1896 Summer Olympics
First Olympics
The first summer Olympics started on April 6, 1896 in Athens, Greece. The Greeks started the Olympics for religious festivals. In comparison, the 1896 Olympics cost close to $3,500, while this years Olympics in Sochi cost $50 billion. The first events in the Olympics were athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. In 1896 they excluded women from the events, except for Stamata Revithi she insisted that she be allowed to run. Revithi ran one day after the men had completed the official race, although she finished the marathon in approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes to complete a 40-kilometer marathon. 4 years later they started allowing women to participate in the Olympics. 22 out of 377 participants were female. However, you have to be at least 15 to be able to participate in the Olympics.
More than 10 nations participated in the 1896 Olympic games:
1.) United States 2.) Greece 3.) Australia 4.) Great Britain 5.) Austria 6.) Hungary 7.) Denmark 8.) Germany 9.)Switzerland 10.)France Ect.