Greece’s Roman Road

Chapter 151: Olympic Games

On July 9, the government announced the unified opinions reached at the consultation meeting through the media.

After the news of the abolition of the equal-amount tax system and the implementation of the proportional system of tax payment spread, the middle and lower class people who got rid of the heavy tax burden got what they wanted and turned to rejoicing.

The storm in Athens gradually dissipated.

After this consultation, the government of Alexandros began to implement reforms based on the results of the consultation.

Since then, officials in Greece have been divided into affairs officials and government officials.

Among them, officials are not affected by political party changes, and at the same time they are not allowed to participate in political activities and must remain neutral.

In this way, no matter how fierce the struggle of the party system is, it can ensure that the government institutions can still function normally, instead of the previous, every time the party is rotated, the government is completely paralyzed.

As for the administrative officers, which are mainly appointed by the prime minister, the administrative officers are responsible for decision-making.

Alexandros first introduced drastic reforms in the tax department, replacing almost the entire tax department by recruiting graduates from the University of Athens.

Immediately afterwards, the taxation department levied taxes in accordance with the new rules of proportional taxation.

The current members of parliament must make a choice, to be a member of the parliament or to be an official in the government.

In the future, MPs will no longer be allowed to hold official positions in the government.

Due to the compromise reached at the consultation meeting, even though most of the public officials in the government now have many cadavers, they are still retained for the sake of stability.

However, from now on, the appointment and removal of officials will pass public examinations, select the best, and arrange positions according to their talents.

Civil servants are not allowed to do business or engage in any for-profit undertakings related to their public service business.

At the same time, public servants are not allowed to actively participate in political activities, and are not allowed to publicly express political opinions or arbitrarily criticize or embarrass the government.

In Constantine's view, this was a bourgeois reform, and from then on, the Greek government would become the steward of the country.

The whole society will be more dynamic.

........

After the political crisis was resolved, the obstacles to the preparation of the Olympic Games disappeared.

Coubertin and Viquelas both came to the Tatoi Palace with an uneasy state of mind to visit the Crown Prince Constantine.

During the time of the political crisis in Greece, Coubertin was under enormous pressure. He never imagined that the proposal to host the Olympic Games would actually trigger a political crisis in Greece.

Especially the French ambassador in Athens, who blamed him for not being in trouble.

After the greeting, Constantine curiously looked at a potbellied businessman with Mediterranean hairstyle who followed Coubertin.

"His Royal Highness, I'm very sorry, my actions have caused a riot in your country," Coubertin said sincerely.

"However, this time I found a solution to the funds." While speaking, he pointed to the businessman behind him.

"This is a wealthy Greek businessman, George Avilov, if Greece decides to host the Olympics, he is willing to donate 1 million drachmas"

Constantine looked at the businessman in surprise. For ordinary people, this is really an astronomical sum.

Avilov stepped forward and said respectfully, "Your Highness, as a Greek, I am also willing to do my part for the Greek event."

"You are really generous, Mr. Avilov." In any case, his willingness to pay such a large sum of money for the Olympic Games deserves Constantine's praise.

"Although it is still not enough to hold the Olympic Games, we can think of some other ways to raise enough funds," Constantine said happily.

Although Greece's taxation has been reformed, it is too late to deal with the expenditure of the Olympic Games. It will take at least two months for the reform to see results.

It is impossible to expect the Greek government to provide financial support.

"We can let the postal department cooperate with us and issue a batch of stamps with the theme of the ancient Olympic Games, which will definitely be welcomed by people," said Keviras (a famous Greek poet and official of the International Olympic Committee).

"These are the first Olympic stamps in the world. We are selling them above face value to raise money. I think everyone will support it."

All three thought this was good news and nodded in agreement.

"Well, on behalf of the royal family, I also donated one million drachmas to sponsor the Olympic Games." After much deliberation, there is still a considerable gap between sufficient funds, Constantine said.

The move to resume the Olympics has also received support from the Greek people, who have donated 400,000 drachmas to help the International Olympic Committee raise funds.

With the funds of more than 2 million drachmas, the expenses for the Olympic Games are finally enough.

........

In the following month, under the sponsorship of Avilov, the marble sports field was rebuilt on the ruins of the ancient sports field in the center of Athens.

On August 4, after the completion of the stadium, a statue unveiling ceremony was held - to commemorate Avilov's contribution to the Games, a statue was erected in the stadium for him.

At the opening ceremony of the Games on August 6, the stadium was crowded with people, including a total of 80,000 Greek people, who participated in the opening ceremony and surrounded the entire Games factory.

Greece notified the world of the Olympic Games to all countries, including the Qing Dynasty.

However, many countries did not participate because they were not familiar with the Olympics.

Only some countries in the European cultural circle were really invited to participate: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, the United States, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden and the host Greece, a total of 311 athletes from 14 countries, Greece has the largest lineup, with a total of 230 people~www.wuxiaspot.com~ accounting for two-thirds of the total; Germany and France have 19 people each; the United States has 14 people, ranking fourth.

This year's competition includes nine major events: track and field, swimming, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, classical wrestling, gymnastics, fencing and tennis.

It is worth mentioning that the Olympic Games on August 12th was a marathon.

This ancient Greek story is well known in Greece. The number of Greeks who came to watch the marathon reached 110,000, while in Athens at that time, there were only 135,000.

The route of the Athens Olympic Marathon is exactly the route that Phidippides ran in the past. From the marathon to Athens, the whole distance is 40 kilometers, and the focus is on the sports field.

The people are very concerned about this competition, because after the start of the track and field events, Greece has suffered successive losses and has not yet won a championship, and the marathon is the only event they have hoped for.

Minute by minute, the spectators in the stands waited impatiently to see who would win this match.

When Wladyslaw, a Greek in a light blue vest, rushed into the stadium for the first time, the audience jumped and cheered.

The flowers and gifts in the hands of the audience were thrown to Wladyslaw.

There were even excited audience members shouting to King George and Constantine in the stands: "He should be a minister."

​​

Please remember this book's first domain name: . Mobile version reading website:

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like