{"id":176870,"date":"2025-05-05T18:03:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T16:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=176870"},"modified":"2025-05-05T18:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T16:03:33","slug":"today-it-gathers-the-whole-world-but-only-the-serbian-king-attended-the-first-modern-olympics-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/today-it-gathers-the-whole-world-but-only-the-serbian-king-attended-the-first-modern-olympics-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"TODAY IT GATHERS THE WHOLE WORLD, BUT\u2026 Only the Serbian King attended the first modern Olympics! (PHOTO)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When the 32nd Summer Olympic Games were ceremonially opened, Tokyo became a place where, despite the coronavirus, almost the entire world elite &#8216;flocked&#8217;, and Japan, in addition to top athletes, also hosted a large number of statesmen from all over the world. In contrast, at the first modern Olympics, held in Athens back in 1896, only one ruler responded to the invitation of the Greek King George I to attend the competitions &#8211; the Serbian King Aleksandar Obrenovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Greece, or rather the city of Olympia, hosted all the Olympic Games in ancient times, when the idea of restarting them was born, Athens, as the capital of modern Greece, was the logical choice for the first host. The first modern Olympic Games were held from April 6 to 15, 1896, and the fact that they were ceremonially opened by the Greek King George I, who with members of the royal family watched most of the games live, testifies to their significance for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the idea of only Greeks competing at the Olympics was rejected and it was decided that the games should be international in character, the French pedagogue, historian, and founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, convinced the Greek king to personally invite European rulers and their athletes to the spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Athens_1896_report_cover.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"640\" src=\"http:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover-1024x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-176871\" srcset=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover-400x250.jpg 400w, https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Athens_1896_report_cover.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Athletes from 14 countries responded to the invitation, however, only one foreign ruler decided to attend the event \u2013 the King of Serbia Aleksandar Obrenovi\u0107, even though there were no athletes from the Kingdom of Serbia at the first Olympic Games!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The young Serbian king, then 20 years old, often went abroad, and he arrived in Athens with a delegation. On the way, he stopped in Ni\u0161, Skopje, Thessaloniki, and also visited Hilandar, where he stayed for three days. Aleksandar and his entourage stayed in Athens for four days, where he witnessed with the Greek king the beginning of something that would become a global phenomenon and the largest sporting competition of the modern age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">FIND OUT MORE:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fserbiantimes%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02n2zFfD7TiMGToVYLFTzjk8DtyFaSWLpBk81XUiVLGAHfWd1PQucn2TxPtyN8rNohl&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"250\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>In honor of the ruler of Serbia, the Greek king issued an order for the anthem &#8220;Bo\u017ee pravde&#8221; to be performed several times at the stadium in Athens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although King Aleksandar was the most important guest, many prominent figures were also in the royal entourage, such as the Serbian general and Minister of War Dragutin Franasovi\u0107, the writer and president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences Milan \u0110ak Mili\u0107evi\u0107, a doctor from the Paris Faculty of Medicine and the personal physician of the Serbian king \u0110oka Jovanovi\u0107, Marshal Mihailo Ra\u0161i\u0107, and the legendary \u017divojin Mi\u0161i\u0107, the future famous Serbian Duke, and at that time an aide-major at the Obrenovi\u0107 court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is another interesting fact related to the first modern Olympics &#8211; although Serbia did not have an official representative, a Serb from the village of Nadalj in Vojvodina named Mom\u010dilo Tapavica competed under the flag of Hungary. He competed in as many as four disciplines \u2013 athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and tennis \u2013 and managed to win a bronze medal in tennis, in the individual competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/column-kovacevic-on-the-police-batons-revolution-and-its-children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">COLUMN, KOVA\u010cEVI\u0106: On the police, batons, revolution and its children\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/i-eat-what-i-have-when-i-have-it-grandma-jela-lives-alone-in-the-mountains-without-electricity-or-water-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">\u201cI EAT WHAT I HAVE, WHEN I HAVE IT\u201d: Grandma Jela lives alone in the mountains, without electricity or water! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/freedoms-will-be-defended-student-accused-of-attacking-the-dean-of-the-faculty-of-physical-education-and-sport-released-from-custody-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">FREEDOMS WILL BE DEFENDED: Student accused of attacking the dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport released from custody! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/all-members-of-our-team-won-medals-six-medals-for-serbia-at-the-balkan-mathematical-olympiad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ALL MEMBERS OF OUR TEAM WON MEDALS: Six medals for Serbia at the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/council-of-europe-commissioner-serbia-must-quickly-complete-the-investigation-into-the-use-of-the-sound-cannon-and-identify-the-perpetrators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMISSIONER: Serbia must quickly complete the investigation into the use of the sound cannon and identify the perpetrators!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Serbian Times, <strong>Foto: <\/strong>Wikimedia Creative Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the 32nd Summer Olympic Games were ceremonially opened, Tokyo became a place where, despite the coronavirus, almost the entire world elite &#8216;flocked&#8217;, and Japan, in addition to top athletes, also hosted a large number of statesmen from all over the world. In contrast, at the first modern Olympics, held in Athens back in 1896, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":176872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1926,634,554,6389,3534,3244,6390,113],"class_list":["post-176870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-grcka","tag-istorija","tag-istorija-srbije","tag-kralj-aleksandar-obrenovic","tag-olimpijada","tag-olimpijske-igre","tag-prve-moderne-olimpijske-igre","tag-srbija","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176870"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176923,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176870\/revisions\/176923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}