First Modern Olympics

April 6, 1896

In the marble stadium Herodes Atticus had built in Athens, a Frenchman named Coubertin staged the first modern Olympic Games with 241 athletes from fourteen countries. A Greek shepherd named Spiridon Louis won the marathon. The event was intended, rather optimistically, to promote peace through sport. The games nearly died after a chaotic 1900 Paris edition, but survived to become the world's largest recurring peacetime gathering.