The London games are just a week away. How the Olympic Games have changed over its history. The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896 from April 6th to April 15th, 1896. The Olympics were brought back by a french educationalist and historian called Pierre de Coubertin.
The 1896 games were very small compared to what we have today. Fourteen countries were represented by 241 participating athletes. There were 9 sports and 43 events. Most of the athletes participating were from Greece.
The games were held at Panathinaiko Stadium located in downtown Athens. It seated 80,000 and was reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium. It is the only stadium in the world built entirely of white marble.
When the Olympic Games returned to Athens in 2004 they used the Panathinaiko for the archery competition and the marathon race ended there.
slicethelife 
Reblogged this on 10th Village.
always thought it was a travesty that atlanta was awarded the 1996 games since it was 100 years since athens, but i guess giving athens the 2004 games made up for that.
looking forward to the games in london, but i just do not see the weather cooperating much with the games.
the weather reports do not look favorable…send some of that rain over this way to the midwest….the concern over athens was always security.. where are the 2016 games- i forget where they were awarded to–paris?
2014 winter games is sochi russia
2016 summer games is rio de janerio
2018 winter games is in south korea
that is all that have been awarded so far
i forgot Rio…south america is getting the world cup also right?
and i would not attend any of the next 3. i made the 2002 games in salt lake. i would not have attended the 2004 games in athens. i would have attended 2006 in turin. would not have attended 2008 in bejing. would have attended the 2010 games in vancouver, and i would have made london. so its going to be a while before i go again.
i can’t imagine being in london during the games..its going to be crazy…i think i could handle a winter games…but summer. i don’t think so..i predict 2020-NYC..
2020 could be a US city. it will have been a while since the summer games were in north america.
i am starting to look forward to the games next week.