The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, on April 6, 1896. Reporters and photographers were there. And they would be back for many more Olympic Games in the years to come.
An article excerpt from the Los Angeles Herald:
A founder of the 1896 games is described in the Smithsonian.com article, “The Men Behind the First Olympic Team:”
“….By January of 1896, most everyone in U.S. athletic circles had heard about the plan to revive the ancient Greek Olympic competitions, promulgated by an energetic Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The diminutive, 34-year-old baron was no stranger to the States or to Boston. In fact, he had attended a conference of physical educators held in the city in 1889, where he presented some of his ideas; Coubertin believed in the integration of intellectual discipline with athletic activity.
As a historian, Coubertin knew that an even greater precedent lay in the distant past; in the quadrennial Games held in ancient Olympia. An internationalist, as well, Coubertin began to envision bringing the world together through sports and athletics….”
The Boston newspapers were proud of their local team:
The April 17th edition of the Vermont Phoenix described the closing ceremony:
After the first modern Olympics came to a close organizers announced their plans for the future.
This story appeared in the Manitoba Morning Free Press:
The Olympic Games
“LONDON, April 29 — M. Coubertin, president of the international committee of the Olympic games, writes to the Times that the games in 1900 will be held in Paris, and for 1904 the committee will choose between New York, Berlin, Stockholm. The original plan, he says, of taking the games to different points around the world will be adhered to.”
