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The first Olympics were in 776 B.C. and held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis. -
In 490BCE the messenger Pheidippides ran 42km from Sparta to Athens to bring the news of the Greek victory at the battle of Marathon.
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In 424BCE large numbers of young men in Greece had to go fight against the Spartans there were fewer athletes able to train and compete in the games and so they began to fall into decline. -
The Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, abolished the games claiming they were a pagan event. -
An Olympic-style yearly sports festival was established in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, UK by Dr William Penny Brookes. It continues to this day. This took place in Shropshire, UK. -
The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. -
For the first time the Olympics take place in a purpose built stadium. Figure skating was introduced as an Olympic sport. Australia and New Zealand competed together as Australasia. -
IN 1916 the Berlin Olympics were cancelled due to World War 1.
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The Olympics went back to Paris, France. -
The first American Olympic athlete to compete and win 4 gold medals in the track and field category. Video: Interview with the real Jesse Owens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m04o2fx3wa0 -
After much discussion they allowed Germany and Japan to compete in the winter olympics, which took place in Oslo, Norway. -
First Olympics held in Asia. -
Black September terrorists killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. This took place in Munich, Germany.
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61 Nations refused to compete in these games as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. These Olympics took place in Moscow, Soviet Union.
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15 communist block countries refused to compete in these games in retaliation for the boycott of the Moscow Olympics 4 years earlier. Romania was the only communist block country to take part and came 2nd in the medals table. This took place Los Angles, USA.
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The IOC agreed to drop the requirement that competitors taking part in the Olympics had to have amateur status. The official Olympic Charter was amended accordingly.
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Women’s ice hockey débuted at this Olympics and took place in Nagano, Japan.
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43 world records and 132 Olympic records were broken during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals in swimming the most ever at a single Olympics -
The united states take home the most medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics, with a grand total of 83 medals. -
The Tokyo Olympics will feature 339 events across 33 sports and 50 disciplines. There will be 5 new sports (baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, climbing, and surfing) as well as 15 new events within existing sports (such as 3-on-3 basketball and freestyle BMX).
