The postponement of a long-awaited match
“Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.“
N. Machiavelli
After Coutalianos toured various Greek cities, he returned to Athens. The Athenians expect to see him compete against an Italian wrestler, but disagreements arise as to the conduct of the match and so the wrestling between the athletes is postponed.
June 16, 1903. The Athenians are excited about the arrival of Coutalianos and are waiting to see him compete. He extends an open invitation to anyone who wants to come and face him. Then an Italian athlete named Luigi Lamberdini appears who accepts the challenge and places a bet that he will win the race. Coutalianos sets the condition that they fight in an open field, where the entrance of the people would be free. Luigi refuses to participate under these conditions and the match is postponed. We are not in a position to know if the conditions set by Koutalianos were cheap excuses to avoid the fight, since he was now old. But we know that in the past he had been cheated by the various managers who organized matches and that is why he avoided them.
