AHC: Earlier Olympic Revival

what it says on the tin. your challenge, should you accept, is to get an (attempted) Olympic revival no earlier than 1724 AD. you can use whatever historical events, personages, and participation criteria that you want--it doesn't have to be a direct expy of the modern Olympics
 
What if Theodosius I never put an end to the games, and they continued on without need of a major revival?
 
With its classical imagery, I could see Napoleon I resurrecting some form of the games, under French patronage, especially if he's able to secure a relatively long period of peace and stability during his reign.
 
What if Theodosius I never put an end to the games, and they continued on without need of a major revival?

they were deeply religious in nature, and completely out of place in the new Christian Rome. If Theo doesn't do it for whatever reason, one of his immediate successors will. At a stretch, they might last to around the time of Justinian, who was extremely methodical about rooting out paganism, e.g. outlawing anything connected to paganism, including private stuff, and closing down the (new) Academy. And if it's not Justinian, it will be someone else around the same time at the latest.
 
What you need to do this...

To get the Olympics revived, you need a relatively short communications and travel time between participating nations. I think that you could pull it off technologically for Europe in the 1850's, when the telegraph was in widespread use.

Getting it going worldwide will require practical trans-Atlantic communications--meaning more than one or two working cables. Fast steamships will also be key here.

My logic here is simple--not sure if it's valid:
Athletes can't be taking months to get there and back again, especially amateurs
A short communications loop is needed to keep up interest, as well as to create the idea of nations as neighbors.
 
To get the Olympics revived, you need a relatively short communications and travel time between participating nations. I think that you could pull it off technologically for Europe in the 1850's, when the telegraph was in widespread use.

Getting it going worldwide will require practical trans-Atlantic communications--meaning more than one or two working cables. Fast steamships will also be key here.

My logic here is simple--not sure if it's valid:
Athletes can't be taking months to get there and back again, especially amateurs
A short communications loop is needed to keep up interest, as well as to create the idea of nations as neighbors.

The Greeks managed it without 1850s technology! :p

Seriously though, even in 1896 "global" participation was barely above token levels. If it starts earlier the emphasis probably wouldn't be on its global nature, but on more generalized prestige. Initially, it would have to be a mostly European affair, and probably more specifically regional than that.

If Louis XV makes it a courtly event, it's going to be mostly French allies who show up. If the Hapsburgs do it on ethnic lines as a way of keeping their subjects content with their rule, there might be some interest from their neighbors but probably not much beyond that.

And while it could easily spread beyond that to a different court every time the games are held, they're not going to leave Europe for centuries (especially if Istanbul is considered Europe, which is the only- and still pretty unlikely- possible exception). They might not turn away the odd ambassador or adventurous prince who likes competition, but it's only going to be global in the timeframe NHBL mentions.
 
they were deeply religious in nature, and completely out of place in the new Christian Rome. If Theo doesn't do it for whatever reason, one of his immediate successors will. At a stretch, they might last to around the time of Justinian, who was extremely methodical about rooting out paganism, e.g. outlawing anything connected to paganism, including private stuff, and closing down the (new) Academy. And if it's not Justinian, it will be someone else around the same time at the latest.

Unless they can disassociate the games from pagan practices and make them more secular, or more likely, associate them with Christianity instead. It wouldn't be the first time pagan traditions and customs would have been altered and absorbed into the new religion.
 
relative time

The Greeks managed it without 1850s technology! :p

The Greeks had no problems with low tech--because they were spread over a very small area. It's not the absolute speed of communications, but the time a message or a traveler takes to get from one end of the area to the other.
 
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