Anniversary of the Modern Olympics
By Nicholas Isaacs
Sports and Olympic fans everywhere, April 6th to 15th is the anniversary of the first ever Modern Olympics. The Olympics had stopped about 2,000 years ago when Rome conquered Greece and the Romans didn’t like the idea of the Olympics.
In 1896, a Frenchman named Baron de Coubertin (also known as Pierre Fredy) brought back the Olympic games and called it the “Games of the 1 Olympiad”. They were held where the games had been created, in Athens, Greece at the Panathinaiko Stadium. It was opened by King George I of Greece and it contained 43 events in 9 sports, 241 athletes, and had over 14 nations participating. Some of the sports were Track and Field, Swimming, Cycling, and a Marathon. The winners of some of these events were Alfred Hajos who won in swimming twice for Hungary, Paul Masson who won three bike races for France, and Spyridon Louis who won the first ever Olympic marathon for Greece, and was a national hero for the rest of his life.
The event was considered a huge success, and set the example for many Olympic games to come. And after that, Greece didn’t hold the games again until 2004, over 108 years later. Some nations who had participated in the first modern Olympics were the United States, Great Britain, France, Greece, Germany, and more. If you want to find out who won the first games, visit: www.tospendsports.com/events/summer/medal-tally/1896.htm.
The Olympics games continue to this day. The next Summer Olympics are Aug. 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
