The First Modern Olympics

The first modern Olympic games came about by a revival of physical exercise. England, Germany, Sweden, the United States, and France were all at the dawn of the movement. The world was also starting to connect with the inventions of the railways and telegraph. People started to really communicate and immediately started to compare what each had and could do. They were coming together to compare writings, paintings, sculptures, and much more. Because athletics is basically built on rivalry they started to compete once again. Switzerland had international rifle competitions, and Europe had the world’s best cycle tracks. Fencers from Rome and Paris began to dual, and Britain and the US started to challenge one another on grass and water. The whole world was competing, and that is why Pierre de Coubertin thought that the Olympic games could be revived.

Pierre thought this idea over and over in his head, and realized that it was more than a possibility, it was a need. The countries needed a place and time were they could come and decided who was the world’s best. He even did studies on the education of different countries and how it was effected by physical exercise. The British Nation’s education revolved around exercise. France was the complete opposition in thinking that physical exercise hurt one’s studies, and was harmful to education.

Then the urgency to revive the games was at hand. The century that had started the athletic revival was now starting to falter and fail. The gymnasts turned there faces upon sight of the rowers, and the fencers wanted nothing to do with the cyclists. The Americans made rules for football that the English thought were bogus. Supporters for some countries denied merit to other countries in the same sport. All in all, the world was turning against itself. Dimitrios Vikelas also saw that the world had to work together to make the games come alive once again.

As the first chairman of the the International Olympic Committee, Dimitrios Vikelas had the duty having all the athletic groups meet. Dimitrios had been chosen chairman because he was the father of gymnastics in Greece, and many saw him as the man that would stand up and say what needed to be said. Easy job, right?!?! Just send out a e-mail or two to the leaders and tell them we're meeting over brunch, WRONG! He sent out the message to all the athletic groups in the world asking them to come and meet with all the other societies and hardly any responses came back. The few that did come back were weak excuses. Mr. Vikelas had already improved relations of most of the societies, and he didn’t think that the excuses he got were good enough. He thought that if he had put this much effort into something that they could at least come and hear what he had to say. The National Cyclist Union resisted because they saw no need to agree on a foreign federation.

By the spring of 1893, though, relations had improved and he was ready to set a date to their meeting. They were all to meet in June of 1894 in Paris. When they all meet it was decided that the Olympic games should be held without a doubt. All of the sudden all the nations had come together for a common cause. Mr. Vikelas proposed that they first modern Olympics be held in Athens, Greece in 1896 to remind people where the Olympic games actually originated. They also elected fourteen members to the the International Committee to supervise all the Olympic workings for each games. They decided to hold the Olympics every four years, and they would be held in a great capital each time too.

Let The Games Begin

Two hundred and twenty males participated in forty-three events in Athens. These men represented thirteen nations and participated in athletics, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, weight lifting, wrestling, fencing, shooting, and tennis. The first modern games covered ten days. Not all of the athletes were in shape, and let's say prepared for the games. Some of them were tourists that had just found out about the games when they arrived. Most of the athletes were college students or members of athletic clubs that were drawn to the games by the shear novelty of them, though.

The track and field events were held in the Panathenaic Stadium, recently restored with the help of financial aid of Georgios Averoff. The track had such tight turns that one had to slow down to take them if they wanted to stay in their lanes. The swimming events were held in the Bay of Zea. These Olympics also had the first marathon that followed the legendary route of Pheidippides.

The summer Olympics now have twenty-seven different sports to compete in, and they aren’t just open to anyone on the street. The sports are: archery , basketball, boxing, canoeing-kayaking, cycling, diving, equestrian sports, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, judo, modern pentathlon, triatholn, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, team handball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling, and yachting.