The First Modern Olympics : The first modern Olympics were held in Athens in the year 1896 . French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the ancient games should be revived on an international scale. That was the 23 rd of June in 1894.
International sports leaders from nine nations including the United States and Russia gathered at the Sorbonne in Paris. The idea of Coubertin was accepted and the Modern Olympics were born. Two years later, the first Olympiad was held in Athens.
Participants: 241 athletes from 14 nations competed in this Summer Games. The participating nations were Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and United States. Belgium and Russia had withdrawn their names from participation list. There was no woman participant and most of the participants were Greek.
Events: There were track and field events like fencing, weightlifting, rifle and pistol shooting, tennis, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, and wrestling. 43 games were played in these 9 sports.
Medal Count: Greece won the highest number of medals winning 46 medals in total. United States won 11 gold medals and became the winner of the first Modern Summer Games. Total medals won by United States were 20.
A Brief Description of the Athens Olympics, 1896: The Summer Games were held from 6th April to 15 th April.The games were officially opened by King George I of Greece in the Panathenaic Stadium filled with an estimated 80,000 spectators. The first modern-day Marathon was held on the 11th day of the games. This event was held to commemorate Ancient Summer Games. The race was run from Marathon to Athens . More than 100,000 peoples gathered to witness the historic event. The Summer Games reached their high point when a Greek runner, Spiridon Louis won the first Marathon race of the Modern Olympiad. The thrill of this victory added a spark to the Games' finale--the ceremonial march of the nations.
| Olympic Results |
