The year 2024 will mark a historic milestone for the Olympic movement, as it will be the 2,800th anniversary of the first official Olympic Games. According to the ancient Greek tradition, the first official Olympic Games were held in 776 BC in Olympia, a sacred site in southern Greece dedicated to the god Zeus. We use the word official because unofficially the games are actually much older, but the official count started in 776 BC. 

The Games were a religious festival that brought together athletes from various city-states to compete in various sports, such as running, wrestling, boxing, chariot racing, and discus throwing. The winners were awarded with olive wreaths and honored as heroes by their fellow citizens.

The ancient Olympic Games lasted for more than a millennium, until they were banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 393 AD for being a pagan practice. For centuries, the Olympic spirit lay dormant, until a French aristocrat named Pierre de Coubertin revived it in the late 19th century. Inspired by the ancient Games and the ideals of Olympism, Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 and organized the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

The Emmy-winning mini-series The First Olympics: Athens 1896 is about the founding of the modern Olympics, the creation of the American team and their trials to get to Athens to compete. It was filmed in 1984 as part of a promotional effort to create interest in the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics. You can watch both episodes below, or continue this post reading below them.

Since Athens 1896, the Olympic Games have become the world’s foremost sporting event, featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from more than 200 nations participate. The Olympic Games are not only a celebration of sport, but also of culture, education, peace, and friendship. The Olympic Charter defines the mission and values of the Olympic movement, which include promoting the development of the physical and moral qualities of humankind, fostering international cooperation and solidarity, and contributing to the creation of a better and more peaceful world.

Paris 2024

The 2024 Olympic Games will be held in Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11. This will be the third time that Paris hosts the Games, after 1900 and 1924. The 2024 Games will also coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics. The organizers of the 2024 Games have announced that they will pay tribute to the ancient and modern origins of the Olympic movement, as well as to the vision and legacy of Coubertin.

One of the ways that the 2024 Games will honor the 2,800th anniversary of the first Olympic Games is by holding some events at historical sites that are linked to the ancient Games. For example, the marathon and race walking events will start from the Château de Versailles, which was built by King Louis XIV, who was fascinated by the ancient Olympics and commissioned a replica of the Olympic stadium in Olympia in his gardens. The equestrian events will take place at the Chantilly Castle, which houses a museum dedicated to the history of horse racing and the Olympic equestrian disciplines. The archery events will be held at the Invalides, a complex of buildings that includes a military museum and the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte, who admired the ancient Greeks and their culture.

Another way that the 2024 Games will celebrate the 2,800th anniversary of the first Olympic Games is by incorporating elements of the ancient Games into the opening and closing ceremonies. For instance, the Olympic flame, which symbolizes the continuity between the ancient and modern Games, will be lit in Olympia and transported to Paris by a relay of torchbearers.  The opening ceremony will also feature a performance of the Olympic Hymn, which was composed by Spyridon Samaras and Kostis Palamas for the 1896 Games in Athens, and has been used as the official anthem of the Olympic movement since 1958. The closing ceremony will include a presentation of the olive wreaths, which were the original prizes for the ancient Olympic champions, to the winners of the marathon events, which were inspired by the legendary run of the Greek messenger Pheidippides from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens in 490 BC.

2,800 years

The 2024 Olympic Games are a unique opportunity to commemorate the 2,800th anniversary of the first Olympic Games and to celebrate the enduring values and ideals of the Olympic movement. Paris 2024 will also be a chance to showcase the rich cultural heritage and diversity of France, the host country, and to promote the spirit of friendship and cooperation among the nations and peoples of the world. The Olympic Games will be a testament to the power of sport and culture to unite humanity and to inspire future generations to pursue excellence, respect, and peace.

If you are interested in more, we featured some more interesting Olympic documentaries in our old Olympic Day blog post. Or you can visit the official Olympics site.