The
history of the Hellenic Olympic Committee is tightly interwoven
with that of the revival of the Olympic
Games. The HOC was founded in Athens, on the 24th November
1894 (according to the Julian calendar), and its first president
was the then heir to the crown, Prince Constantine of Greece.
On that same day, the committee held its inaugural session,
whose agenda focused on the organizing of the first modern
Olympic Games.
These
Games were eventually held in 1896, from 25 March to 3 April,
at the then recently restored marble stadium (Panathenaic
Stadium) in Athens. The Stadium was in fact restored thanks
to a grant of 920.000 gold drachmas (a huge amount back then)
by Georgios Averoff. From its inception and up to the year
2000, the committee's name in
Greek was "Committee for the Olympic Games", spelling
the fact that the reason for which the Committee was established
was to see to the organizing of the first International Olympic
Games.
Olympic Torch Relay
The
HOC also takes credit for having staged the first Olympic Torch
Relay, in its present form, from Ancient
Olympia to Berlin, on the occasion of the 1936 Olympic
Games and following a proposal submitted by Professor Carl
Diem of Germany. Athens had secured IOC consent to host the
Olympic Games of 1914. The event was put off, however, on account
of the international unrest that paved the way for the outbreak
of the First World War.
With
the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay, it was the first time
the Olympic Flame visited all 22 host cities of the Olympic
Gummer games from the birth of the modern Games in 1896 through
Beijing 2008.
International Olympic Academy
In 1949, the IOC unanimously approved the institution of the
International Olympic Academy (IOA) at Ancient Olympia under
the supervision of the HOC which it also entrusted with the task
of organizing and administering the newly-founded Academy. Funded
by the HOC and operating under the auspices of the IOC, the IOA
pursues its mission since 1961 from its facilities at Ancient
Olympia, whereas the overall supervision of its organization
and operation lies with the HOC.
The
Academy's work consists in promoting Olympism and the Olympic
Movement on an international level though. The IOA is also
responsible for the first Modern Olympic Games Museum. The
museum was founded at Ancient Olympia in 1961 by Georgios Papastefanou-Provatakis,
an admirer of both sport and art, who donated the foundation
to the HOC in 1961.
These
Games were eventually held in 1896, from 25 March to 3 April,
at the then recently restored marble stadium (
in
Greek was "Committee for the Olympic Games", spelling
the fact that the reason for which the Committee was established
was to see to the organizing of the first International Olympic
Games. 
