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Olympic Games: Modern Olympic Games
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The first modern Olympic Games were a success. Although the total number of athletes did not exceed 250, they had been the largest international sports event ever held. The Greek officials and public were ... very enthusiastic, and they even proposed to be allowed to have the monopoly on organising the Olympics. The IOC decided differently, however, and the second Olympic Games took place in Paris, France.
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The Olympic Games is a sports event that takes place in a different city every four years. It includes many of the best athletes from all over the world. The first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896.
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The idea of reviving the Olympic Games originated with Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a 29 year old French aristocrat who first publicly raised the issue in 1892. At a conference on international sport held in Paris in 1894, Coubertin managed to convince delegates from 49 organizations representing nine countries to vote in favor of an Olympic revival. His chief allies in this effort were Dimitrios Vikelas of Greece and Professor William M. Sloane of the United States. The organizers had planned the first modern Olympics for 1900 in Paris, but later decided to move the date forward to 1896 and to change the venue to Athens, though the local government of the Greek capital was initially hostile to the idea. Coubertin and his colleagues of the newly formed International Olympic Committee eventually prevailed, and the first Olympic Games of the modern era were inaugurated by the King of Greece in the first week of April 1896. *(2005).
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In 2004 the Olympic Games return to their traditional home in Greece. The principles and values have been transported to the modern day games from as far back as 776 BC when the first games were held. It was then that the basis of the Games Movement began to evolve into a philosophy of life: exalting and combining the qualities of body, will, and mind in a balanced whole. Out of this philosophy the Olympic Games ideals were born, placing noble competition, sport, peace, culture, and education at the very core of Greek civilisation.
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The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredi, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850.[2] The first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organised before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "[i]f the committee doesn’t let me compete I will go after them regardless".[3]
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The distance of the modern marathon was standardized as 26 miles 385 yards or 42.195 km. in 1908 when the Olympic Games were held in London. The distance was the exact measurement between Windsor Castle, the start of the race, and the finish line inside White City Stadium.
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Modern Olympic Games