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1896 Summer Olympics logojpg
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100
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Athens , Greece
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14This number, given by the International Olympic Committee, is open to interpretation and ranges from 10 to 15 National teams hardly existed at the time, and most athletes represented themselves or their clubs In addition, countries were not always as well-defined as they are today The number of countries here reflects the number used by most modern sources See #Nations for more details on the formulation of this number
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241This number of competitors is according to the International Olympic Committee The identities of 179 competitors are known a maximum of 252 took part Mallon & Widlund (see #References ) calculate 245 athletes, while De Wael finds 246
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43 in 9 Sport s
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Monday, April 6 , 1896 Greece still used the Julian Calendar at the time According to that calendar, the Games were opened on 25 March and closed on 3 April
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Wednesday, 15 April , 1896
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George I Of Greece
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Panathinaiko Stadium
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The , officially known as the '''Games of the I Olympiad''', were held in
1896 in
Athens ,
Greece . These games were the first modern international
Olympic Games to be organised by the
International Olympic Committee . They were held between Monday,
April 6 and Wednesday,
April 15 1896 .
An 1894 congress organized by
Pierre De Coubertin in
Paris established the International Olympic Committee and appointed the
Greek capital of
Athens as the host city.
Although the number of participating athletes was low by current standards, it had the largest international participation for any sports event to that date. In spite of the absence of many of the time's top athletes, the Games were a success with the Greek public. The athletic highlight for the Greeks was the
Marathon victory by their compatriot
Spiridon Louis . The most successful competitor in terms of victories was
German Wrestler and
Gymnast Carl Schuhmann .
After the Games, De Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by, among others, Greece's
King George and some of the American competitors in Athens to hold all following Games in Athens. However, the
1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, barring the
Intercalated Games Of 1906 , the Olympics did not return to Greece until the
2004 Summer Olympics .
During the 19th century, several minor sports festivals named after the
Ancient Olympic Games were held in a few
Europe an countries.
Pierre De Coubertin also had the idea to revive the Olympics, but as an international and multi-sport event. He presented his ideas at an 1894 congress held in the
Sorbonne ,
Paris , with delegates from sports societies of 11 countries present.
After it had been decided to revive the Olympics, a host city for these first Olympics had to be selected. De Coubertin's idea was to hold these concurrently with the
Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris. Concerned that a six-year waiting period might lessen the interest in the Olympics, the congress decided to hold the first Olympics in 1896. Several congress members suggested
London as the location, but after a brief talk with Greek delegate
Demetrius Vikelas De Coubertin put
Athens forward as a possibility. Greece being the original home of the Olympics, the congress unanimously approved the proposal. Vikelas was elected as the first president of the newly established
International Olympic Committee (IOC).
De Coubertin suggested that the true origin of the modern Olympic Games was Much Wenlock, a rural market town in the English county of Shropshire. It was here that in 1850 the local doctor, William Penny Brookes, founded the Olympian Class and the Much Wenlock Olympian Games. The first games were held in October 1850. It was a mixture of events, including athletics and games such as cricket, football, quoits, and others. De Coubertin also took inspiration from the games held by
Evangelos Zappas .David C. Young, The Modern Olympics - A Struggle for Revival, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-5374-5
, originally built in the
Fourth Century BC , was funded by Georgios Averoff. The stadium was used again for the
2004 Summer Olympics .]]
The news that the Olympic Games would return to Greece was received favourably by the Greek public and media. However, the country was in financial troubles and was politically unstable, the job of
Prime Minister alternating between
Charilaos Trikoupis and
Theodoros Deligiannis at a high frequency. In late 1894 the organizing committee, headed by
Etienne Skouloudis , presented a report that the cost of the Games would be three times higher than originally estimated by De Coubertin. They concluded the Games could not be held, and offered their resignation. The total cost of the Games was 3,740,000
Drachma s (about
US$ 448,000).
1
Greek crown prince
Constantine , a supporter of the Games, decided to set up a new committee, with himself as the president. His enthusiasm sparked a wave of contributions from the Greek public, raising 330,000 drachmas. A special set of postage stamps raised a further 400,000, and ticket sales added 200,000 drachmas. At the request of Constantine, wealthy businessman
George Averoff agreed to pay for the restoration of the
Panathinaiko Stadium , which would eventually cost 920,000 drachmas. As a tribute to his generosity, a statue of Averoff was constructed and unveiled on
5 April outside of the stadium, where it still stands.
Organized sports were relatively new to Greece, and as such the organizing committee had little experience in staging sports events. Their duties in this aspect were largely taken over by De Coubertin, who had to both elect the rules to follow and to invite athletes. Some of the athletes would take part in the Games because they happened to be in Athens at the time the Games were held, either on vacation or for work (e.g., some of the British competitors worked for the British
Embassy ). The concept of a designated
Olympic Village for the athletes
would not appear until the
1932 Summer Olympics ; the athletes had to care for their own lodging.
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#00cc33   ●    Opening ceremony
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#3399ff   ●    Event competitions
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#ffcc00   ●    Event finals
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#ee3333   ●    Closing ceremony
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60 6th width=60 7th width=60 8th width=60 9th width=60 10th width=60 11th width=60 12th width=60 13th width=60 14th width=60 15th
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