Starting in about 776 B.C., the ancient Olympic Games were held every four years in the valley of Olympia in southwestern Greece. A flame was lit at the altar of Zeus to mark the opening of the Games, which was extinguished on the completion of the Games.
According to the Olympic historical records kept by Hippias of Elis, the first foot race for the athletes was held at Olympia in Western Peloponnese for the first time in 776 B.C. in honour of their Greek God Zeus. Coroebus, a cook from Elis, won the sprint race called the 'stade' (a distance of 210 yards). The victor was crowned with a wreath of wild olive (in Greek called kotinos) and was granted special honours in their home city.
As the games were held in Olympia, it came to be known as the Olympic Games.
From the sole stade race the Olympic Games progressed to include events such as wrestling, boxing, pankration, equestrian events and pentathlon (jumping, running, javelin, discuss and wrestling) as evident from the Olympic history..
The last recorded champion was Varasdates, who won the boxing competition in 369 A.D. After that Emperor Theodosius abolished the Games as he considered them pagan.
After being held for around 1100 years, the Olympic Games would be dormant for the next 1525 years. In order that the athletic events, which were popular in various countries and to transform the notion of rivalry into noble competition, free from profit, it was decided to make:
"competitions at regular periodic intervals at which representatives of all countries and all the sports would be invited under the aegis of the same authority, which would impact to them a halo of grandeur and glory, that is the patronage of classical antiquity. To do this was to revive the Olympic Game." (quoted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin)
Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France was the person who possessed the perseverance and the organizational skills necessary to revive the Games. In 1892 at an international sports conference, he proposed the renewal of the Olympic Games, but it was rejected.
On 23rd June 1894, Coubertin gathered 79 delegates from 49 organizations representing nine countries in an auditorium which was decorated by neoclassical murals. At this meeting Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games. The delegates voted unanimously in favour of the Olympic Games. Initially Coubertin suggested that the first Games be staged in his hometown of Paris in 1900. However, Greek support for the Games was so enthusiastic that the date was moved up to 1896 and the site shifted to Athens (because Olympia itself was remote and undeveloped).
