The history of the Olympics: From ancient Greece to now

The first Olympic Games consisted of a singular event—a footrace, or stade in ancient Greek. Runners from the Grecian mainland and colonies sprinted 192 meters (or 210 yards) along a track, likely in the nude, to win a garland and acclaim at home. So how did the Olympics develop from a single footrace into a showcase of 310 events in which more than 10,000 athletes from around the world compete? The Olympics began in Greece in 776 BCE, just one of many major sporting festivals across the region. The name Olympics derives from Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods. The Games were held in the sacred city of Olympia to honor the god Zeus. The festival took place every four years, a length of time known as an Olympiad. In the early centuries, all contests took place on one day with the longer races being added in subsequent decades. While the Games grew to include such events as boxing and chariot racing, ultimately becoming the most popular sporting event in Greece, support for the Games diminished when Greece lost its independence to Rome in the 2nd century BCE. The Games were eventually abolished about 394 CE because of the festival’s pagan associations. After a 1,500-year hiatus, French educator Pierre, baron de Coubertin, decided the world had waited long enough. The Olympics needed a comeback. In June 1894, at a conference in Paris on international sport, Coubertin proposed an Olympic revival. Although there was sparse interest, Coubertin said “a unanimous vote in favor of revival was rendered at the end of the Congress chiefly to please me.” The modern Olympic Games were kick-started two years later in April 1896 in Athens, with athletes representing 14 national teams. The introduction of winter sports came in 1924, with both the Winter and Summer Games occurring in the same year. It was not until 1994 that the Games began to operate with a two-year gap between the Winter and Summer Games, the schedule that is followed today. The ancient Games saw competition between Greeks alone, but today more than 200 National Olympic Committees, each representing a different country, submit competitors. An estimated 50,000 people traveled to Olympia during the height of the ancient Olympics’ popularity. More than three billion people watched television broadcasts for each of the Olympic Summer Games from 2008 to 2020, making the Olympics one of the most-watched sporting events of their time—both 3,000 years ago and today.