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The Search for Breal_

The Marathon As We Know It Was Created by Michel Bréal. Who Was He and Where Was the Original Prize?

BY KARL LENNARTZ

HE STUDIOUS modern marathon runner knows that the history of the

modern marathon does not date back to Ancient Greece but rather to the First Modern Olympic Games of 1896 in Greece. It was Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin who organized a sports congress at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1894 with the intention of reviving the Games. The congress resolved to revive the Games in 1896 with Athens as the host.

The congress also concerned itself with the proposed Olympic events. It was clear from the beginning that track and field should be at the center of the Games. Michel Bréal, an archeologist who was following de Coubertin’s attempts to revive the Games, wrote to de Coubertin and suggested that he include a marathon run in the Olympic Games agenda. We know very little about the early correspondence between de Coubertin and Bréal beyond two books of de Coubertin’s—his own Olympic autobiography Olympische Erinnerungen, published in Frankfurt in 1959, and his later Einundzwanzig Jahre Sportkampagne, published in 1974 in Ratingen. The following is from his autobiography:

The idea for this competition came from a famous member of the “Institut de France,” Michel Bréal. He wrote me an enthusiastic letter one day after the resumption of the Olympics. He informed me that, as this competition had had an extraordinary meaning in olden days, he had donated a dish as a trophy.

A copy of the letter must have existed. Historians are satisfied only with primary, not secondary, sources of information for their studies. Consequently, I searched for this letter for over 10 years.

Karl Lennartz THE SEARCH FOR BREAL @ 77

Archeologist Michel Bréal (shown here) wrote to Pierre de Coubertin urging him to include the marathon in the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

I presumed that since de Coubertin had saved many things the letter must be in the IOC (International Olympic Committee) archives in Lausanne. Unfortunately, the IOC’s traditional stance toward the desires of historians to access the archives has been less than cooperative. They take this stance for two reasons: the IOC is notorious for not cataloging its archives, and the committee is on constant vigil that there be no negative coverage of de Coubertin or the Olympic movement in general.

By the mid-1980s, those fundamental policies had softened somewhat. New buildings had been erected for the IOC library, and IOC President Antonio Samaranch began to pursue a different public policy. In spite of the policy of increased cooperation, I was informed that the letter I sought did not exist in the archives.

‘COURTESY OF KARL LENNARTZ

A SEARCH OF THE ARCHIVES

In the summer of 1988 I faced the possibility of working in Lausanne doing other research activity. While there, I met the individual responsible for the IOC archives, Karel Wend1I. It turned out that, like me, he was a passionate marathon runner and had run several. Thus, contact between brothers of the shinsplint was easily made.

As it turned out, Wend was also interested in finding the letter. Against all odds, our problem was solved within minutes, since de Coubertin’s correspondence had recently been filed electronically. I soon held in my hands a copy of the letter in extraordinary condition. The letter had been written by Bréal on September 1894 from Nyon in Switzerland. de Coubertin was preparing to drive to Greece in preparation for the Games. The letter consists of four pages, but the crucial passage is as follows:

78 MH MARATHON & BEYOND September/October 1999

“Since you are going to Athens, check if it is possible to organize arace from Marathon to Pnyx. This would have ancient character. If we knew the time the Greek warrior needed for this stretch, we could make a record of it. It is my suggestion to donate a ‘Marathon Trophy.’”

It is general knowledge that the Greek water-carrier Spiridon Louis [also spelled Loues] won the first Olympic marathon in 1896. At the victory ceremony, which took place on April 12, he received a medal, the olive branch, a diploma, and an ancient vase that pictured a long-distance runner. He also received the trophy donated by Bréal. Louis died in 1940. His medal is today in the possession of the Greek state. For some time it was exhibited in a display case in the new Olympic stadium in Athens. But what became of the trophy?

At the end of May, 1989, the 13th Congress of the International Society for Sport History took place in Athens and Olympia. The day before the congress was to begin, Andreas Hofer (a sport historian of the German Sports University), Heiner Gillmeister (the famous tennis historian), and I drove to Maroussi, Spiridon Louis’s place of residence, with the intention to search for traces of the trophy, the Bréal cup.

On arrival in Maroussi (a very busy suburb of Athens), we initially stood around rather helplessly. The city hall was closed. We asked passersby where Louis’s birthplace was. But everyone seemed at a loss—our answer was a universal shaking of heads.

HARD ON LOUIS’S TRAIL

Eventually, an old woman who spoke a bit of English and some French sent us up anearby side street. The street sign read Louis Road. She directed us to a tiny shack built of mud with a tiled roof. It stood sadly dilapidated between threestory houses. Was this the place of Spiridon Louis’s birth? Could it be?

Our savior accompanied us to another street nearby and shouted some Greek words into a house. From the house emerged a woman of roughly 70 years who could speak only Greek. Along with her came a young, pretty, darkhaired girl who spoke English very well. The girl apparently was the greatgranddaughter, Katharina Louis. She served ably as translator between we three and Eutychia Louis. We learned that Eutychia is the daughter-in-law of Spiridon Louis.

Initially, our interlocutors were rather taciturn, but when the ladies realized that our intentions were honest, we were ushered into the house. Once inside, Mrs. Louis went to the wardrobe and fetched a plastic bag . . . and, as we watched, from the bag she slowly and carefully withdrew the old silver trophy donated by Bréal.

My breath caught in my throat and my hands were shaking. Finally, I had literally The Source. The trophy stood about 25 centimeters high. It was slightly

Karl Lennartz THE SEARCH FOR BREAL @ 79

The search is over: we find the Bréal Cup in the home of Spiridon Louis’s daughter-in-law.

damaged at its base and had collected a patina over the years, but its inscription could clearly be read: Olympic Games 1896, marathon trophy, donated by Michel Bréal.

Butthere was more to come. Mrs. Louis now pulled outa large chest that contained nearly all the important documents concerning Louis: certificates, newspaper articles, medals of remembrance, and invitations, including the invitation to the 1936 Olympic Games, and even the invitations for the guests of honor. Mrs. Louis showed us two large framed pictures. One showed Louis entering the stadium in 1896. The other showed Louis at the 1936 Games presenting the olive branch from Olympia to Adolph Hitler. The manipulation of the great sportsman through a dictator!

The Louis family did not want to let us go quickly. Two great-grandsons were ushered in. We were invited for a look around the house, were offered a drink and other refreshment. Greek hospitality at its best!

PRE-1896 ARTIFACTS

From July 18 through August 2, 1994, the 35th session for young participants of the International Olympic Academy took place in Athens and Olympia. On the first day, anew congress center was opened on the academy grounds, inside which Giorgios Dolianitis held his exhibition “100 Years I.0.C. D. Vikelas. First I.0.C. President.” This exhibition was particularly valued by the experts, as it contained many original pieces concerning the national Olympic Games in Greece before 1896 and personal information about Dimitrios Vikelas, which up to then were little known, if known at all. The originals are in the possession of the sport association Panhellenios in Athens and of Dolianitis himself.

I was fascinated by one exhibit in particular: a letter dated January 9, 1896, from Michel Bréal to IOC President Vikelas. Bréal mentioned his idea of a marathon and the inscription of the donated trophy. It appears that Bréal corresponded not only with de Coubertin, the general secretary of the IOC, but with the president as well.

80 M@ MARATHON & BEYOND September/October 1999

Dear Sir:

I do not know whether there is a meeting today. I am waiting for a friend who has not yet arrived. The moment in time is approaching when it will be necessary to take the marathon trophy into consideration. I would beg you to translate the following to me in modern Greek, in epigraphic style as best as possible: “Olympic Games, marathon trophy, donated by Michel Bréal.” I am capable of translating it into ancient Greek fairly enough, but I also want to be understood by the youth. Yours sincerely, Michel Bréal.

WHO WAS MICHEL

Michel Jules Alfred Bréal was born in Landau (at that time part of Bavaria, nowadays Rheinland Pfalz) on March 26, 1832. His parents were Jews of French descent. German was the language used within the family. The family moved to Wissenbourg in the French Alsatian region after the father died in 1837. There Bréal attended a school (as he did later in Metz and Paris) at which French was spoken.

In Paris he was a pupil at the grammar school Louis-le-Grand and a student at the College Sainte Barbe. Afterward, he studied to be a teacher at the Ecole Normale. In 1857 he graduated as a teacher after two years of student teaching in Strasbourg.

Subsequently, he was a student of the famous teachers Franz Bopp and Albrecht Weber in Berlin. Bréal translated Bopp’s comparative grammar (“Vergleichende Grammatik”) into French (1866). Weber taught him Sanskrit and comparative philology (“Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft”).

Bréal returned to Paris and took his doctoral degree reading mythological and linguistic topics and obtained his habilitation on comparative grammar (“Vergleichende Grammatik”) at the College de France, a place of study with university ranking for all scientific disciplines (1866).

In 1879, he was proclaimed the head representative for the Higher French educational system. His interest in ancient mythology, his responsible position in the French educational system, and his travels to Greece in the name of research explain his engagement for the Olympic Congress of 1894 and also his suggestion to stage a marathon to Athens at the first Olympic Games in 1896. Shortly afterward, Bréal became a member of the French Olympic Committee. Last but not least, due to his major work (“Essai de semantique” in 1897), he is considered the founder of the historic semantics and also Nestor of the French Philology.

Michel Bréal died in 1915.

Karl Lennartz THE SEARCH FOR BREAL @ 81