The Olympic Games, as we know them today, go back to ancient times. Everything started in the Peloponnese, Greece, some 3,000 years ago. Historical records show that the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such “pagan cults” be banned.
In 1894, Pierre de Coubertin launched his project to restore the Olympic Games, and in 1896 the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens. The Games attracted athletes from 14 nations, with the largest delegations coming from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccDFpoF5tZw
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