At the completion of the games there was another ceremony and they would be crowned with a wreath of olive branches. When the athletes returned home they were often awarded large sums of money and fame, just like our present-day Olympic athletes.
The history of the Olympics clearly reveals how much the event has changed over the course of time.
Since the first official Summer Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, they have grown into the largest sporting event in the world. This article looks at some of the greatest summer Olympics legends, and their contribution to sporting folklore.
Sports in ancient Greece were a critical part of the culture, and the prominence of the Olympic games is the clearest sign of that.
The Summer Olympic Games are not historically documented until 776 BC, but it is widely accepted that they had been in practice from as early as the 13th century BC.
At their 1925 congress the IOC decided to establish the Winter Olympics as its own institution separate from the summer games. One year later, in 1926, the Marquis de Polignac proposed that the IOC designate the 1924 Olympics “International Winter Sports Week” as the very first Winter Olympic Games.