The history of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) is strongly connected to the history of the revival of the Olympic Games. ... The HOC was founded in Athens, November 24th 1894 (according to the Julian calendar), with first President Crown Prince Constantine. Its first session was held on the same day with the subject of the organizing of the first Modern Olympic Games, which were finally held in 1896 in Athens from March 25th till April 3rd, in the newly restored Panathenian Stadium. The restoration was achieved thanks to the donation of 920.000 gold drachmas (huge amount at the time) of the magnanimous Georgios Averoff. It should be noted that since its foundation and until the year 2000, the name of the HOC in Greek, had been Committee for the Organizing of the Olympic Games as the purpose of its foundation was the organizing of the first International Olympic Games. The H.O.C. has as its statutory mission: a) To oversee and act to ensure the development, furtherance and safeguarding of the Olympic Movement, sport, the spirit of sportsmanship and out-of-school physical education, within the scope of the principles of the Olympic Idea and the traditions of Hellenic Sport; to exercise supervision on the Olympic disciplines; b) To see to it that the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Charter are properly interpreted and correctly applied; c) To disseminate love for sport and respect for the spirit of sportsmanship among the young; e) To draft proposals addressed to the IOC concerning the rules of the Olympic Charter and their respective by-laws, the Olympic Movement in general as well as the organizing and the holding of the Olympic Games; read more