Athens Olympics 1896 | The Inargual Modern Games

mikebuss | 17/04/2012 | 0 Comments More

The 1896 Athens Games was the very first Modern Olympic Games and took place between 6th April & 15th April in Athens, Greece.

It was officially called the Games of I Olympiad and is recognised as the first ever Olympics in modern times. Baron Pierre de Coubertin who was the man behind bringing the Olympics back wanted the first Olympics to be held in Paris, France in 1900 but a plea from the Greek delegation and in the interest of the history of the games, it was agreed that Athens would hold the inaugural Modern Olympic Games.

The Athens Games took place on the 75th Anniversary of Greece’s independence from Turkey.

The Venue:

Athens was chosen for the Games in 1894 as the host city for the games. The money used to restore the Panathinaiko Stadium was raised by collecting donations and selling commemorative stamps.

The 2000yr old ruin was rebuilt in marble with a capacity of about 70,000 spectators and was the largest stadium in the modern world.

Unfortunately the design of the stadium, being long and fine made the corners very tight and therefore the races were slower than expected and no world records were set.

There was now Bronze, Silver & Gold medals for the first games, only the winner of each event was given a medal which was made from silver along with the runner up from each event recieving bronze.

FACTS:

Host City – Athens
Nations Participated – 14
Athletes participated – 241
Events Organised – 9sports 43events
Opened by King George I
After the Games, Greece petitioned to have the games perminantly held in Greece. However, this was not accepted and the games did not return until 2004 (108yrs later).
Greece won the most medals at the first Olympics in 1896 with 47medals.
The Sports at the 1896 Games were – Athletics, Cycling, Swimming, Gymnastics, Tennis, Shooting, Fencing, Weightlifting, Wrestling