The first Modern Olympics were held in
in 1896. They were inspired by the ancient Greek competition, but did not use all of the same events. There was not, for example, any
, but there was
, as well as a range of foot races that echoed the
, a 200-yard race that was the only event in the very first of the ancient games, and the
, twice as long, which was introduced as the second event in the 14th version of the ancient games. The 1896
was won by local favorite Spyridon Louis.
In 1900, events of the
Olympics were spread out over about
months, held at
different sites related to the Exposition Universelle. Events that were dropped included
, and a number of new events included
, both driving and jumping, and
.
The 1904 Olympic Games, held in St Louis, once again in conjunction with a World's Fair, saw the introduction of
as one of the events; it remained throughout the 20th century except for 1912. That was the first Olympiad in which athletes competed together in the same stadium at the same time.
While the basic structure of the Olympics as an ongoing core of events and a smaller number of occasional or
events was definitely coming into place, the addition of the Winter Olympic Games in 1924 saw a major expansion of Olympic sports. For the first time,
and ice
appeared on an Olympic program, each with multiple events. The
events of this first Winter Olympiad had expanded into
by the end of the 20th century. One of the last to be added was
in 1998, a year that also saw the return of
, previously only included in 1924.
