New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. has commissioned a bronze statue, entitled “The Spirit of the Marathon,” of 1946 Boston Marathon winner Stylianos Kyriakides, the champion Greek runner whose victory helped bring food, medicine and
world-wide attention to his famine-wracked country after World War II, and Spiridon Louis, winner of the 1896 Olympic Marathon. The 10-foot high statue will be unveiled August 9th in the Greek city of Marathon which is
the starting point of the marathon event during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The statue was created by legendary sculptor Mico Kaufman of Tewksbury, Mass.
The winner of the 50th Boston Marathon, Kyriakides used his victory as a call to action to aid his war and famine-ravaged homeland. Kyriakides, who narrowly escaped execution during World War II during the Nazi occupation
of Greece, hadnt run in six years when he came to Boston in 1946, with the help of Greek-American benefactors. He was emaciated from the lack of food in war-ravaged Greece, and at one point was told by doctors in Boston he
wouldnt be allowed to run because they were afraid he would die in the streets. That backdrop only added to the almost mythic race performance, in which Kyriakides came on at the end to defeat the defending champion and set the best time in the world for 1946. Nearly a million people greeted him on his return to Athens in May of 1946, when he came back with boat loads of food, medicine, clothing and other essentials donated by Americans who read of his victory.
“These two cities may be separated by 4700 miles, but they will now have a symbol that unites them by 26.2,” says Jim Davis, Chairman and CEO of New Balance and a Greek-American. “The modern marathon was birthed as the
epitome of elite athletic achievement in Greece and New Balance is proud to highlight its popularization and appeal today as part of our Boston-based love of the event.”
The bronze monument, which was cast by New England Sculpture Service in Chelsea, Mass., captures the spirit of Kyriakides and his mentor, marathon champion Louis. Kaufman has “the great ability to humanize the official and
universalize the person,” as was noted when he received the American Numismatic Society Award. Kaufman has said, “If you should notice one of my public sculptures, I would like you to stop and ponder on its subject. The pause might refresh, inform and even inspire. My work reflects on the bonds that substantiate our humanity.”
Kaufman, a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, has ties to Boston and the Greek communities, including portrait busts of former U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts and American General Costas Caraganis. The
American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) commissioned him to create the Aristotelian Award as well as the Order of AHEPA award.
“I hope this sculpture for Marathon will symbolize the friendship between Boston and Athens, as well as the spirit of the 2004 Olympic Marathon,” says Kaufman.
