Sports
Sports spread in the Eastern Mediterranean beginning in the late 19th century via the European schools especially those with an Anglo-Saxon curriculum that emphasized physical training and competition as well as the sports clubs European residents established.
The Greeks started to engage in sporting activities either because they had attended those schools, for example Robert College in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) or Victoria College in Alexandria or through their social contacts with the other Europeans. Sporting activities were a means of cultural and social interaction and a core element in the lives of the Greeks through 1922 in the Ottoman Empire and throughout the 20th century in Egypt.
The sports clubs in Alexandria, Cairo, Constantinople and Smyrna (present-day Izmir) were active in track and field sports, football, basketball, volleyball and water sports. Athletes participated in several competitions as for example the Pan-Constantinopolitan, Pan-Egyptian, Pan-Hellenic and Pan-Ionian Games as well as international competitions in which they had many successes even at the level of the Balkan and the Olympic Games.
Sport was also important in the Greek schools and the biggest and most impressive event of the school year was the Sports Day that included displays of exercises and track and field competitions. The attendance of all the Greek students and teachers in combination with the thousands of spectators strengthened the social cohesion and sense of identity of the Greeks and showcased their numbers and large presence.