Google Doodle - Olympic Games' 120th anniversary

The modern Olympic Games' 120th anniversary has been marked with a Google Doodle!

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era.

When were the first Olympic Games?

The Ancient Olympic Games were athletic festivals held every four years in Olympia, Greece from around 776BC, where athletes would compete to win wrestling, chariot racing and running races, among many other sports.

While definitive records are few and far between, the rising influence of the Roman Empire is believed to have caused the decline of the formally-organised Games.

It is believed that the Christian emperor Theodosius I legally abolished "pagan" events like the Games, in 393 or 394 A.D.

On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.

The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. In the eighth century B.C., contestants came from a dozen or more Greek cities, and by the fifth century B.C. from as many as 100 cities from throughout the Greek empire.

In 1850 an Olympian Class was started by Dr. William Penny Brookes at Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, England. In 1859, Dr. Brookes changed the name to the Wenlock Olympian Games. This annual sports festival continues to this day. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded by Dr. Brookes on 15 November 1860.

The ancient Olympic Games were initially a one-day event until 684 BC, when they were extended to three days. In the 5th century B.C., the Games were extended again to cover five days. The ancient Games included running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events.

What do the Olympic rings signify?

Coubertin explained his design in 1931: "A white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red...is symbolic; it represents the five inhabited continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time."