Today, over a billion people from around the world are tuning in to cheer their nation’s top athletes competing in Rio at the Summer Games of the 31st Olympiad, in contrast to the Games’ comparatively modest beginnings over a century ago.Īt Chronicling America–the free site joint-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress – you can find first-hand journalistic reportage of the Olympics from among its nearly 5 million digitized pages of U.S. These may not be household names like Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, or Mary Lou Retton, but they happen to be some of the 14 athletes who represented the United States in the first modern Olympics held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. 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.Robert Garrett, Jr. In 2004, the Summer Olympics returned to Athens, with more than 11,000 athletes competing from 202 countries. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the foremost international sports competition. The first Winter Olympic Games were also held that year. 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. 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. Appropriately, a Greek, Spyridon Louis, won the first marathon at the 1896 Athens Games. In 1924, the marathon was standardized at 26 miles and 385 yards. 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. Americans won nine out of 12 of these events. The track-and-field events were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in 330 B.C. All the competitors were men, and a few of the entrants were tourists who stumbled upon the Games and were allowed to sign up. In Athens, 280 participants from 13 nations competed in 43 events, covering track-and-field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting, and tennis. READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About the First Olympics the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games as part of his efforts to suppress paganism in the Roman Empire. With the rise of Rome, the Olympics declined, and in 393 A.D. The pentathlon, introduced in 708 B.C., consisted of a foot race, the long jump, discus and javelin throws, and wrestling. 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. from as many as 100 cities from throughout the Greek empire. In the eighth century B.C., contestants came from a dozen or more Greek cities, and by the fifth century B.C. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. 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. 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. 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |