Question: who took part in the first olympic games

title: Olympic Games
text: The advent of the state - sponsored `` full - time amateur athlete '' of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur , as it put the self - financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage . The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students , soldiers , or working in a profession , but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full - time basis . As a result , the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism , as envisioned by Coubertin , to allowing participation of professional athletes . The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialisation of the Games . World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916 , 1940 , and 1944 Games . Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games . The latter , however , attracted 140 National Olympic Committees , which was a record at the time .