Kalimarmaro Stadium – famous as the home of the 1896 Olympic Games – is still very much alive to athletes today. Used for countless track and field events, it has a powerful atmosphere. It is also used for events such as concerts, parades, and sports celebrations, such as the homecoming of the victorious Greek National Football team after it won the 2004 European Championship.

The stadium, with its outstanding location and its beautiful architecture and design, is also open to the public for leisure activities such as jogging and walking, or for any other physical exercise that takes their fancy. Every morning the stadium is packed with locals working out in the present and tourists working their way back to the past.

Simeon Simeonidis, president of the Federation for Greek Veteran Athletes, works with his wife at the stadium, maintaining the track and field museum and his memories. “All the 40- and 50- year-olds from the Greek national track team had meets with teams from all over Europe here,” he said. “In 1950, 30,000 people would come from all over Greece to watch them.”

The stadium and Simeonidis have changed a lot since then, but the past keeps them together. “I see it as a second home now,” said Simeonidis. “It is a special part of my life. Whoever was a passionate athlete of my time is frequent at the stadium in order to retain their glory days. They bring their children to tell them the stories of victory. Our goal is to make it an athletic museum. My wife and I had the stadium opened up for the public in 2008. Before that the stadium was closed and was only visited from the outside and for special events.”

Local people in the central Athens neighborhood near the Acropolis where the stadium is located have a special kinship with the stadium, which they see as a sanctuary from the mundane. Ilias Kyriakopoulos, a civil servant, has been a regular at Kalimarmaro for two years. “It has become inspirational to work out here and I always feel like I’m achieving something,” he said. “Just running inside the stadium motivates me to come back every day.” 

Costantinos Birinis, a local restaurant owner, also frequents the stadium for exercise. “It’s more than just a gym for me. It’s a place where go to work out, to blow off steam in nature. People socialize with no modern technology around. There is equality there, no status. It’s a real place where you can see people of all ages. It has a magical atmosphere because so many people have pushed themselves to their limits their and broken through their boundaries here. If you lie down flat in the stadium and look up at the sky, there is a beautiful silent echo and you can feel the games of the past and the spirits of all the deceased athletes.”

One of those athletes who have passed away was Birinis’s. “He was a member of the national track and field team, and when I go there I feel closer to him even though he’s gone,” said Birinis.