6-1 How Did The Olympics Start?

Narrator: Every few years, the whole world sits down to watch the Summer Olympic Games and marvel at dizzying displays by athletes who've mastered their craft, competing for global glory. But have you ever stopped and wondered how the Olympics got started in the first place? Let's find out on today's episode of Colossal Questions.

The very first Olympic Games on record date back thousands of years to 776 BCE in a Greek city-state named Elis. And that's just the first games we know about. Most experts believe the Olympics were already 500 years old by then.

So, needless to say, it's one of humanity's most ancient athletic competitions. Just like today, the ancient Olympics were held every four years, and athletes came from city-states across Greece to compete.

Early Olympic Games consisted mainly of foot races and wrestling. But over the years, the Greeks added other games, like boxing, discus, javelin, chariot racing, and even competitions for heralds and trumpeters. The more grueling events were often bundled together to create larger contests, like the pentathlon, which includes a foot race, the long jump, discus, javelin, and wrestling.

With the rise of the Roman Empire, the popularity and importance of the Olympics diminished in favor of gladiatorial tournaments and other Roman competitions. Finally, in 393 CE, the Roman emperor decided to officially abolish the Olympics, declaring it far too non-religious for their newly Christian empire. Just like that, the mighty Olympic Games were gone for good.

Or so it seemed. Around the time of the Renaissance, people began to get interested in ancient Greek culture. It became a major influence in art and got people thinking about all their different customs, including the Olympics.

In 1892, the ball truly got rolling when a French historian and teacher named Pierre de Coubertin made a serious proposal to revive the Olympic Games as a modern international competition every four years, bringing glory to the winners and their home countries.

Two years later, Pierre's idea was approved, and the modern Olympics finally got the go-ahead to start planning. The International Olympic Committee was formed, and the first games were scheduled for 1896 in where else but Athens, the capital of Greece.

By the 1924 Olympics in Paris, more than 3,000 people competed, including more than 100 women from 44 different countries. That's also the year that the Winter Olympics were first introduced.

Nowadays, the Olympic Games are considered the greatest international sports competition. Many of the world's best athletes compete in hundreds of events and spend endless hours honing their skills in anticipation of the games every four years.

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo may have been delayed, but once it finally kicks off, there will be 339 different events across 33 sports.

There will be five new Olympic sports too. Surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and karate will debut, and both baseball and softball will be back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008. They're also adding some new events within sports that already compete, like three-on-three basketball and freestyle BMX. So get ready, 'cause it's gonna be an epic show. Just like it's always been.