On the calendar was May 3, 1946, when Boston triumphed, Stelios Kyriakidismet with the then President of the United States of America, Harry Truman with one request: to help suffering Greece. The marathon runner, taking advantage of the fame of his success, began … a crusade to draw public attention to the difficult times of his country. He managed to raise $250,000 and emergency supplies, which were brought to Greece on the ships of the Libanu family. This help went down in history as the “Kyriakid package”.

Can anyone beat a runner who runs 7,000,000 people? Even if the runner is worn out by the hardships of war, no one can run faster than him.

Stelios Kyriakidis proved it at the Boston Marathon. “I couldn’t beat him because he fought for ideology,” his main rival Johnny Kelly will say after the boyish victory of the marathon runner from Paphos.

OUR Stelios Kyriakidis he was born on May 4, 1910. He was a poor boy, he loved sports and running. In 1934 he moved to Chalandri in search of a better life. He took a job at the Electric Company (now PPC) and measured electricity consumption by the hour. Work and study together.

On September 23, 1934, he will take part with the colors of Panathinaikos in the race in Patras, where he will win the 10,000 m. . “My child Stelios, run, because we Greeks are born to run,” the “golden” Athenian Olympian allegedly told him when meeting him.

Together with the Blue and Whites, Stelios Kyriakidis will take part in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the marathon. “I came 11th and set a time of 2.43, six minutes better than the all-Greek record at the time. I remember that half way was freeway. I also competed in 1948, but I was not lucky, like all athletes of that period, because because of the war the competitions of 1940 and 1944 were not held,” he said in 1975 in an interview with ERT.

Occupation and the great decision

The occupation will find Stelios Kyriakides struggling to survive. He got married, and the wedding gift to his wife was half a loaf of bread. In 1943, he was captured by the Germans and escaped execution when an officer found his accreditation from the 1936 Olympics in his wallet.

In 1946, Stelios Kyriakidis was 36 years old and made the important decision to run the Boston Marathon. Worn out by the hardships of the occupation and unprepared, he ignored everyone who told him that he would die on the way.

He began to train and once passed out from exhaustion. With the intervention of the consul, he obtained a visa and, in order to raise money for the trip, he sold furniture and items from his house, such as a radio, and $1,000 would be given to him by the electric company.

On April 4, 1946, the runner boarded a plane for the first time and flew to Boston. The doctors told him not to compete because he was weak. He didn’t even want to hear it. “I came to run after seven million hungry Greeks,” he said. The hotel chef was an expatriate and tried to help him gain weight. He gained five kilograms, but the match doctor again did not give him permission to participate. So, he signed that he would answer himself.

The “skinny Greek,” as the newspapers called him, was with other athletes at the start on April 20, 1946. The Greek gave him a piece of paper. On one side was written “Ethan or Pir Tas”, and on the other “Nenikikamen”. Another psychological “doping” of Kyriakdis.

“Golden” victory and “Kyriakid package”

“When the referee handed over the gun, I thought it was worth keeping an eye on it. After the first ten kilometers, I came close to a group of good athletes. I didn’t know them, but I tagged their pants. They were wearing silk trousers. The Canadian had a different color, the Americans had a different one. Then I slowly started running to get into a better position. I jumped, and no one followed me, and I began to gradually reach out to those who were in front. At one corner, nine miles from the finish line, I put in an old plumber from Nea Ionia and asked him to tell me how many minutes I was behind and how many athletes were ahead. But I lost it in a panic. I kept running and suddenly I see him in front of me. He heard that I was ahead and came from another road to meet me and tell me. I will never forget him. He pulled his hair, cried and said: “For Greece, my Stelio, for your children.” I still get excited when I remember him. Still higher, another Greek tore into pieces the newspaper he was holding, threw the pieces and said to me: “Take these Stelios, I have no flowers.” When I finished, I heard the speaker say: “He came from country 40, the country that declared war on the Axis.” He told me, “What do you want from America”? I replied that I ran for Greece,” he said in an interview with ERT.

“He is a measured and logical athlete. He pays little attention to what his opponent is doing and, consulting alone with the timer, which he always carries in his left hand, he does not get involved in the struggle of the aimless and untimely tension of those around him, but runs the race as he knew. . The Greek, who ran as if he were Pheidippides, literally ran the last thousand yards,” Kathimerini wrote after the match.

According to the newspapers of the time, Stelios Kyriakidis accepted the congratulations of US Senator Pepper, who introduced him to the then President of the United States of America, Harry Truman. The winner of the Boston Marathon, both Truman and other politicians who held receptions in his honor, turned to Greece and its athletes for help. He took advantage of his popularity and began … a crusade to help his homeland.

He managed to raise $250,000 while the Libanu family, with the help of the American government, sent ships with essentials (food, medicine, clothing).

The money and necessities that arrived in Greece were to go down in history as “the sending of the Kyriakids”. He returned to Greece on 23 May 1946. He was greeted by about 1,000,000 Greeks. For the first time since the occupation, the Acropolis was illuminated.

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