Breal's Silver Cup: An uplifting story to restore Greek Pride
(CNN) -- A silver cup presented to the Greek winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 has sold for a record £541,000 ($860,000) at auction in London.
It is the highest price paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia, with the sale at Christie's over in a matter of minutes with the bids leaping £50,000 ($80,000) at a time.
The previous record was for an Olympic torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games in Finland which fetched $400,000 last year.
Spyros Louis became a national hero when he won the only gold medal for Greece in the track and field events 116 years ago so it became a matter of national pride that the cup should return to the birthplace of the Olympics.
CNN understands that the Mayor of the Marousi District in Athens, where Louis was born, raised 350,000 euros ($458,000 ) to bid.http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/19/world/europe/olympic-breal-cup-auction/index.html?hpt=ieu_mid
Something to think about; Who are our modern day heroes? Are there any? What do you think??
1 comment:
Just for the record, the girls of Prof 1 have done a summary on this article.
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