With the countdown at just two months before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, we thought it is high time that we truly understood what these Games are all about and where they come from….
Did you know that London is going to become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948?
As far as written records tell us, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles, the son of Zeus, and the Olympic Games were first celebrated in 776 BCE. The celebration grew and continued to be played every four years until either in 261 or 393 CE in the Greek city of Olympia, when the Roman emperor Theodosius I abolished them because of their pagan influences.
However, in 1892, a Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin first pitched the idea to revive them, that’s why he was known as le Renovateur. This is how in 1894 delegates from nine countries decided to construct an international Committee to organise the Games: the International Olympic Committee. Demetrious Vikelas was his first president and Athens the location for the revival of the Olympic Games.
