The Ancient Greeks loved their sports. Fitness, athletic training, and sports competitions were favorite activities of the Greeks. As far back as 1300 BC, the Ancient Greeks held a giant sports competition every four years to honor their god, Zeus, who ruled over Mount Olympus. They called these competitions the Olympics.
ATHENS - 1896 The start of the 100 meters sprint at the first Olympic Games of the Modern Era in Athens Greece. Photo by Getty Images-Colorized
Athletes came together from all the Greek city states to compete in events such as foot races, wrestling, chariot racing, boxing, and more. The games thrived until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who lived from the year 347 to 395, banned the Olympics. More than 1,500 years later, however, in 1896, the Olympic games were reborn.
A Renaissance Revival
1896 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee-Colorized
In the 1800s, the people of Europe experienced a renewed interest in ancient cultures, including the classic Greeks. One person, Pierre de Coubertin, a French baron, was so enamored by the sporting competitions of the Ancient Greeks that he proposed a revival of the Olympic games. De Coubertin envisioned a major international sports competition, held every four years, that would bring together the best athletes from around the globe. He presented his idea in June of 1894 at a conference on global sports that was held in Paris. The delegates to the conference, representing nine countries, wholeheartedly approved of de Coubertin’s idea. With that, the first International Olympic Committee was formed. The group began to plan to host the first Modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
A Spectacular Event
A panoramic view of the 1896 Olympic Games held in a crowd-filled stadium in Athens Greece. Photo by Stapleton Collection-Corbis-Corbis via Getty Images-Colorized
King Georgios I of Greece welcomed the 280 athletes and more than 60,000 spectators to his country in the spirit of friendly competition. At the first Modern Olympic games, only 13 countries were represented. Forty-three different sporting events were held. Like the ancient Olympics, many of the events were track and field activities. Also, like the ancient games, these events took place at the Panathenaic Stadium. The building had been constructed in 330 B.C. and was completely restored in time for the 1896 Olympics. In addition to running events, there were shooting, fencing, swimming, and cycling contests, as well as gymnastics, wrestling, and tennis.
A Festival Atmosphere
King Georgios I of Greece hosted the first modern Olympics. (worldhistory.us)
The first modern Olympic games, which took place from April 6 to 15, 1896, were equal parts festival and sports competitions. There were parades, banquets, and parties in addition to the athletic events. As the host country and the original home of the Olympic games, Greece’s royal family worked closely with the International Olympic Committee to organize the event and make sure that things ran smoothly.
The Athletes
Hungarian athletic team of 1896 Summer Olympics - Source Wikipedia-Colorized
Like the original Olympic games, only male athletes competed in the first modern Olympics. Most of them were not the best of the best that their countries had to offer. In fact, the majority of the participating athletes were either members of prominent athletic clubs or were wealthy college students. They competed in the games because of the novelty of it. A few athletes were random tourists who happened to be in Greece at the time. For whatever reason, they were allowed to compete. Only one country, Hungary, sent a national team.
Winners
American Olympic Team at the 1896 Athens Olympics. Source Wikipedia-Colorized-Enhanced
Athletes from the United States dominated the track and field events at the first modern Olympics. Of the dozen running events that were held, the U.S. won nine of them. Six cycling events were held. One athlete, Paul Masson of France, won three of them. Four swimming races were held in Greece’s Bay of Zea, despite the cold temperatures and swift-moving current. A Hungarian swimmer, Alfred Hajos, won two of the four swimming races.
Marathon
Spyridon Louis won the first Olympic marathon. (european-athletics.com)
The 1896 Olympics marked the first marathon race. In a nod to the ancient history of Greece, a 25-mile race route was mapped out to follow the same route that a Greek soldier took when he ran to Athens from the city of Marathon in 490 B.C. to deliver news of the Greeks’ defeat of the Persians. More than two decades later, the length of the marathon was set at a standard of 26 miles, 385 yards. Appropriately, the first person to win Olympic gold in the marathon race was a Greek runner, a man named Spyridon Louis.
Building the Olympics into a Truly Global Event
The final sword match 1896 Summer Olympics-Colorized-Enhanced
Not surprisingly, Pierre de Coubertin was named the president of the International Olympic Committee in 1896. One of his biggest challenges was transforming the games from a one-time novelty event into a global phenomenon. He had some stiff competition. At the time, world fairs attracted all the attention and the visitors. It took a few Olympic events to get the momentum going. By the 1924 Olympic games, which were held in Paris, the sports event finally achieved success. In those games, more than 3,000 athletes, including, for the first time, women, representing 44 nations competed. That same year, athletic events were split between summer events and winter ones.
