of marathons, and more.

Jason Turesky is an Associate Producer for Boston Public Radio.