In 2015 a group of people was inspired and envisioned the Olympia Marathon, a sports and cultural event inextricably linked to high ideals, such as those of Olympic ideal and noble competition, respect for diversity, competitiveness, participation, in the birthplace of the Olympic Games, connecting Culture with Sports, history and the modern course of our country. Our goal to connect Ancient Elis, the host city of the Olympic Games – with Olympia, the sanctuary of Zeus, place of the games.

Thus, for the management and development needs of the race, the Olympia Marathon Association was founded, which is the main organizer.

Despite the objective difficulties of the undertaking and the unforeseen problems at its beginning, with systematic effort and teamwork, the Olympia Marathon has really started to come to an outstanding upwards way, with 660 participants in 2015, reaching in 2019 to host more than 1,800 runners from 30 countries in the 6 races of his program, while more than 500 volunteers warmly supported our actions.

The main supporters of this important event over the years have been the Region of Western Greece, the Municipalities of Ilida, Ancient  Olympia and Pyrgos, since without their own financial assistance the event could not have taken place. The financial support was supplemented by the sponsors of the race who believed in this effort and wanted to be part of it, as well as the income from the participation fee.

Unfortunately, it is a fact that despite the memorable effort of the Olympia Marathon association, to ensure the viability of the event, the result was not what was expected.

Throughout the previous period, every possible effort was made to complete the prescribed procedures from the co-organizers for the sustainability of the event, as well as from our sponsor.

However, the time limits that exist, due to the non-approval of the budgets of the municipalities involved until this moment, as well as the short period of time remaining until the date of the competition, make it impossible for the services to complete the procedures in order to assign the financing of the actions and to carry out the organization. At the same time, our major sponsor, at the last moment for his own reasons, withdrew his sponsorship.

For the above reasons and in order not to fall short of our suppliers and our financial obligations, and after making every effort, we take the very difficult decision to cancel this year’s planned event and the parallel actions of the 7th Olympia Marathon on March 25 and 26 2023 and we have to review the course of the organization again for the future!

We ask a big SORRY to all the runners who have signed up, the runners’ associations that support us, the hundreds of volunteers and their associations, the families and children whose participation gave us strength to continue.

P.S.: The organization announces that the money of those who have registered will be returned.

The Organization

Olympia Marathon Association