As with every modern Olympics – except the 2004 Athens Games, where Greece had its flagbearer lead the procession and then brought up its entire team in the rear, the traditional position for hosting nations – Hellas proudly led the way across the Tokyo 2020 stadium during the very-symbolic opening ceremony.

This position of great honour commemorates the unique founding role that Greece has played with the Olympics – the very heart and soul of the story contained within ‘Olympia: The Birth of the Games’ – as well as Athens having hosted the very first modern Olympics in 1896.

Remember these singular facts every time you watch an Olympics opening ceremony. Or turn a page of the book…

Greece – Japan handover of the flame of Olympia (in Greece, 2020). Courtesy of Stavros Potouridis.