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Games
Greek sport started to develop in the late 1880s. It was then that the first sports nuclei were created, centred to a large extent round Ioannis  Fokianos and the Central Gymnasium. The fourth Olympia, held in 1889, marked the end of an institution that had been for over two decades the only "sports" event in the more recent Greek history. At the same time they announced the transition to a new era, when the "acrobatic" sport of the previous period gave its place to gymnastics and athletics. At the same time the first sports associations were founded organizing their own games.
The 1896 Olympic Games accelerated the processes of formation of the Greek sports institutions. Sports associations multiplied and competitive activity increased, both inside and outside the Greek State, where lived prosperous Greek communities. These developments led to the foundation of the SEAGS and to the organization of the Panhellenic Games in the beginning of the 20th century. Those times marked the first attempts for the organization of international sports games. Originally it was the request for the permanent carrying out of the Olympic Games in Greece that led eventually to the organization of the only Interim Olympics in 1906. In the late 1920s the Greek sports authorities would announce and organize the Balkan Games and then participate in the organization of the Mediterranean Games.
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