30 Facts About Demetrios Vikelas

Demetrios Vikelas was a Greek businessman and writer; he was the co-founder and first president of the International Olympic Committee, from 1894 to 1896.

Demetrios Vikelas then moved to Paris, on account of his wife.

Demetrios Vikelas was born in Ermoupoli, on the island of Syros in Greece.

Demetrios Vikelas's father was a merchant, originally from Veria and his mother, Smaragda, was a member of the rich Melas family.

Demetrios Vikelas was educated at home by his mother, possibly due to his fragile health.

Demetrios Vikelas began to maintain a weekly correspondence with his mother.

Demetrios Vikelas kept a journal in which he recorded not only facts about his daily life but advice from his uncle Leon and his thoughts on books he had read and plays he was able to attend.

Demetrios Vikelas took part in fencing, horse-riding and rowing, although circumstances did not allow him to keep these up.

Demetrios Vikelas wrote letters to the main newspapers of the time to demand that Greece's rights be respected.

Demetrios Vikelas became a titular partner in his uncles' business.

Demetrios Vikelas met and became friends with Charilaos Trikoupis, the son of the Greek ambassador to Britain Spyridon Trikoupis, himself destined to become Prime Minister of Greece.

Demetrios Vikelas thus found himself in command of a comfortable fortune, which allowed him to fully dedicate his time to literature.

True to his character, Demetrios Vikelas recorded the progress of his wife's mental health daily during the twenty years which followed.

Demetrios Vikelas started to build a home around the corner from the streets of Panepistimiou and Voukourestiou.

Demetrios Vikelas then wrote his main literary work: Loukis Laras.

Demetrios Vikelas spent the following fifteen years in Paris, building up contacts with the surrounding intellectuals and literati of the French capital.

Demetrios Vikelas wrote for it, as before, numerous articles, novels and even travel guides.

Demetrios Vikelas suggested using Katharevousa for parliamentary proceedings, for example, but popular language for poetry.

Demetrios Vikelas returned to Greece, visited Scotland, Switzerland, Spain and Constantinople.

Originally, it had been De Coubertin's idea to hold the first celebration of the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but Demetrios Vikelas convinced him and the newly created International Olympic Committee that they should be held in Athens, in order to symbolically link them to the original Games.

Demetrios Vikelas decided to leave Paris to move permanently to Athens.

Demetrios Vikelas remained an active member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

Demetrios Vikelas died in Athens on 20 July 1908 "from an afflicting illness".

Demetrios Vikelas had been made a knight of the Legion of Honour on 31 December 1891, and honorary doctor of the University of St Andrews in November 1893.

Demetrios Vikelas was a member of the French "Association for the Promotion of Greek Studies", and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in London.

Demetrios Vikelas left his immense library collection to the city of Heraklion in Crete, founding the Vikelaia Municipal Library.

Demetrios Vikelas decided to reiterate his efforts at the Congress in 1894 which followed, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but with the sub-text of the recreation of the Olympic Games.

Demetrios Vikelas gained support from several personalities: the King of the Belgians, the Prince of Wales, the Diadochus Constantine and William Penny Brookes, the founder of the "Olympian Games" in Shropshire, England, and Ioannis Phokianos.

Demetrios Vikelas turned to one of the more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris, Demetrios Vikelas, to whom he wrote to ask him to take part in the Congress.

Demetrios Vikelas translated into Greek the stories of Hans Christian Andersen, and various Shakespeare plays.