But! The answer technically depends on whether you consider the inception of the ancient or the modern-era olympics to be considered the first “official” Olympic games. The first ancient Olympics was held in 776 BC, and held in Greece. Nobody is EXACTLY sure how it got started, but legend holds it had something to do with Heracles building an Olympic stadium as a favor to his father (Zeus). To honor this memory, the Greek people got together and decided to play games once every four years. It was such a big deal that warring factions were made to declare temporary truce to allow people to travel safely to the games. Apparently, there are ancient inscriptions in a Greek wall somewhere listing names of participants in a foot race every 4 years beginning in 776 BC – and this event is widely agreed upon as the official beginning of the ancient Olympics.
Unfortunately, around the year 400 AD a very un-sportsmanly emperor named Theodosius decreed that the Olympic games were an evil pagan practice and abolished the tradition (talk about a sore loser). About 12-1300 sad years passed with no Olympics. Until sometime in the 17th century, when the Costwold Games was established in Britain. This very lively event consisted of horse racing, hound-running, jumping, and dancing (that means there were once gold-medalists in hound-running and “jumping.” Who knew?) Olympic-like events continued in Britain through the mid-19th century, but it wasn’t until the War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire that the Greeks got back in the game (literally). Fast-forward to 1896, when the first-ever International Olympic Committee-run games were held in Britain. The first event? A race, obviously.
Nowadays, there’s an Olympic category for pretty much any athletic event you can think of ( even that goofy sport where people in funny shoes use brooms to push a stone across ice ). The opportunity for Olympic glory is now global! Oh, and as soon as there’s an Olympic category for pie-eating, you can bet we’ll be going for a gold medal too.
