First modern Olympic Games - Apr 06, 1896 - HISTORY.com First modern Olympic Games Publisher A+E Networks On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition. The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. In the eighth century B.C., contestants came from a dozen or more Greek cities, and by the fifth century B.C. from as many as 100 cities from throughout the Greek empire. Initially, Olympic competition was limited to foot races, but later a number of other events were added, including wrestling, boxing, horse and chariot racing, and military competitions.

The pentathlon, introduced in 708 B.C., consisted of a foot race, the long jump, discus and javelin throws, and wrestling. With the rise of Rome, the Olympics declined, and in 393 A.D. the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games as part of his efforts to suppress paganism in the Roman Empire. With the Renaissance, Europe began a long fascination with ancient Greek culture, and in the 18th and 19th centuries some nations staged informal sporting and folkloric festivals bearing the name “Olympic Games.” However, it was not until 1892 that a young French baron, Pierre de Coubertin, seriously proposed reviving the Olympics as a major international competition that would occur every four years. At a conference on international sport in Paris in June 1894, Coubertin again raised the idea, and the 79 delegates from nine countries unanimously approved his proposal. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed, and the first Games were planned for 1896 in Athens, the capital of Greece.

In Athens, 280 participants from 13 nations competed in 43 events, covering track-and-field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting, and tennis. All the competitors were men, and a few of the entrants were tourists who stumbled upon the Games and were allowed to sign up. The track-and-field events were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in 330 B.C. and restored for the 1896 Games. Americans won nine out of 12 of these events. The 1896 Olympics also featured the first marathon competition, which followed the 25-mile route run by a Greek soldier who brought news of a victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. In 1924, the marathon was standardized at 26 miles and 385 yards. Appropriately, a Greek, Spyridon Louis, won the first marathon at the 1896 Athens Games.

Pierre de Coubertin became IOC president in 1896 and guided the Olympic Games through its difficult early years, when it lacked much popular support and was overshadowed by world’s fairs. In 1924, the first truly successful Olympic Games were held in Paris, involving more than 3,000 athletes, including more than 100 women, from 44 nations. The first Winter Olympic Games were also held that year. In 1925, Coubertin retired. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the foremost international sports competition. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, more than 10,000 athletes from 200 countries competed, including nearly 4,000 women. In 2004, the Summer Olympics returned to Athens, with more than 11,000 athletes competing from 202 countries. In a proud moment for Greeks and an exciting one for spectators, the shotput competition was held at the site of the classical Games in Olympia.

Related Videos Summer Olympic Games by Dominic de Neuville - issuu issuu Issuu on Google+ Summer Olympic Games Dominic Patric de Neuville The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that started in 1904. The Winter Olympics were also created due to the success of the summer Olympics. The olympics have increased from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting celebration with over 10,000 competitors from 205 nations. Organizers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expected approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the program for the games.[1] The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics Games, more than any other nation.

The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics Games when they return to the British capital in 2012, all of them have been (and will be) in London, making it the first city to hold the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Belgium, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens.

Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympicsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which they are usually listed as jointly hosting.[2] Events at the summer Olympics have also been held in Hong Kong and the Netherlands (both represented by their own NOCs), with the equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Hong Kong and two sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics being held in the Netherlands. Five countries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Australia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have been represented at all Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Qualification Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations (IFs) that governs that sport's international competition.[3] For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. National Olympic committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered.[3][4] Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. History Early years The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850.[5] The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented.

Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organized before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "[i]f the committee doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let me compete I will go after them regardless".[6] The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress. Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date.

Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event.[7] The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals. After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the 1906 Intercalated Games, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics. Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 20 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over 5 months. It is still disputed which events exactly were Olympic, since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time.

Numbers declined for the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair, which again spread the event out over an extended period. In contrast with Paris 1900, the word Olympic was used for practically every contest, including those exclusively for school boys or for Irish-Americans. A series of smaller games were held in Athens in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognize these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do. The 1906 Athens games were the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens, but the series failed to materialize. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 900 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games. The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards).

The winner of the first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was Spiridon "Spiros" Louis, a Greek water-carrier. He won at the Olympics in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances. At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event.

He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes, who had trailed him by around 30 seconds. The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfill Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896 were all continents represented with athletes competing in the same stadium. Dominic Patric de Neuville All pages: Dominic de Neuville Follow publisher Unfollow publisher Be the first to know about new publications.

Olympic Games Pictograms compiled by John Jan Popovic Olympic posters The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress. No opening or closing ceremonies were held but competitions began on May 14 and ended on October 28. The Games were held as part of the 1900 World’s Fair. Over a thousand competitors took part in 19 different sports. Women took part in the games for the first time and Charlotte Cooper became the first female Olympic champion.

The decision to hold competitions on a Sunday brought protests from many American athletes, who traveled as representatives of their colleges and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on the sabbath. * Some unusual events were contested for the first and only time in the history of the Games. The equestrian high and long jumps, swimming obstacle race, two-day cricket and live pigeon shooting being foremost among them. * First games at which gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for first, second and third place. * European tension caused by the Russo-Japanese War and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis kept many of the world’s top athletes away. * In a number of sports, because there were no competitors from other nations, the U.S. national championship was combined with the Olympic championship (and other events such as a local YMCA swim competition). * Boxing, dumbbells, freestyle wrestling, and the decathlon made their debuts. * One of the most remarkable athletes was the American gymnast George Eyser, who won six medals even though his left leg was made of wood. * The games were surrounded by controversy.

On opening day, following the practice introduced at the Intercalated Games of 1906, teams paraded behind national flags. * For the first time, competitors in the Games came from all five continents symbolized in the Olympic rings. Also for the first time since 1896, all athletic events were held within a reasonably short time span of about one month, from late June to late July (though the opening ceremony was still held much earlier). It was the last time that solid gold medals were awarded; modern medals are usually gold plated silver. * A Greco-Roman Wrestling bout between Klein and Asikainen lasted 11 hours and forty minutes—the world’s longest wrestling match. After Klein finally took the victory, he was too tired to compete in the final. Thus Johansson, the other wrestler to make the final-three to determine the medals, whose only loss in the elimination rounds had been the double loss to Asikainen, became the gold medalist. * Women’s events in swimming and diving were introduced. * The 1916 Summer Olympics, to be held in Berlin, capital of the German Empire, were canceled due to the war.

The aftermath of the war and the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 affected the Olympic Games not only due to new states being created, but also by sanctions against the nations that lost the war and were blamed for starting it. * Budapest had initially been selected to host the Games over Amsterdam and Lyon, but as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been a German ally in the First World War, the Games were transferred to Antwerp in April 1919. Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey were also banned from competing in the Games. Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the Winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). * In a unique moment in Olympic history, the 12-foot dinghy event in sailing was held in two different countries. The final two races in the event were held in the Netherlands, as the only two competitors in the event were Dutch. * The opening ceremony and several sporting events took place in the Olympic Stadium of Colombes which had a capacity of 45,000 in 1924.

* This VIII Olympiad was the last one organised under the presidency of Pierre de Coubertin. * The “Flying Finns” dominated the long distance running, whilst the British and Americans dominated the shorter events. Paavo Nurmi won the 1500 m and 5000 m (which were held with only an hour between them) and the cross country run. Ville Ritola won the 10000 m and the 3000 m steeplechase, while finishing second to Nurmi on the 5000 m and cross country. Albin Stenroos won the marathon, while the Finnish team (with Nurmi and Ritola) was victorious in the 3000 m and cross country team events. * British runners Harold Abrahams won the 100 m and Eric Liddell the 400 m. Their stories are depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire. In addition Douglas Lowe won the 800 m competition. * For the first time, the Olympic Flame was lit during the Olympics. The torch relay, however, would not occur until the 1936 Summer Olympics.

* For the first time, the parade of nations started with Greece, which holds the origins of the Olympics, and ended with the host country, a tradition which continues today. * The Games were officially opened by Prince Hendrik, consort of Queen Wilhelmina, who had authorised him to deputise for her. This was the first time a head of state had not personally officiated at an Olympic opening ceremony. She refused to return early from her holiday in Norway to open the Games herself, because she was furious at the organizing committee for not consulting with her about the opening date. * Athletics events were held on a 400 metre track and would become the standard for athletics tracks. * Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations and athletes were unable to pay for the trip to Los Angeles. Fewer than half the participants of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam returned to compete in 1932. U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games, becoming the first sitting head of government to not appear at an Olympics hosted in that country.

* An Olympic Village was built for the first time, in the Baldwin Hills, occupied by the male athletes.[2] Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. * The first use of a victory podium. * Mahatma Gandhi took part in the games as a press reporter. * German crowds adored Jessie Owens, and he forged a long-term friendship with German competitor Luz Long. Olympic pictograms were introduced for the first time. There were twenty of them — one for each Olympic sport and three separate pictograms for the arts competition, the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. They were called “Olympic symbols” and intended for the use on tickets. The background of each pictogram resembled escutcheon. Olympic pictograms would appear again 16 years later and be featured at each Summer Olympics thereafter. * To the enjoyment of the Finnish crowd, the Olympic Flame was lit by two Finnish heroes, runners Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen. * For the first time, a team from the Soviet Union participated in the Olympics.

The first gold medal for the USSR was won by Nina Romashkova in the women’s Discus Throwing event, and the Soviet women’s gymnastics team won the first of its eight consecutive gold medals. * The Republic of China (Chinese Taipei/Taiwan), listed as “China (Formosa)”, withdrew from the Games on July 20, in protest of the allowing of the People’s Republic of China’s men and women to compete. *Many members of the IOC were sceptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern, since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games were held during the northern winter. This was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere who were accustomed to resting during their winter. * Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events. Stockholm was selected as the alternate site, so equestrian competition began on June 10, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic games were to open, half the world away.

* Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion. * Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing’s light-heavyweight gold medal. South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, after the abandonment of apartheid and during the transition to majority rule. Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self government a year earlier. Coincidentally, it was the first and to date only time an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal, when Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category. * Soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women’s gymnastics * The 1964 Summer games marked the first time the Olympics were held by a non-Western nation. This was the first Olympics in which South Africa was barred from taking part due to its refusal to racially desegregate its sports. * Yji Koseki composed the theme song of the opening ceremony.

* Judo and volleyball, both popular sports in Japan, were introduced to the Olympics. * The Games were preceded by the Tlatelolco massacre, in which hundreds of students were killed by security forces ten days before the opening day. It is the only Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second ever outside of Europe, Australia, or the USA. * In the 200 m medal award ceremony, two African-American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their black-gloved fists as a symbol of Black Power. Australian Peter Norman, who had run second, wore a civil rights badge as support on the podium. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life, and Norman was left out of the Australian 1972 Olympic team, possibly as backlash. * The introduction of doping tests resulted in the first disqualification because of doping: Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for alcohol use (he drank several beers prior). * John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania became internationally famous after finishing the marathon, in last place, despite a dislocated knee.

The Munich Olympics were intended to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by its official motto, “the Happy Games”. The emblem of the Games was a blue solar logo (the “Bright Sun”). The Olympic mascot, the dachshund “Waldi”, was the first officially named Olympic mascot. The games also saw the introduction of the now universal sports pictograms designed by Otl Aicher. However, this joyful mood was ruined by the killings of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in an event known as the Munich massacre. * After a rainstorm doused the Olympic flame a few days after the games had opened, an official relit the flame using his cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and relit it using a backup of the original flame. * The Republic of China (Taiwan) team withdrew after Canada informed it that it could not compete under the name “Republic of China”. This was done because Canada officially recognized the People’s Republic of China. Canada did try to compromise by saying that the people of the Republic of China could retain their national flag and anthem, but they refused.

* Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto performed on a broken right knee, and helped the Japanese team win the gold medal for the team championship. Fujimoto broke his leg on the floor exercise, and due to the closeness in the overall standings with the USSR, he hid the extent of the injury. With a broken knee, Fujimoto was able to complete his event on the rings, performing a perfect triple somersault dismount, maintaining perfect posture. He scored a 9.7 thus securing gold for Japan. Years later, when asked if he would do it again, he stated bluntly “No, I would not. * Although approximately half of the 24 countries which boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics participated in these, the Games were disrupted by another, even larger, boycott led by the United States followed by 60 other countries in protest of the 1979 Soviet war in Afghanistan. * 21% of the competitors were female — a higher percentage than at any previous Olympics. * There were 203 events — more than at any previous Olympics.

* Los Angeles was selected on May 18, 1978 on the 79th IOC session at Athens, Greece, without voting, because it was the only city that entered a bid to host the 1984 Summer Olympics. * In view of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics caused 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies including the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany (but not Romania) to boycott these Olympics. For differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. * Carl Lewis makes his first of four appearances in the Olympics, and equals the performance of Jesse Owens of 1936 and wins four gold medals in the 100 m, 200 m, 4ï¿½100 m relay and the Long Jump.

* The first gold medal to be awarded at the Los Angeles Olympics was also the first-ever medal to be won by an athlete from China when Xu Haifeng won the 50 m Pistol event * Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco becomes the first female Olympic champion of an Islamic nation, and the first of her country in the 400 m hurdles. * Following the IOC agreement to designate the Republic of China (Taiwan) Chinese Taipei, the People’s Republic of China appears in the Olympics as China and wins 15 gold medals. In weightlifting, athletes from the Chinese Taipei and China teams win medals at the same event. * North Korea, still officially at war with South Korea, boycotted the event. Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua joined the boycott. However, the much larger boycotts seen in the previous three Olympics were avoided, resulting in the largest ever number of participating nations to that date. * Canadian Ben Johnson wins the 100 m in a new world record, but is disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. In 2004, Johnson accused the American sports authorities of protecting American athletes at the expense of foreign ones.

He still claims to this day that Andrï¿½ Jackson, “the Mystery Man” put the stanozolol in his food or his drink. * Table tennis is introduced at the Olympics, with China and South Korea both winning two titles. * In basketball, the admittance of professional players led to the American Dream Team, with players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird. * South Africa was allowed again to participate in the Olympics after a 28 years suspension in the Olympic Games for its apartheid policy. White South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu fought out a great battle in the 10,000 m (won by Tulu) and then ran their lap of honour hand in hand. * Following the German Reunification in 1990, Germany participated with a single team for the first time since 1960. * As the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participated with their own teams for the first time since 1936.

* After being demonstrated six times, baseball became an Olympic sport, with Cuba winning the gold medal, Chinese Taipei winning silver, and Japan, the bronze. * At the age of 35, Carl Lewis takes his 4th long jump gold medal. Lewis, Paavo Nurmi, and Mark Spitz are now tied for second-most Olympic gold medals (9), only Michael Phelps (14) has more. * Palestine was allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time. * A record 197 nations, all current IOC member nations, take part, with a record 79 of them winning at least one medal. * Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1896 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. It was also the first time since 1896 that the Olympics were to be hosted in the country the event originated from. * For the first time, major broadcasters were allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics over the Internet, provided that they restricted this service geographically, to protect broadcasting contracts in other areas.

* The widely praised Opening Ceremony by avant garde choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou held on August 13, 2004 began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat.[10] As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead. After a drum corp and bouzouki players joined in an opening march, the video screen showed images of flight, crossing southwest from Athens over theGreek countryside to ancient Olympia. Then, a single drummer in the ancient stadium joined in a drum duel with a single drummer in the main stadium in Athens, joining the original ancient Olympic games with the modern ones in symbolism. At the end of the drum duet, a single flaming arrow was launched from the video screen (symbolically from ancient Olympia) and into the reflecting pool, which resulted in fire erupting in the middle of the stadium creating a burning image of the Olympic rings rising from the pool. * The official logo of the games, titled “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylised calligraphic character jng ( meaning capital), referring to the host city.

The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognised by the IOC. * The Chinese government has promoted the games to highlight China’s emergence on the world stage and has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. First modern Olympics is held - Apr 06, 1896 - HISTORY.com First modern Olympics is held Share this: First modern Olympics is held Author First modern Olympics is held URL Publisher A+E Networks On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens, Greece, with athletes from 14 countries participating. The International Olympic Committee met for the first time in Paris in June 1984 and chose Greece as the site of the inaugural modern Olympiad. The ancient games are believed to have originated in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece, where athletes competed in one event: a foot race. Over the years, other events were added, including chariot racing, boxing, wrestling and the pentathlon.

Participants, who were all young men from Greek city-states and colonies, often battled it out in the buff, as a way to celebrate the human body, and winners received olive branches. The last ancient Olympics are thought to have taken place in A.D. 393. At the first modern Olympics, 241 male athletes (and no women) representing 14 nations competed in 43 events. America’s James Connolly became the first modern Olympic champion when he won the triple jump on the opening day of the Games. For his achievement, he was awarded a silver medal and an olive branch. Connolly later finished second in the high-jump event and took third in the long jump. France, Great Britain, Germany and Greece had the largest number of athletes participating. Nevertheless, the U.S. took home the most first-place finishes (11) of any nation, followed by Greece (10) and Germany (6). All told, America placed first, second or third in 20 events while Greece scored in 46 events and Germany placed in 13 competitions. To the delight of the hometown crowd, Greek runner Spyridon Louis won the marathon.

The first Olympiad closed on April 15, 1896. The second Olympiad was held in Paris in 1900 with 997 athletes (22 of them women) from 24 countries competing in 95 events. The U.S. hosted the Olympics for the first time in 1904, in St. Louis. The third Olympiad marked the first time gold, silver and bronze medals were given out to first, second and third-place finishers. Starting in 1992, the summer and winter games, which had traditionally been held in the same year every four years, took place two years apart. The Summer Games returned to Athens in 2004, with 10,625 athletes (4,329 women and 6,296 men) from 201 nations participating in 301 events.

Related Videos Summer Olympic Games : definition of Summer Olympic Games and synonyms of Summer Olympic Games (English) Archery • Athletics • Badminton • Basketball • Boxing • Canoeing • Cycling • Diving • Equestrian • Field hockey • Fencing • Football • Gymnastics • Handball • Judo • Modern pentathlon • Rowing • Sailing • Shooting • Swimming • Synchronized swimming • Table tennis • Taekwondo • Tennis • Triathlon • Volleyball • Water polo • Weightlifting • Wrestling The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event , occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee . Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that started in 1904. The Winter Olympics were also created due to the success of the summer Olympics. The olympics have increased from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting celebration with over 10,000 competitors from 205 nations.

Organizers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expected approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the program for the games. [1] The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics Games, more than any other nation. The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics Games when they return to the British capital in 2012, all of them have been (and will be) in London, making it the first city to hold the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Belgium, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. In the 2016 Summer Olympics , Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens . Stockholm , Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics —which they are usually listed as jointly hosting.

[2] Events at the summer Olympics have also been held in Hong Kong and the Netherlands (both represented by their own NOCs ), with the equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Hong Kong and two sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics being held in the Netherlands. Five countries – Greece , Great Britain , France , Switzerland and Australia – have been represented at all Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908. Contents 8 External links Qualification Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations (IFs) that governs that sport's international competition. [3] For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. National Olympic committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered.

[3] [4] Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. History Panorama of the Panathinaiko Stadium Early years The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games , which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850. [5] The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896 , attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organized before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi , ran the marathon course on her own, saying "[i]f the committee doesn’t let me compete I will go after them regardless".

[6] The 1896 Summer Olympics , officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens , Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era . Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin , a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress. Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium , the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. [7] The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis . The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann , who won four gold medals.

After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the 1906 Intercalated Games , the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics . Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 20 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet , golf , sailing , and tennis . The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over 5 months. It is still disputed which events exactly were Olympic, since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time. Runners at the first modern marathon in 1896 Olympic Games Dorando Pietri finishes the modern marathon at the current distance Numbers declined for the 1904 Games in St.

Louis, Missouri , United States, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair , which again spread the event out over an extended period. In contrast with Paris 1900, the word Olympic was used for practically every contest, including those exclusively for school boys or for Irish-Americans. A series of smaller games were held in Athens in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognize these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do. The 1906 Athens games were the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens, but the series failed to materialize. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 900 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games. The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards).

The winner of the first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was Spiridon "Spiros" Louis , a Greek water-carrier. He won at the Olympics in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances. At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event.

He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes , who had trailed him by around 30 seconds. The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912 , including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe , who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage . They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfill Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896 were all continents represented with athletes competing in the same stadium. The scheduled Berlin Games of 1916 were cancelled following the onset of World War I. Interwar era The 1920 Antwerp games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors.

This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games involved 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi . " The Flying Finn ", won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 meter runs, the latter two on the same day. The 1928 Amsterdam games were notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from Coca-Cola . The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC choosing Giuseppe Cassioli 's depiction of Greek goddess Nike and a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design was used up until 1972. The 1932 in Los Angeles games were affected by the Great Depression , which contributed to the fewest competitors since the St. Louis games. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games.

The result, Olympia , was a masterpiece, despite Hitler 's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by "non-Aryan" athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The tale of Hitler snubbing Owens at the ensuing medal ceremony is an urban myth. [8] The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the reintroduction of the Torch Relay. [9] Due to World War II, the Games of 1940 (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of war) were cancelled. The Games of 1944 were due to be held in London but were also cancelled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948 . After World War II The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin. At the 1952 Games in Helsinki the USSR team competed for the first time and immediately became one of the dominant teams.

Finland made a legend of an amiable Czech army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek , who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins. The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, barring a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which political tensions caused to end as a pitched battle between the teams . Due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm. At the 1960 Rome Games a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali , arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky .

[10] Soviet women's artistic gymnastics team members won 15 of 16 possible medals. Other performers of note in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph , a gold medalist in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 meters relay events. The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. These games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics. Performances at the 1968 Mexico City games were affected by the altitude of the host city, [11] specifically the long jump, in which American athlete Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters. Beamon's world record would stand for 23 years. The 1968 Games also introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop , a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal.

Politics took center stage in the medal ceremony for the men's 200 meter dash, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a protest gesture on the podium against the segregation in the United States; their political act was condemned within the Olympic Movement, but was praised in the American Civil Rights Movement . Politics again intervened at Munich in 1972, with lethal consequences . A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation. They killed two Israelis and held 9 others as hostages. The terrorists demanded that Israel release numerous prisoners. When the Israeli government refused their demand, a tense stand-off ensued while negotiations continued. Eventually the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the firefight that followed, 15 people, including the nine Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists, were killed. After much debate, it was decided that the Games would continue, but proceedings were obviously dominated by these events.

[12] Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz , Lasse Virén (of Finland)'s back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters (defeating American distance great Steve Prefontaine in the former), and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut . Korbut failed to win the all-around, losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva . There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning and fraud led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, until the 2008 Summer Olympics , costing over $5 billion (equivalent to $20 billion in 2006). For a time, it seemed that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition.

In retrospect, the belief that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, may have contributed to the delays, poor construction and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial." [13] There was also a boycott by African nations to protest against a recent tour of apartheid -run South Africa by a New Zealand rugby side. The Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci won the women's individual all around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores, thus giving birth to a gymnastics dynasty in Romania. Another female gymnast to earn the perfect score and three gold medals there was Nellie Kim of the USSR. Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, making him the only athlete to ever win the distance double twice.

End of the 20th century Following the Soviet Union's participation in the Afghan Civil War , 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country. In 1984 the Soviet Union, and 13 Soviet Allies, reciprocated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. The games were again viable, but had become more commercial. Again, without the participation of the Eastern European countries, the 1984 Games were dominated by their host country. The game was also the first time Mainland China (People's Republic) participated. The 1988 games , in Seoul , were very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson , failed mandatory drug tests . Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.

The 1992 Barcelona Games featured increased professionalism amongst Olympic athletes, exemplified by US basketball's " Dream Team ". 1992 also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been incorporated into the Soviet Union since World War II. These games also saw gymnast Vitaly Scherbo equal the record for most individual gold medals at a single Games set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Games , with five. By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had itself become a commercial concern; allegations of corruption rocked the International Olympic Committee, in particular with reference to Salt Lake City 's bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics . In the Atlanta games in 1996, the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savored Donovan Bailey 's record-breaking gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson.

There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali , clearly affected by Parkinson's disease , lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place not at the boxing ring but in the basketball arena, at the demand of US television. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph , was arrested. New millennium The 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia, known as the "Games of the New Millennium". The 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia, (actually the last games of the old millennium) and showcased individual performances by local favorite Ian Thorpe in the pool, Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Cathy Freeman , an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium.

Eric "the Eel" Moussambani , a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, had a memorably slow 100 meter freestyle swim that showed that, even in the commercial world of the twentieth century, some of de Coubertin's original vision still remained. [14] The Sydney Games were also memorable for the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent (to a standing ovation) at the opening ceremonies, even if they competed as different countries. Controversy did not escape the 2000 Games in Women's Artistic Gymnastics, in which the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All Around Competition. Several athletes faltered, including Russian Svetlana Khorkina , who had been favored to win gold after qualifying for the competition in first place. In 2004 the Games returned to their birthplace in Athens , Greece. Greece spent at least $7.2 billion on the Games, including $1.5 billion on security alone.

Nonetheless, the Men's Gymnastics events were mired in controversy when it was discovered that Korean gymnast Yang Tae Young had been incorrectly credited with a lower start value, which placed him third behind American Paul Hamm, who won the competition. Later in the event finals, fans halted the Men's High Bar competition with chants of disapproval following the release of the score for Russian Alexei Nemov. Allegations of corrupt judging also marred the event finals in men's still rings. Although unfounded and wildly sensationalized reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions of the first weekend of the games (14–15 August), attendance picked up as the games progressed. Still, a third of the tickets failed to sell. [15] The Athens Games witnessed all 202 NOCs participate with over 11,000 participants. The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This Olympics was the subject of much controversy, especially following the March Tibetan riots . Human rights activists unsuccessfully called for a boycott, and some even compared the 2008 Olympics to the 1936 ones held in Nazi Germany.

Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. For the first time, women competed in the steeplechase . The fencing program was expanded to include all six events for both men and women. Women had not previously been able to compete in team foil or saber events (although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games). Marathon swimming events, over the distance of 10 kilometers, were added. In addition, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. [1] American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of Heiden and Scherbo for most individual golds at a single Games. Another major star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt , who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games. London, United Kingdom will hold the 2012 Summer Olympics , making it the first city to host the Games three times. The International Olympic Committee has removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program.

Rio de Janeiro , Brazil will be the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics , becoming the third city in the Southern Hemisphere , the first South American city to host either the Summer or Winter Games, for the first time the Summer Games will be in winter and the first time with a country with Portuguese its first language . In October 2009, the IOC included golf and rugby sevens as part of the Olympic program for Rio de Janeiro (Rugby sevens, in particular, was not considered for inclusion in 2012). All-time medal table With reference to the top ten nations and according to official data of the International Olympic Committee . Past nations future event ^ A: The 1906 Intercalated Games are no longer considered official Games by the IOC. ^ B: Due to Australian quarantine laws, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm several months before the rest of the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

Note: Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 had been cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still used because the Summer Games' official titles count Olympiads , not the Games themselves; those Olympiads occurred anyway per the Olympic Charter. This is in contrast to the Roman numerals in the official titles of the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944; those titles count Games instead of Olympiads.[ citation needed ] See also April | 2014 | OlympStats | Page 2 President, Organizing Committee: Crown Prince Konstantinos Secretary-General, Organizing Committee: Timolen J. Filimon Official Opening By: King Georgios I Number of Countries Competing: 15 Number of Athletes Competing: ca.

246 [246 Men – 0 Women] Number of Sports: 9 [9 Men – 0 Women – 0 Mixed] Number of Events: 43 [43 Men – 0 Women – 0 Mixed] Number of Nations Winning Medals: 11 Nations Making Their Summer Olympic Début: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, United States (15). The Bid: Athens was selected as the host city for the Games of the Ist Olympiad of the Modern Era at the Sorbonne Congress in Paris on 24 June 1894. London and Paris were also given consideration as hosts, but Athens was elected by acclamation. Games Summary: The obvious choice for the first modern Olympics was Greece and the 1896 Olympics were awarded to Athens at the end of the 1894 Sorbonne Congress at which Pierre de Coubertin convinced the delegates to reestablish the Olympic Games. The city of Athens embraced the Games, but the politicians were initially ambivalent, and in fact, in some correspondence reveals that they asked to be relieved of their duty to host.

Only through the efforts of Coubertin and IOC President Dimitrios Vikelas, were the politicians convinced to lend their support to the project. Coubertin addressed a meeting of the Parnassus Literary Society, and finished by telling them, “We French have a proverb that says that the word `impossible’ is not in the French language. I have been told this morning that the word is Greek. I do not believe it.” Credit for saving the 1896 Olympic Games for Athens must go to Greek Crown Prince Konstantinos, who headed the Organizing Committee and lent his considerable prestige behind the Athens Games. And although money was short, a last minute donation of 920,000 drachmas by Georgios Averof allowed the ancient Panathenaic Stadium (built in 330 B.C.) to be refurbished and used for the Olympics. The Games themselves were far from the caliber of sport we expect today. Only 15 countries participated and many of the top athletes in the world did not compete, as the Games were not well advertised.

The Modern Olympic Games began with an Opening Ceremony on 25 March 1896, or 6 April 1896, depending on whether or not one used the Julian Calendar (then used in Greece) or the more modern Gregorian Calendar, used by most of the world in 1896, and to this day. The first event of the modern Olympics was the first heat of the 100 metres, won by Frank Lane, a student at Princeton. But the first championship decided was that of the triple jump, won by James Connolly, a Harvard student, who left the Cambridge school to compete in the Olympics. He became the first known Olympic champion since Varasdates of Armenia had won the boxing in 369 A.D. The Americans dominated the athletics events, winning all but the 800 metres, 1,500 metres, and the marathon. The marathon was based on the legend of Pheidippides although the more likely spelling was Philippides. According to Herodotus, Philippides was sent to Sparta from Athens asking for help in the battle.

After the battle, a runner, whose name was Pheidippides per Lucian and Eucles per Plutarch, was sent to Marathon from Athens to tell of the victory. Further details are sketchy, though modern legend has Pheidippides/Philippides arriving in Athens to tell of victory in the battle with the words, “Rejoice, we conquer,” and then dying from his effort. The legend is now felt to be apocryphal but it was the reason for the creation of the race from Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 25 miles. In the marathon, there were several early leaders, notably Edwin Flack of Australia, who had won the 800 and 1,500 metres. But midway through the race, Spiridon Loues, a Greek shepherd, took the lead and maintained it to the end. When he neared the stadium, messengers came into the ancient vestibule and cried out, “Hellene! Hellene! (A Greek! A Greek!),” sending the crowd into a frenzy. The Olympic pride based on millennia of tradition was then realized by the home crowd, which heretofore had been rather disappointed by the results of the Greek athletes.

Loues won the race and became a hero, offered gifts and riches by many different Greek merchants. But he asked only for a cart to help him carry his water and he returned to being a shepherd in his small town of Marousi. At the end of the 1896 Olympic Games, all the competitors and spectators, including the foreign arrivals, were unanimous in their praise of Athens as an Olympic host. In particular, the American athletes thought that Athens should be the permanent site. The team wrote a letter to Crown Prince Konstantine on 14 April 1896, which was published in The New York Times on 3 May, suggesting that all future Olympic Games be held in Athens. But it was not to be. Coubertin desired that the Olympic Games should be international in scope and rotate to various cities. He would always support that idea but perhaps the next two Olympics in 1900 and 1904 made him reconsider the idea a bit.

Medals Won by Countries 36 122 *No second/no third in men’s gymnastics horizontal bar, teams; no third in men’s athletics 110 metre hurdles; no third in men’s cycling 100 kilometres; no third in men’s cycling 12-hour race; no third in men’s fencing foil, masters; no third in men’s gymnastics horizontal bar; no third in men’s gymnastics parallel bars; no third in men’s gymnastics pommelled horse; no third in men’s swimming 1,200 metre freestyle; no third in men’s swimming 100 metre freestyle; two thirds in men’s athletics 100 metres; two thirds in men’s athletics pole vault; two thirds in men’s tennis singles. †In 1896 men’s doubles tennis, Germany / Great Britain shared first place, Greece / Egypt shared second place, and Australia / Great Britain shared third place. The British player who won gold in singles and doubles tennis was John Pius Boland, who was technically Irish, but Ireland was at that time a part of the United Kingdom (Great Britain for Olympic purposes).

Top Individual Performances (3+ medals [top 3] or 2+ gold medals [titles]) G

Question: April 6, 1896 saw the start of the modern Olympics era when what European city hosted the Games of the 1 Olympiad?
Answer: Athens, Greece