The Road to Athens
an article by Julie Matic

The Road to Athens (www.road2athens.com) is a multinational event that subscribes to the philosophy of "Peace, Love and Friendship" for today's world and tomorrow's people.

The message will be delivered to the 2004 Olympic Games which, in just a few short months, are set to unite the world and showcase its culture and flavors, as well as toast the best athletes, if only for two weeks.

The race will embark with 21 young Arab athletes, representing 7 different countries united to compete as goodwill ambassadors to the world. They will traverse over a 3400 kilometer span through six countries and 57 cities, all competing to reach Athens, Greece to deliver a universal message of "Peace, Love and Friendship" during the opening ceremony of The Olympic Games.

Kicking-off in Tabuk, in Northern Saudi Arabia on June 26th , the race follows a route through Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. The athletes will push their endurance on a physical, mental and spiritual level by foot, camel, horse, and bicycle, while experiencing cultures and landscapes different from their own. Their agility and heart will shine through as they race towards the threshold of Athens on August 12th, where the winning team will have the opportunity to promote the "Peace, Love and Friendship" philosophy on the world stage of the Olympics . By virtue of the Road To Athens' philosophy, these young Arab men will act as goodwill ambassadors and show the world that their dreams and aspirations are really no different than those of young men from the streets of New York or Athens or the villages of Italy and Indonesia.

The Road to Athens invites the media, including CPNN to raise the level of awareness of Road to Athens and most especially, their universal message of peace, love and friendship. It would be a great partnership as we will set forth to make the world a more peaceful and friendly place.

For further information please see the website at www.road2athens.com or contact me at jmatic@keatingco.com or 973.400.5413.

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

Can the Olympic Games promote a Culture of Peace?


As a reader, you are invited to join in the discussion of this article based on any of the above question(s): just click on the question, read the previous comments and add a new reply. You may also enter a new discussion topic on this article - see bottom of this page.

Thematic forum(s) in which this article is being discussed:

OTHER THEMES

LATEST READER COMMENT:

The following school project for the olympics and peace has just been received from the Life Link schools.  For more information, see their website at www.life-link.org

Friendship-Schools world-wide in favour of the Olympic Truce

Life-Link friends and other Peace friends at schools world-wide, From the bottom of our excited hearts we recommend that students and classes at your school perform a peace action Olympic Truce - Get on the Move!  (Life-Link action 1:15).  Why not a whole school and a one day activity sometime in June-July-August-September 2004!

Life-Link promotes peace actions to be undertaken at schools all continents. www.life-link.org  : Care and peace with Myself - with Others - with Nature.

The modern Olympic Truce ("Olympic peace")  highlights and stresses the true Olympic Ideals from the ancient times: "Fighting ceased from seven days before until seven days after the Games, allowing athletes, artists and spectators to travel to Olympia, participate in the Olympic Games and return to their homelands in peace." www.olympictruce.org

The United Nations 190 member States in a resolution November 2003 unanimously support the Olympic Truce initiative! Well-known signatures from all over the world do the same! www.olympictruce.org

Let us engage in a historical challenge ! Let's give peace a chance: Let us abolish war as an outdated method to solve human conflicts! "Conflicts will not cease overnight. But if we can stop fighting for 16 days, maybe we can do it forever!"  It depends on us, on you and me of course. This challenge is realistic! Invite athletes and sport heroes to be peace ambassadors!

After consultations with the International Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Foundation in Lausanne, as well as the Olympic Truce Centre in Athens and the Swedish national Olympic Committee in Stockholm, the Life-Link Friendship-Schools Association is proud, honoured and eager to support the Olympic Truce by offering our ongoing peace education programme to the peace curriculum at schools world-wide.. . ...more.

This report was posted on June 10, 2004. The moderator is CPNN Coordinator.

If you wish to start a new discussion topic on this article, please copy the title of this article which is The Road to Athens and its number which is 127 and enter this information along with your discussion question and a brief text on the new topic form.

A few stories are retained on the main listings if they are considered by readers to be a priority. If you have not already done so, please take the time to check a box below: should this article be considered as a priority?