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They are often named the “Forgotten Games”, but they were originally called the “Second International Olympic Games in Athens”. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympic Movement, was opposed to the idea of staging this event in the Hellenic capital in 1906, but several factors led to its organisation: the unsuccessful “official” Games in Paris 1900 (all resources going to the Universal Exhibition running in parallel) and St-Louis 1904 (travelling to the USA was not as easy as in present days…); the desire of the Greek officials to “extend” the achievements of the first edition of the Games in 1896 (where our sport was already included), celebrating in the best possible way the 10th anniversary of the Games revival; finally, the possibility for the many athletes that could not travel to St-Louis to take part in an international competition. For the IWF, it was also the opportunity to gather the best lifters of that time, just 10 months after its foundation, in June 1905. Despite the desire for some regulation, athletes from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Turkey continued to perform in just two events: one-hand and two-hand lift. Josef Steinbach (AUT) was the best at one-hand, while Dimitrios Tofalos (photo) became a local hero after winning the two-hand competition. Italy, Germany, and France were the other countries with weightlifting medals. Overall, the Games were a success, with the participation of 854 athletes from 20 nations, competing in 12 sports. The Hellenic idea of keeping these Games in Athens every four years (between the “official” Olympic Games) was abandoned after financial difficulties dictated the cancellation of the 1910 edition, and World War I compromised the 1914 and 1918 Games. Because of that, the IOC never officially recognised the performances of the 1906 event as Olympic results.

Photo credit: Wikipedia