The first modern Olympic Games — which started 120 years ago —included something more commonly associated with entitled children than ancient Greeks: a participation trophy.

Getty Images USA wins the discus event. Establishing the first modern Olympic Games was difficult, and attracting amateur athletes from outside of Europe who had to pay their own way to Athens was ...

Spyridon Louis , born on this day in 1873, was a Greek water-carrier who won the first modern-day Olympic marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, thereby becoming the first-ever ...

When were the first Olympics? The IOC hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens. The location was chosen as a tribute to the Games' origins. According to the History Channel, 280 male ...

T he first Olympics of the modern era began on April 6, 1896, in Athens. It was the first successful attempt to revive the competition that had started in ancient Greece, with centuries having ...

Fencers compete at the first modern Olympic Games on April 7, 1896, in Athens, Greece. Back then, only about 250 athletes took part. More than 11,000 competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de ...

This is a very rare occasion as it's the first time the modern-day Olympics have ever been postponed. The Olympics have been canceled three times since its inception, not taking place in 1916 ...

In total, 280 participants from 13 nations around the globe met in Athens to compete in 43 events as part of the first modern Olympic Games, History.com also notes. These events included cycling ...

Not every generation of spectators has shared this level of excitement. In 1896, a curmudgeonly classics scholar covered the first modern Olympics in Athens for The Atlantic; the games drew around ...

Google has marked the 120th anniversary of first modern Summer Olympics, which took place in Athens in 1896. Caroline Mortimer. Wednesday 06 April 2016 15:54 BST. Comments. open image in gallery.

American James Connolly became the first modern Olympic champion in over 1,500 years when he won the triple jump on April 6, 1896. He later tied for second place in the high jump and took third in ...

Getty Images USA wins the discus event. Establishing the first modern Olympic Games was difficult, and attracting amateur athletes from outside of Europe who had to pay their own way to Athens was ...