"Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victors
In the race and in the strife!
Create in our breasts, hearts of steel!"
Kostas Palama, extract from the Olympic anthem.
The Olympic anthem was composed by Spiros Samara, based on the words of Kostas Palama, for the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens in 1896. It was played again in 1906, but subsequently replaced by anthems specially commissioned for the Olympic ceremonies. In 1954 the IOC held an international competition won by Polish composer Michael Spisiak, who had put a poem by Pindar to music. It was played in Melbourne in 1956, but the composer demanded such a large fee that it was subsequently abandoned. When the Japanese played the piece by Spiros Samara at the 55th IOC Session in Tokyo in 1958, everyone enjoyed it so much that it was unanimously adopted as the official anthem, at the proposal of IOC member Prince Axel of Denmark.
-- Prince Pierre of Monaco, IOC member, offered the sum of US$ 1,000 to the winner of the competition for an Olympic anthem launched by the IOC in 1954.
-- The IOC received 392 entries from composers from 40 different countries. At its 51st Session, the IOC chose Michael Spisiak's composition.
-- The current Olympic anthem was adopted at the 55th Session of the IOC in Tokyo in 1958.
-- The Olympic anthem was played for the first time in Athens in 1896 and again in Rome in 1960.
-- The Olympic anthem was played for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley in 1960.
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