Views of sport in Rethymno during 20th century and the history of Arkadia races and its significance in local society (Part of the research focused on ‘Life stories of athletes for Arcadia races and sports)

The prospects for interdisciplinary synergy in the field of oral history and sports studies have not been adequately explored. The present text deals with the oral history of a local sports institution of Rethymno, the Arcadian Games, which was institutionalized in 1936 as a landscape of memory that recalls the historical event of the voluntary sacrifice of Arkadi. The study is based on twelve oral testimonies from narrative type interviews in the form of life narratives (lifestories) of elderly athletes who had participated in the Arcadian Games. At the center of the analysis are the mnemonic practices of this community, the biographical paths of the athletes, the forms of sports sociability that are formed around the games and the importance of sports and its constant transformations over time. The romantic and nostalgic mood with which the narrators dealt with this sports institution, the sociability that developed around it, the gender inequalities and the connection of this sporting event with the historical event of the holocaust of Arkadi Monastery are central issues that are repeatedly repeated. in the narratives. In the oral testimonies, the games were described not only as a memorial ceremony in honor of volunteering, but also as a leisure experience, a means of promoting athletes, local athletes to meet national champions and other popular athletes and a travel adventure especially for athletes coming from other parts of the country. This multiplicity that distinguishes races suggests that sports memorial landscapes that usually have a hybrid form perform multiple and contradictory functions.