The first modern Olympiad was held in Athens (Greece) from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was attended by 241 athletes from 14 countries. Women did not compete at the games at that time. 9 sports were announced, 43 sets of awards were played.
The program of the 1st Olympic Games included Greco-Roman wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, track and field athletics, bullet shooting, swimming, tennis and fencing. The rowing and sailing races did not take place - there was a strong wind and rough seas.
According to ancient traditions, the games began with athletics. In the triple jump, the American James Conolly was the best. His compatriot - student Robert Garrett - won the discus throw and shot put. He also finished second in the long jump and third in the high jump.
Spectators were not interested in all sports. So, tennis seemed to the public terribly boring, incomprehensible. The shooting also fascinated few people. And fencing took place in a small hall in front of a small audience. Gymnastics was also lost in the general program, in which only small groups of Greek and German athletes participated.
But cycling with the public was a resounding success. In the 100 km race, after half the distance, only the Greek Collettis and the Frenchman Flaman remained on the track. The first had problems with his bike and stopped to fix it. The Frenchman kindly waited for him, and then brought the race to victory. After the finish, the audience carried both athletes in their arms.
The culmination of the Olympic Games in Athens was the marathon run. Distance - 42 km. 18 runners went to the start, the strongest runners immediately broke away from the rest of the group, but exhausted they left the race one after another, having incorrectly distributed their forces. The winner was the postman from Greece - Spyros Luis.
Most of the awards were won by the Greeks - 46 (10-17-19), however, in terms of the number of gold medals, they yielded first place to athletes from the United States. The Americans have only 20 awards (11-7-2). Third place went to Germany with 13 awards (6 + 5 + 2).
According to the ancient awards ceremony, the winner was put on a laurel wreath, an olive branch cut in the sacred grove of Olympia, a diploma and a silver medal were awarded (the bronze medal was given to the runner-up). To inform the audience about who won a particular competition, the flag of the winning country was raised on the flagpole. This is how a tradition was born that has become mandatory at all international competitions.
The 1896 Olympic Games in the Greek capital broke through the wall of mistrust and indifference on the part of political and sports figures. Although the results were modest, the OS became a bright sporting event, arousing colossal public interest. And the main achievement of the I Olympic Games is the widespread popularization of sports, as well as the Olympic people, not only in Greece, but throughout the world.
