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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcomed. This Day in History Class, a show

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Speaker 1: that talies the wins and losses of everyday history. I'm Gabelusier,

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Speaker 1: and in this episode we're talking about the rebirth of

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Speaker 1: the Olympic Games. We're used to this world event taking

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Speaker 1: place every two years, alternating between winter and summer games,

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Speaker 1: but at the close of the nineteenth century, the Olympics

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Speaker 1: hadn't been staged for over fifteen hundred years. Today we'll

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Speaker 1: explore how the tradition made its comeback and why it's

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Speaker 1: now the most anticipated international sporting event in the entire world.

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Speaker 1: The day was April sixth, eighteen ninety six. The opening

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Speaker 1: ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens, Greece.

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Speaker 1: It was held at the main venue for the Games,

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Speaker 1: the newly restored Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in

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Speaker 1: three thirty b C. More than sixty thousand spectators gathered

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Speaker 1: there for the opening event, including the Greek royal family.

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Speaker 1: Most of the competing athletes were present as well, lined

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Speaker 1: up on the infield and grouped by nationality. After a

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Speaker 1: few brief speeches, King George the First of Greece declared

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Speaker 1: the official opening of the first international Olympic Games. To

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Speaker 1: cap off the celebration, nine bands and one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty choir singers performed a new Olympic hymn composed by

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Speaker 1: Spiridon Samaris with lyrics by Greek poet Costis Palamas. The

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Speaker 1: song they played later became the official Olympic anthem in

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight and has been played at the opening

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Speaker 1: and closing ceremonies of every game since. You might not

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Speaker 1: know it by heart, but you've probably heard it before.

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Speaker 1: Take a listen. Athens was chosen to host the first

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Speaker 1: modern Olympics because Greece is where the ancient games began.

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Speaker 1: The first recorded Olympics were held at Olympia in the

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Speaker 1: Greek city state of Ilia in seven seventy six BC.

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Speaker 1: That said, most historians believe the Games were already several

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Speaker 1: centuries old by that point. Just like today, The ancient

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Speaker 1: Olympics were held every four years back then, though they

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Speaker 1: corresponded with a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus.

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Speaker 1: Another difference between the modern and ancient incarnations is that

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Speaker 1: the Olympics used to be a strictly Greek affair. The

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Speaker 1: ancient athletes represented as many as one hundred cities spread

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Speaker 1: across the Greek Empire, but foreign nations weren't invited to compete.

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Speaker 1: The events on offer were also far more limited in

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Speaker 1: those days. It was mostly foot races at first, but

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Speaker 1: over the years other events were added, such as wrestling, boxing, jumping,

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Speaker 1: horse and chariot racing, and discus and javelin throws. The

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Speaker 1: Olympics continued to grow in scope until the Roman conquest

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Speaker 1: of Greece. Under Roman rule, many aspects of Greek culture

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Speaker 1: were suppressed or outright banned for being paganistic. The Olympics

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Speaker 1: joined that list in three ninety three a d. When

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Speaker 1: Roman Emperor Theodosius the First formally abolished the games. The

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Speaker 1: ancient tradition and remained lost for the next fifteen hundred years,

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Speaker 1: but was finally revived in eighteen ninety six, just in

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Speaker 1: time for the seventy fifth anniversary of Greek independence. Strangely enough, though,

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Speaker 1: the person responsible for the game's rebirth and Athens wasn't

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Speaker 1: a Greek citizen himself. Instead, he was a French aristocrat

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Speaker 1: named Baron Pierre de Koubertine. In eighteen ninety two, when

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Speaker 1: he was just twenty nine years old, the Baron began

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Speaker 1: campaigning for an international multi sport competition in Olympic Games

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Speaker 1: for the modern age. Two years later, he presented his

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Speaker 1: idea at an international sports conference in Paris. Thanks to

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Speaker 1: his clear vision and persuasive speech, the Baron's proposal was

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Speaker 1: unanimously approved by seventy nine delegates from nine different countries. Together,

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Speaker 1: they formed the International Olympic Committee the IOC, and began

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Speaker 1: planning the first Games. For both practical and symbolic reasons,

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Speaker 1: the capital of Greece was chosen to host the inaugural event,

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Speaker 1: which was boldly scheduled to take place just two years later.

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Speaker 1: After a whirlwind of preparation and planning, the Olympic Games

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Speaker 1: were officially opened on April sixth, eighteen ninety six, and

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Speaker 1: were set to last for the next ten days. The

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Speaker 1: exact number of participants and of the nations they represented

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Speaker 1: is somewhat disputed, but it's generally agreed that about two

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty athletes from fourteen nations gathered that week

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Speaker 1: in Athens. Most participants competed as individuals, and Hungary it

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Speaker 1: was actually the only country to send an official national team.

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Speaker 1: Most of the other foreign athletes were wealthy college students

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Speaker 1: or athletic club members, though there were also a few

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Speaker 1: tourists who happened upon the Games while in town and

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Speaker 1: were allowed to sign up. The only apparent requirement was

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Speaker 1: that all the competitors had to be men, and make

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Speaker 1: no mistake, that rule was very much based in chauvinism.

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Speaker 1: Before the Games were way, Baron Couberton barred women from

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Speaker 1: the event, believing their participation would be quote impractical, uninteresting,

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Speaker 1: unesthetic and incorrect. Thankfully, his view was not the prevailing one,

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Speaker 1: and by the time of the Second Modern Games four

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Speaker 1: years later, women were allowed to compete, and twenty two

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Speaker 1: of them did. As for the Athens Games, the all

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Speaker 1: male participants competed in forty three events spread across nine

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Speaker 1: sports track and field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting,

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Speaker 1: and tennis. All twelve of the track and field events

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Speaker 1: were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, with Americans taking first

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Speaker 1: place in nine of them. In terms of individual victories,

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Speaker 1: the US outperformed all other nations, but it was Greek

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Speaker 1: athletes who won the most medals. Speaking of metals, there

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Speaker 1: weren't any gold ones at the first Modern Olympics. Instead,

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Speaker 1: first place winners received a silver medal along with an

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Speaker 1: olive branch and a diploma. The runners up each received

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Speaker 1: a copper medal and a laurel branch along with their diploma,

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Speaker 1: and as for the third place winners, while they went

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Speaker 1: home with bragging rights and nothing else. To be fair, though,

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Speaker 1: the IOC has retroactively awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals

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Speaker 1: to the winners of the eighteen ninety six Games, you know,

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Speaker 1: for all the good that does them now. The first

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Speaker 1: Modern Olympic champion was American athlete James Connolly, who won

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Speaker 1: the triple jump on April sixth, the opening day of competition. However,

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Speaker 1: the most celebrated victor of the Athens Games was the

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Speaker 1: Greek runner Spiridon Lewis. He won the event's first marathon competition,

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Speaker 1: a race that followed the legendary twenty five mile route

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Speaker 1: the a Greek soldier ran from the plane of Marathon

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Speaker 1: to Athens back in four ninety BC. It seemed appropriate

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Speaker 1: for a Greek athlete to win that event, so when

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Speaker 1: Lewis did the entire stadium and all the hills around

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Speaker 1: it erupted in cheers. An American reporter named Charles Waldstein

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Speaker 1: later described that triumphant moment, writing that all of Athens

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Speaker 1: was quote covered with a human crowd that from a

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Speaker 1: distance looked like bees clustering over a comb. This mass

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Speaker 1: of humanity rising in one great shout of joy. The

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Speaker 1: reaction to Lewis's dramatic win was an example of the

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Speaker 1: spirit of internationalism that Kuberton and the other organizers hoped

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Speaker 1: to inspire with their new version of the Games. Not

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Speaker 1: everyone there was Greek, but they all recognized and celebrated

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Speaker 1: the importance and meaning of Lewis's win. The inaugural Olympics

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Speaker 1: weren't a runaway success, and the event wouldn't be truly

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Speaker 1: embraced for another three decades, but the moments of unity

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Speaker 1: experienced at the first Games convinced Kuberton that his efforts

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Speaker 1: to revive the tradition would not be in vain on

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Speaker 1: the world at large. He wrote, the Olympic Games have,

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Speaker 1: of course exerted no influence as yet, but I am

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Speaker 1: profoundly convinced that they will do so should the institution

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Speaker 1: prosper as I am persuaded all civilized nations aiding that

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Speaker 1: it will. It may be a potent, if indirect factor

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Speaker 1: in securing universal peace. Nearly one hundred and thirty years later,

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Speaker 1: the idea of universal peace probably seems more far off

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Speaker 1: now than it did then, But maybe that just means

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Speaker 1: the Olympics are more important than ever in times as

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Speaker 1: divided as these. It's nice to have an event where

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Speaker 1: people from all different regions and cultures can come together

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Speaker 1: to celebrate what our species is capable of, not in

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Speaker 1: any political or military way, but in the friendly spirit

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Speaker 1: of competition that the Olympics is all about. Will we

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Speaker 1: finally achieve world peace next year when the Summer Games

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Speaker 1: are held in Paris? Probably not, but here is hoping

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Speaker 1: there at least a long jump in the right direction.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabelusier and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can learn

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Speaker 1: even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have

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Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to pass them along

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Speaker 1: by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler May's and Ben Hackett for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back

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Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in history class.