Trivia related to the 1896 games

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The Olympics made a remarkable comeback in Athens. This was made possible, despite several hiccups, by the vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the patronage of Greek Prince Constantine and the money of the Greek millionaire Averoff. Ten other nations - Germany, Hungary, France, Britain, The United States, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Chile - agreed to participate and the events were restricted to twelve.

King George of Greece opened the Games in front of an audience of about 50,000-60,000. Much to the Greek's chagrin, the Americans dominated most of the events. The first ever title of the Modern Olympics went to James Connolly, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who claimed the triple jump crown.

An American called Garrett even took away the prize for discus throw, an event in which the Greeks claimed to be superior to anyone else. Their mortification became greater when it was found that Garrett had never thrown a discus before.

However, Greek pride was restored when Spiridon Louis won the marathon. This was the one event that the Greeks wanted to win more than anything else because of the history surrounding it. The marathon was named so because of the 26-mile run made by Phidippides from Marathon to Athens. This occurred 2400 years ago and happened because the brave soldier was eager to inform the citizens of Athens of their famous victory in battle against the Persians.

Thus, the revival of the Olympic Games was a resounding success. It was a suitable end to Baron de Coubertin's cherished dream to create a stage in which every nation could compete fairly for national and international glory.

Trivia related to the 1896 games