1920 Winner Panagiotis “Peter” Trivoulidis

Greek Connections to the Boston Marathon

The seminal relationship of Greece to the Boston Marathon has been embodied by Greeks at home and across the Atlantic, Greek-Americans, and others throughout the world. This has been personified in athleticism, in civic leadership and democracy, and in the creation of the charitable run – running for a cause greater than oneself.

In 1896, Spiros Louis, from Maroussi, Greece, won the very first marathon race at the first Modern Olympic Games in Athens.

In 1920 Panagiotis “Peter” Trivoulidis won the Boston Marathon. Trivoulidis had emigrated from Sparta, Greece to the United States in 1914, settling in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a waiter and trained after hours.

Beginning in 1933 through 1946, noted Massachusetts legislator George C. Demeter introduced the ancient Greek tradition of crowning the Boston Marathon winners with a laurel wreath from Greece. He would wait at the finish line and run alongside the winner, placing the wreath on his head as he crossed the finish line. He also authored the Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure, recognized as an important work on the parliamentary process. Demeter was also connected to the great Stylianos Kyriakides, hosting him when he was in Boston for his great victory in the 1946 Marathon.

In 1984, the first annual Boston Marathon Wreath Ceremony took place. In 2010, the winners wreaths were dipped in gold for the first time, to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon.

In 2014, Meb Keflezighi, originally from Ethiopia, won the 2014 Boston Marathon. Meb’s connections to Greece started in 1986. Separated by the ravages of war in Ethiopia for many years, in 1986 the Keflezighi family was reunited in Athens, Greece, before immigrating to the U.S. Meb won the Silver Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Marathon.

In the decades following Kyriakides’ great victory in 1946, the power of the Marathon in promoting the endurance of the body and the strength of the human spirit continued to grow, as marathons spread and runners exemplifying Kyriakides’ charitable impulse were emulated throughout the world.





George C. Demeter crowning 1945 Winner Johnny Kelley