“First Modern Olympics Games Held in Athens Greece” - This Day in History – Apr 6th

Back in 1896, 14 countries participated in the First Modern Olympic competition in Athens Greece.  These games included no female participants but 241 male athletes participating in 43 events.  The first person to win a medal at this event was American James Connolly who won silver and an olive branch for the triple jump on the opening day of the first Olympiad.  He would later finish 3^rd in the long jump and 2^nd in the high jump events. 

By 1900, women were allowed to participate in Olympics in Paris, France.  History.com acknowledged that, “with 997 athletes (22 of them women) from 24 countries competing in 95 events. The U.S. hosted the Olympics for the first time in 1904, in St. Louis. The third Olympiad marked the first time gold, silver and bronze medals were given out to first, second and third-place finishers.  Starting in 1992, the summer and winter games, which had traditionally been held in the same year every four years, took place two years apart. The Summer Games returned to Athens in 2004, with 10,625 athletes (4,329 women and 6,296 men) from 201 nations participating in 301 events.” 

Special Note:  The 2012 XXX Olympiad will be in London, England from July 27^th until August 12^th.  The next two Olympic games will be held in Sochi in (winter)2014 and Rio in (summer) 2016.

All History facts provided from the link below:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympics-is-held?catId=10