Stamata Revithi inspiration from Pheidippides, who, according to legend, ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia at the Battle of Marathon, and died immediately after giving his message. En route to Athens, Revithi encountered a male runner along the road. He gave her money and advised her to run the marathon to become famous, and, consequently, earn money or more easily find a job. After this discussion Revithi decided to run the race: she had enjoyed long-distance running as a child, and believed she could beat the male competitors. The 1896 Olympic Games were the
Battle of Athens (1946) New York Times opinion piece. In a newspaper column Eleanor Roosevelt had expressed a somewhat popular opinion that GIs might be checked for violent tendencies before they were demobilized. Bill White, leader of Athens' "fighting band" came to see her point. One of the reasons the GI League collapsed was the continuing GI related violence in McMinn county. The Battle of Athens initially received criticism in the press. Coverage quickly faded, and after Alan J. Gould, an executive with the Associated Press, told the Conference of State Directors of the Veterans Administration that the AP would try to suppress the