Bidding and Preparation:
After consultations at the International Sports Conference in Paris in June 1894, the historic city of Athens won the right to host the first modern Olympic Games.
Athens, the capital of Greece, is located on the western side of the Attica Peninsula in southeastern Greece, surrounded by the sea on three sides and enjoying a pleasant climate. This center of today's Greek politics, culture and economy was one of the important arenas in the ancient Greek period. It paid special attention to culture and education, emphasizing the combination of intellectual, moral, physical and aesthetic education to cultivate talents, and created the glorious Athenian culture. If Greece is the cradle of European ancient civilization, Athens is the center of this cradle, and Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, which is famous all over the world, is about 300 kilometers away from here. Therefore, it is historically significant that the first Olympic Games were held in this ancient city.
After the International Sports Conference in Paris, the first president of the IOC, Demetrios Vikelas, brought the good news of the Games back to Athens. As Vikelas later wrote to Coubertin, "At that time, from Brindisi to Athens, my compatriots were talking about the Olympic Games with great gusto." But Vikelas was overly optimistic. Not long after, during his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Trikoupis, the prime minister asked for a delay in organizing the Games because of financial problems. It was a blow to Vikelas.
Gubaidan learned of this news is very anxious, is the end of October, he hastily on the road, from Paris by train to Marseille, and then take the ship to Athens. After arriving in Athens, he and Vikelas slightly pleasantries, came to the ancient stadium site in Athens.
When he saw the broken walls, full of desolate scene, the heart of a cold half. In such ruins to rebuild the stadium requires a large sum of money. Before leaving Paris, Gu Baidan had received a letter from a member of the International Olympic Committee, the Hungarian Kemeny. Kemeny also knew what happened in Greece, and in his letter he proposed to Coubertin that if Greece could not afford to host the games, Hungary would be happy to take over the games as a commemoration of the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian state. The Olympics were to be held in Greece, which was the goal of Coubertin's struggle to revive the Olympic movement and internationalize the Games, and to relocate them to Hungary would be contrary to his ideals. Kemeny's proposal was difficult for Coubertin to accept. But how would the money be raised by sticking to the original proposal of holding it in Greece?
The attitude of Prime Minister Trikoupis was not only criticized by the opposition, but also aroused the discontent of the citizens of Athens. When he learned of Coubertin's arrival in Athens, he immediately went to where Coubertin was staying, but the two men had an uneasy conversation. Trikoupis said that it was not good for a country to be in debt while taking a lot of money for the games. Invisible pressure was also exerted on Coubertin by the chargé d'affaires of the French embassy in Athens, who said that a political crisis had arisen in Athens as a result of his arrival and had given the opposition party, which was in favor of holding the games on schedule, an opening to oppose Trikoupis.
Gubaidan was almost at a loss. But he was a strong-willed man and did not let this discourage him or make him pessimistic. In a letter to a newspaper, he said that there was no "can't" in the French dictionary. At that time, King George I of Greece did not return from a visit to Petersburg, Russia, so he turned to the Crown Prince of Greece with a ray of hope.
Constantine, the Crown Prince of Greece, was a handsome young man of 26 years of age, powerful and fond of sports. When he listened to the Gu Baidan's claim did not immediately take a position, the learned Gu Baidan then talked with the Crown Prince of Greece in 1821 against the Turkish rule of the uprising; talked about the British poet Byron in order to the freedom of the Greek people, with a sick and disabled body, across the ocean, traveled to Greece, to participate in the just war, and finally sacrificed his young life; talked about the 300,000 Greeks in the brutal war for the sake of the living 600,000 compatriots to do the best job. down 600,000 compatriots can be the master of their own destiny, righteously and unhesitatingly spilled the last drop of blood ...... In the end, Coubertin said with passion, "Therefore, I am full of confidence in such a Greece."
The Crown Prince was obviously infected by the emotions of Coubertin, who said excitedly, "And I, for my part, have full confidence in the Olympic Games."
The Crown Prince was convinced that Gubaidan had made a worthwhile trip to Athens.
The Crown Prince took over all the preparations for the Olympic Games, which caused the prime minister's strong dissatisfaction, King George I returned to the country, and openly support the Crown Prince, forcing Trikoupis resigned as prime minister. A senior official of a country, because of the Olympic Games hosting the issue of resignation which is only once in the history of the Olympic Games.
Preparations for the elimination of obstacles, in order to raise funds, Greece set off a fund-raising campaign throughout the country, raised 332,756 drachmas, but this is just a drop in the bucket. To make up for the lack of funds, the Greek government allocated 400,000 drachmas, which the postal service utilized to issue a set of stamps based on the history of the ancient Olympic Games, sold above face value. These were the first Olympic stamps in the world, and they were used again in Athens in 1906 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the modern Olympic Games. Greece issued Olympic stamps only for financial gain, but it made these stamps popular around the world and had a positive impact. 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games, Belgium for the first time followed the Greek practice. Since then, commemorative stamps of this type have been issued not only by the host countries of the Olympic Games, but also by other countries. The Winter Olympics stamps were issued in 1932, and in 1982 the world's Olympic philatelists established a philatelic association and elected Samaranch as its president.
While the Greeks raised a lot of money through fund-raising and the issue of stamps, the Games were made possible, in the end, thanks to a wealthy Greek businessman, George Averoff (1814-1899). He donated a million drachmas to rebuild the marble stadium on the ruins of the old one. In honor of Averoff's contribution to the Games, Greece built a statue of him in Athens Square, which was unveiled the day before the Games opened.
Basic situation:
Invited to participate in the first modern Olympic Games were Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, the United States, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden and host Greece 14 countries 311 athletes, the largest lineup of Greece, *** 230 people, accounting for two-thirds of the total; Germany, France, 19 people each; the United States 14, in fourth place. Most of the U.S. players came from Harvard and Princeton Universities, and they were self-organized, self-funded, and attended with the intention of sightseeing in Europe. They originally thought that the General Assembly opened on April 18, April 1 arrived in Italy only to learn that the opening date is April 6, so they had to give up all the sightseeing plans, rushed to Athens before the opening. The host of the first Olympic Games followed the old system of the ancient Olympic Games, which did not allow women athletes to participate. As for the eligibility of participating countries, it was not like today when there is a rule that non-IOC members are not allowed to participate. Greece sent invitations to countries all over the world, including China, but the vast majority of countries did not send a team to attend because they did not know much about the Olympics or for other reasons, and China was among them. Greece's neighboring country, Italy, had sent a Milanese athlete, the only one sent by Italy. But he was not allowed to attend because the organizing committee considered him a professional athlete.
Opening Ceremony:
The first Olympic Games finally opened on April 6, 1896, after overcoming many difficulties. This was the earliest month in which any Olympic Games had ever been held. The reason the hosts chose this date for the opening ceremony was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Greek uprising against Turkish rule.
At 3 p.m. on April 6, King George I of Greece opened the games. Vikelas, Coubertin and other IOC officials attended the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony, a solemn piece of classical string music was played, and in 1958 the IOC designated it as the anthem of the Olympic Games, which was composed by a Greek, Samaras, with lyrics by Palamas. The Greeks showed great enthusiasm for the congress, with 80,000 spectators attending the opening ceremony, a figure not exceeded until the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
Competitions:
The event featured nine major sports: track and field, swimming, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, classical wrestling, gymnastics, fencing and tennis. There was a rowing event originally planned, but it was later not held. The reason for the cancellation was given in two different ways, one being that the sea was too windy for the poor weather and it could not be carried out, and the other that no one had signed up and the plans had to be changed.
The battle kicked off on April 6, the opening day. James Connolly of the United States flagged a 13.71-meter victory in the triple jump, becoming the first winner of the modern Olympics. After his victory, the U.S. national anthem was played and the U.S. flag was raised at the stadium. This later became the traditional prize-giving ceremony of the Olympic Games. Connolly was a first-year student at Harvard University in the U.S. and failed to get the university's consent to come to Athens, but the young man, who loved classics and sports, was attracted by the mythical country of Greece and its games, and resolved to drop out of school. When he returned to his alma mater with his first Olympic medal, he received a warm welcome. The school considered it an honor both for Connolly and for Harvard, and Connolly went on to become a famous journalist and author.
The United States was the favorite at the track meet, and two hours after Connolly's win, another competitor won the discus, which the Greeks thought was a sure thing. He is Robert Garrett, a student from Princeton University in the United States. The U.S. only had a national discus competition in 1897, and before that the event was little known. Before the Olympics, when Garrett learned of this competition, asked by all means the discus throwing method, and specially made a size like the ancient Olympic period discus, their own practice.
When he came to Athens, he found that the discus used in the competition was lighter than the one he had made and easier to use, so his confidence grew. In the end, he beat the Greeks with a throw of 29.15 meters. Later he also won first place in the shot put.
The 100-meter final was held on April 10th. There were many different starting positions, some upright, some bent over, some with their hands spread out, but only Thomas Burke of the United States, who ran in something like a "crouch", won the race in exactly 12 seconds, another victory after his 400-meter victory, which was the first Olympic record in the event, set in 11.8 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100 meters.
The Athens marble stadium is "U"-shaped, 333.33 meters long, with a straightaway 192 meters long, and the hosts did not set up a 200-meter event because of the small angle of the turn, which is prone to accidents. This is the only time in the Olympic Games.
The actual distance of this 110-meter hurdles competition is 100 meters, and there are only eight hurdles. Competition, over the fence posture is also a variety of, and some are even double feet jump over the fence after a pause and then run. Only seven athletes registered to participate in the competition, can not be divided into three groups according to the original plan of the preliminaries, temporarily changed to two groups, the top two groups into the final. However, the American U. Hoyt and Hungarian Sau Sokoy, who won the right to compete in the final, did not attend for some reasons. In the end, only two people participated in the final. U.S. hurdle champion Tomas Liutis of the Boston Athletic Association took the crown.
The United States showed up strong in this track meet, winning nine of the 12 events. But the most enthusiastic and sensational spectacle of the Athens Games was the marathon.
Before the Olympics, French linguist Michel Brill traveled to Greece and admired the legendary hero of the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides. In 490 B.C. Greece defeated the invading Persian army in the Marathon Valley with fewer men. At that time as a messenger Pheidippides was ordered to quickly inform the news of this victory to the solid defense waiting for reinforcements in Athens, he ignored the fatigue, from Marathon to Athens, arrived in Athens has been exhausted, only said "we have won"! and fell dead in the square. Brill feel this heroism, wrote to his compatriots, the International Olympic Committee Secretary General Gu Baidan, suggested that in the Olympic Games track and field events, specializing in the addition of a marathon and proposed that he would like to donate a Brill silver cup, as a reward for the champion.
The route of the Athens Olympic Marathon is the same route that Phidippides ran in the past, between Marathon and Athens, a full 40 kilometers. The race is of great interest to Greece, which has yet to win a title in track and field after successive defeats since the start of the competition, and the marathon is the only event in which they have any hope.
The race, which took place on April 10, featured 17 athletes from four countries, and the atmosphere was electric. There were only 135,000 people in Athens at the time, but the marathon was watched by as many as 100,000 people, which can be described as "an empty street". As the seconds ticked by, the spectators in the stands waited impatiently to see who would win the race. When Spyridon Roullis, a Greek wearing a light blue undershirt, was the first to enter the stadium, the crowd jumped and cheered. Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, who was the chief judge of the congress, couldn't help but accompany Rouis to the finish line, and King George I stepped down from the viewing platform to greet the triumphant hero. Bouquets of flowers and gifts were thrown at Luiz's side and at his feet. Thousands of doves with Greek flags and ribbons flew into the sky. Everywhere there was a festive atmosphere of joy. Crowds flooded the field, clamoring to embrace him, tossing him up and down, and even chanting, Give him the minister's pawn. After the match, he was honored with the title of National Hero of Greece, but he did not enjoy the distinction of a high official position. He returned to his remote hometown as a letter carrier and lived in poverty with his wife and children, and when he died in 1940, the Olympic rings were engraved on his tombstone in his honor.
Swimming competitions are held on the open sea, with pontoon boats pulling cables to mark the start and finish lines. Distances were not carefully measured, only roughly estimated. As for the position, it was called freestyle, but in reality it was whatever you wanted it to be. The weather was overcast, the water was cold and the waves were so rough that some competitors were even discouraged. The only Hungarian competitor, 18-year-old Alfred Hajos, won the 100-meter and 1,200-meter freestyle titles, becoming Hungary's first Olympic gold medalist, and was dubbed the "Hungarian Dolphin" by Greek newspapers. The Budapest university student was well known before the Olympics, having won the European Swimming Championships in Austria in August 1895, and an Olympic silver medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics in the art competition.
This year's event also featured a 100-meter freestyle sailor's race for sailors aboard warships anchored in the port of Bielus, which was not on the original schedule and was added on an ad hoc basis. This shows that the establishment of the race program at that time was not very rigorous. Although 14 people signed up, only three Greek sailors actually competed.
Weightlifting and wrestling were not graded by weight at that time. There were only two weightlifting categories, the one-handed lift and the two-handed lift. Britain's Rau Elliott won the one-handed lift with 71 kilograms; in the two-handed lift he lifted the same weight as the winner, Danish Vic Jonsson. However, the judges considered that his lifting position was not as accurate and beautiful as Jonsson's, so he only came second. Elliott is said to have been a bit of a hero after his victory. But when he saw Crown Prince Constantine easily lifting the same weight he had lifted, the pizzazz disappeared. The legend is a bit of a roman à clef, and one that is hard to find in the official history of the world.
There were no rules or standards for athletes competing in the sport, so many athletes were crossfitters. This was even more prominent in wrestling, as in the case of Elliott, who won the weightlifting competition and was also a wrestler, although he only finished fourth. The winner was Karl Schumann, a German who was physically dexterous and weighed less than all of his opponents. Schumann was also a cross-competitor, competing in track and field and gymnastics in addition to wrestling. He also achieved outstanding results in gymnastics, winning the vault title and first place in the team on the double and single bars, plus wrestling, total **** 4 first, the most gold-medal-winning competitor of the session.
The Olympic Charter, drawn up at the Paris Conference in 1894, clearly stipulates that only amateur athletes are allowed to participate in various competitions, but fencing can be an exception. This year's fencing is only foil and sabre, and there are two types of amateur and professional competitions. France's E. Gravelotte and Greece's J. Georgiadis won the foil and sabre titles in the amateur competition. In the professional competition, there was only one foil, which was won by Leon Piggos, the owner of the Athens Fencing School and a famous professional fencer.
The cycling competition **** six events, five of which were scheduled for the racetrack. The other was a road race, which the hosts ingeniously treated as a marathon, with a route of 87 kilometers from Athens to Marathon and back again. There were no special racing cars, and the roads were so rough that the cars often broke down and became unrideable. The champion Greek, A. Constantinidis, had to drive two cars to complete the race. In fact, the 12-hour race on the racetrack was truly a "marathon", with only three of the seven participants sticking it out to the end, and Austria's A. Schmall finally winning the gold medal. The 100km race was even worse, with only two of the nine riders completing the course. France Lé Flamont not only won the event, but also showed good sportsmanship. During the race, he noticed that the bike of Greig Kolaitis behind him was broken, so he stopped and repaired it together with the latter before riding on. His noble style was appreciated. The outstanding cycling achievement was Paul Masson of France, who won the short-distance race 2000 meters and 10,000 meters and other three events alone.
On April 15, the first Olympic Games, which lasted 10 days, ended. The United States*** won 11 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals; the hosts were second with 10, 17 and 19 gold, silver and bronze medals in that order; and Germany was third with 6.5 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals. Germany's half of the gold medals were won by its tennis player Fritz Traun, who teamed up with Britain's John Boland in doubles. Boland was not an official player in the British delegation, but an Oxford student who happened to be sightseeing here. He is a tennis enthusiast who got the itch to play on an ad hoc basis and not only won the doubles, but also contended for the singles title.
Today's Olympics are contested on the basis of national Olympic committees, and this kind of binational cooperation no longer exists. Binational cooperation has brought some confusion in the medal count. Such as this doubles tournament, many historical data is Britain and Germany each recorded 1 gold medal, but there are only half of each, according to the actual situation, the latter calculation method is more reasonable.