Special Sub-Topic: History of the Olympic Games Click Here To Play: History of the Olympic Games

When were the first Ancient Olympic Games held?

776 BC. The Ancient Olympic Games were held every four years at Olympia, and all free Greek men could compete. The first Ancient Olympic Games were held in 776 BC and the last in 393 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I abolished them. Scholars have speculated that the games in 776 BC were not the first games, but rather the first games held after they were organised into four yearly festivals. A naked runner, Coroebus, a cook, won the sole event at these Olympics, a run of around 192m (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in written history.

Which were the first three events that the athletes competed in at the Ancient Olympic Games between 776 and 720 BC?

200 yard, 400 yard foot race and a variable length foot race. The three events were the Stade or Stadion (equivalent to the length of the Stadium, hence the name), a 200 yard foot race which was the only Olympic event for the first thirteen Games (as recorded in written history); the Diaulos, a 400 yard foot race introduced for the fourteenth Ancient Games; and, the Dolichos, a variable length foot race, averaging twenty Stades. Boxing was added to the Olympics in 688 BC and the Pentathlon began not long after, consisting of the Discus, Javelin, Long Jump, Running, and Wrestling.

Who was the Greek god honoured by the Ancient Olympic Games?

Zeus. Unlike the Modern Olympics, the Ancient Games at Olympia were connected with funeral games established by Pelops and a fertility cult with worshipping at the site. The Ancient Olympic Games then came under the control of the cult of Zeus, and eventually lost some of the religious character. Heracles was the son of Zeus. Perseus was an Ancient Greek 'sportswriter', and Pelops was a Prince from Lydia.

The Pankration was an event introduced to the Ancient Olympic Games around 648 BC. It combined which of the following?

Boxing and Wrestling. The Pankration was a combination of boxing and wrestling with biting and gouging the eyes, nose, or mouth, and kicking in the stomach was legal! The Pankration had separate divisions for men and boys.

Aside from Chariot Racing, which other equestrian event, introduced around 648 BC, was held in the Ancient Olympic Games?

Horse Racing. The wealthy were the only ones who could afford to pay for the training, the equipment, and the feed for both jockeys and horses involved in Racing in the Ancient Olympic Games. The jockeys, who rode without stirrups, followed a 4.5 mile long course with different races for adult horses and foals. In 520 BC at the 65th Olympiad, they introduced racing in armor.

Which was put in place by the Greeks before and during all the Ancient Olympic festivals?

A truce. A truce or 'ekecheiria', literally meaning 'holding of hands', was put in place before and during each of the Ancient Olympic Games. This allowed visitors to travel safely to Olympia as wars were suspended, armies were banned, legal disputes were put on hold, and no death penalties were carried out during this time. Messengers known as 'spondorophoroi', carried the word of the truce and the date for the Games right across the known Greek world.

What was the great Sanctuary of Zeus, the setting for the Olympic Games, called by the Ancient Greeks?

Altis. The Greeks referred to the Sanctuary of Zeus as the 'Altis'. The name was a corruption of the word for grove, 'Alsos'. Sanctuaries were where the Greeks built temples, treasuries, altars, and statues. A 'Megaron' was a large hall or main room of an early Greek house. A 'Tumulus' was a large artificial mound built over a grave.

Approximately how many years after Theodosius I abolished the Olympic Games because of their pagan influence in 393 AD, did Pierre de Coubertin begin their revival?

1,500. Approximately 1,500 years later, noting that the Ancient Olympic Games had been held over a period that lasted for 1,170 years, Coubertin, a French aristocrat, founded a French sporting association in 1890. The 'Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques' (USFSA) and two years after, he put forward the idea to revive the Olympic Games.

In which year were the very first modern Olympic Games held, and where?

1896, Athens. The very first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896. A wealthy Greek architect donated a million drachmas to restore the Panathenaic Stadium for the Olympic Games, and the first race of the modern Olympic Games was won by American student, James Connolly.

In which year was the official Olympic Flag first used at the modern Olympic Games?

1920. Created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914, the official Olympic flag had five interconnected rings on a white background, symbolising the five main continents and the friendship gained from international competition. The rings were blue, yellow, black, green, and red, because at least one of each of the colours appeared on the flag of every country in the world (at that time).

The Olympic flame was first lit during which year of the modern era?

1928. The Olympic flame first appeared in the modern Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928. The modern Olympic Torch relay was suggested in 1936, with the Olympic flame lit at Olympia using a mirror and the sun. The Olympic flame was a practice from the Ancient Olympic Games, where the flame was ignited by the Sun and kept burning until the close of the Olympic Games. The flame itself represented purity and perfection.

At which Modern Olympic Games did they first use electronic timing devices and a public address system?

1912 in Stockholm. In 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden, the Olympic Games gained great benefit from the first use of electronic timing devices and a public address system.

In which year was the modern Marathon 'standardised' to a length of 42,195 metres?

1924. For the first two modern Olympic Games, the Marathon was an approximate distance, but, in 1908, the British Royal Family asked for the Marathon to commence at Windsor Castle so they could see the start. The distance from Windsor Castle to the Olympic Stadium was 42,195 metres (or 26 miles, 385 yards). In 1924, this distance became the standard length for the Marathon.

In 1932, the second of the modern Olympic Games to be held in the USA were in Los Angeles, with which of the following not being introduced for the first time?

Televising of the Games. The 1932 Olympic Games had the first photo-finish cameras as well as the Victory Platform and the Olympic Village. The 1936 Olympic Games were the first ones televised and also used telex transmissions to relay the results around the world.

In which of the following three years were the Olympic Games not held?

1916, 1940 and 1944. Every four years celebrated an Olympiad, and even the Games that were cancelled due to WWI and WWII. 1916, 1940, and 1944, counted as Olympiads. The 2004 Olympic Games in Athens were to be the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad. The first Olympiad of the Modern era was in 1896.

In which year of the Modern Olympics were the Winter Games added?

1924. The Winter Games were added in 1924 with skating, skiing, the bobsled, the luge, the toboggan, ice hockey, and the biathlon (skiing and shooting) included. After 1992, the Winter and Summer Games were not held in the same calendar year. The Winter Games were held after a two-year interval, in 1994, and then every four years after that.

In which year were Olympic medals restored to Native American, Jim Thorpe?

1982. In 1912, Jim Thorpe, a Native American, became the first man to win both the Decathlon and Pentathlon in one year. Officials however, took his medals away from him when they found out that he'd played professional baseball. Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals were restored, posthumously, in 1982.

In which three years of the Modern Olympic Games were there boycotts by various Olympic teams?

1976, 1980 and 1984. To protest a New Zealand Rugby tour of South Africa, thirty odd African nations boycotted the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. In 1980, to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, more than sixty countries withdrew from the Games in Moscow, and then, the Soviet Union withdrew from the 1984 Summer Games which were held in Los Angeles.

Where is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, the IOC?

Lausanne. The International Olympic Committee, founded in Paris in 1894, has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The original Committee had fourteen members, and there were over seventy in 2004. The Committee members were ambassadors for their national sports associations and promote amateur athletics.

In which cities were the modern Olympic Games due to be held/scheduled during the 'war years', i.e., 1916, 1940, and 1944?

Berlin, Tokyo and Helsinki. The Olympic Games due to be held in Berlin in 1916, were cancelled (Berlin hosted the Olympic Games in 1936). Those due to be held in Tokyo in 1940 (Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games in 1964) were cancelled, and those due to be held in 1944 in Helsinki (Helsinki hosted the Olympic Games in 1952) were also cancelled.