History Film / ItHappenedInAthens

* TheTease: Eleni clearly enjoys flirting a lot, but it doesn't seem to be at all serious.

* MetaCasting: Coach Graham, the leader of the American team, is played by two-time Olympian Bob Mathias.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The movie's ThisIsAWorkOfFiction disclaimer explicitly says that "all events except the marathon victory are fictional." They ain't lying.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mpw_89269.jpg]]
''It Happened in Athens'' is a 1962 American-Greek film. It is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]] account of Spiridon Loues's marathon victory at the inaugural modern UsefulNotes/OlympicGames of 1896.

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that, after many centuries, the Olympics have come back. Thus, he sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. Once there, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures him that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

* AnachronismStew: In the movie, the 1896 games include traditions that were only added to the modern Olympics later on, namely the lighting of the Olympic flame, the Parade of Nations, and playing the national anthem of a winning athlete's country. Also, "The Star-Spangled Banner" didn't become the U.S. national anthem until 1931.

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that, after many centuries, the Olympics have come back. Thus, he sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. Once there, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are back. Thus, he sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. Once there, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are back. Thus, he sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. There, Spiridon befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are taking place in Athens. But that can't be, he protests. The Olympics ended centuries ago, after all. Nevertheless, they're back. Spiridon sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. There, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are taking place in Athens. But that can't be, he protests. The Olympics ended centuries ago. Nevertheless, they're back. Spiridon sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. There, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are taking place in Athens. But that can't be, he protests. The Olympics ended centuries ago, after all. Nevertheless, they're back. Spiridon sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. There, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

''It Happened in Athens'' is a 1962 film. It is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]] account of Spiridon Loues's marathon victory at the inaugural modern UsefulNotes/OlympicGames of 1896.

''It Happened in Athens'' is a 1962 film. It is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]] account of Spiridon Louis's marathon victory at the inaugural modern UsefulNotes/OlympicGames of 1896.

Spiridon Louis (Trax Colton) is living the simple life of a shepherd in rural Greece when he hears that the Olympics are taking place in Athens. But that can't be, he protests. The Olympics ended centuries ago, after all. Nevertheless, they're back. Spiridon sets off for Athens, hoping for a chance at Olympic glory. There, he befriends Christina Gratos (Xenia Kalogeropoulou, credited as "Maria Xénia"), a GirlNextDoor from his hometown. Christina works as a maid for Eleni Costa (Creator/JayneMansfield), a glamorous Greek actress who, for a publicity stunt, has declared that she will marry whoever wins the marathon. This is somewhat upsetting to her lover Lt. Alexi Vinardos (Nico Minardos), but she assures that, of course, he will be winning the marathon anyway. Or will he?

* AnachronismStew: In the movie, the 1896 games include traditions that were only added to the modern Olympics later on, including the lighting of the Olympic flame, the Parade of Nations, and playing the national anthem of a winning athlete's country. Also, "The Star-Spangled Banner" didn't become the U.S. national anthem until 1931.

''It Happened in Athens'' is a 1962 film. It is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]] account of Spiridon Louis's marathon victory at the inaugural UsefulNotes/OlympicGames of 1896.

* OpposingSportsTeam: An AvertedTrope. The underdog Greek heroes desperately want to score a victory over the Americans, who really did win the most gold medals[[note]]Actually, first place received a silver medal at the time, but the IOC retroactively recognizes these medals as gold.[[/note]] at the 1896 Olympics. The Americans are portrayed as a bit cocky, but ultimately prove sportsmanlike.

* AnachronismStew: In the movie, the 1896 games include traditions that were only added to the modern Olympics later on, such as the Parade of Nations and playing the national anthem of a winning athlete's country. Also, "The Star-Spangled Banner" didn't become the U.S. national anthem until 1931.

* BettyAndVeronia: Christina and Eleni, respectively

* HowWeGotHere: The movie opens with StockFootage of the 1960 Olympics (the most recent at the time of filming) while a narrator explains the mission of the Olympic Games. The rest of the movie is framed as a {{Flashback}} explaining how the modern Olympics got started.