From Athens to Beijing: The history of Olympic Games-1: First 1896 Olympic Games

The Olympic Games as we know have a long history that dates back to Antiquity. It all started in Greece, in the Peloponnese, some 3,000 years ago. Greece was the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896.
Only 241 competitors, all men, from 14 countries turned up for contests in gymnastics, bicycle races, tennis, fencing, marksmanship, track and field and swimming, all of which meant little to the Greeks who were interested in one event only.
The marathon was named after a village in Attica, approximately 40 kms north-east of Athens, where the Athenians defeated the Persians in 490 BC. According to legend, a Greek messenger carried the news from the plains adjoining Marathon to Athens then promptly dropped dead.
Seventeen competitors, including 15 Greeks, lined up in Marathon for the classic distance race. Frenchman Albin Lermusiaux set a scorching early pace but collapsed after 32 kms, allowing Spiridon Louis from the Greek town of Amarousion to take the lead. Louis entered the Olympic stadium to a rapturous reception and two Greek princes left their seats to jog alongside their new hero on his way to the finish.
The opening was seen over by 40,000 spectators in the stadium and plus by many more on the surrounding hills. The most outstanding achievement of the 1896 Games at Athens came from Germany's Carl Schuhmann who not only won three gymnastic events but also won the wrestling title.
First Olympic Games in 1896 Venue: Athens, Greece Dates: April 6-15,1896
NumbersofSports:9 (43events)
Numbers of Nations: 14
Numbers of Participant: 241 (all male)
Youngest Gold medalist: Alfred Hajos ( Hungary) aged 18 years 70 days in swimming.
Oldest medalist: Georgios Orphandis (Greece) aged 37 years in shooting
Final Medals Tally
Country G S B Total
United States 11 7 2 20
Greece 10 17 19 46
Germany 6 5 2 13
France 5 4 2 11
Great Britain 2 3 2 7
Hungary 2 1 3 6
Austria 2 1 2 5
Australia 2 - - 2
Denmark 1 2 3 6
Switzerland 1 2 – 3
Mixed team 1 1 1 3
Total 43 43 36 122
TRIVIA:
** Greek businessman Georges Averoff from Alexandria, Egypt paid 920, 000 drachma (ú 36,500 at the 1896 exchange rate) for the reconstruction of the Panathenean Stadium at Athens.
** The Panathenean Stadium at Athens, the venue for the first Olympic Games in 1896 was actually been built in 330 BC by the orator Luycurgus, a disciple of Plato.
** Australia, France, Greece, Great Britain and Switzerland are the only five countries have never failed to be represented at all Olympic Games since 1896.
** James Connolly (United Sates) won the triple jump on 6 April 1896, and thus became the first Olympic champion since the Ancient Games. He also finished second in the high jump and third in the long jump.
** Alfred Hajos (Hungary) won the 100m and the 1,200m events. For the longer race, the swimmers were transported by boat and left to swim back to shore alone.
** Americans John and Sumner Paine became the first brothers to win Olympic gold medals, when they came first in the military pistol and free pistol shooting events respectively in the 1896 Games at Athens. Incidentally their father had successfully defended yachting’s America Cup some years before.
** Only first and second place finishers of these Games were awarded medals. The winners received silver medals and crowns of olive branches, while second place finishers received bronze medals.