The first written evidence of the official Games dates from 776 BC, when the Greeks began measuring time in Olympiads, or the duration between each edition of the Olympic Games. The first Olympic Games were held every four years in honour of the god Zeus. From then on, a number of artistic activities such as music, singing, poetry and theatre were organised at the Pythian or Delphic Games (a separate event to the Games held in Olympia), linking culture and sport right from the beginning of the Games.

In 393 AD, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games for religious reasons, claiming that they encouraged paganism. They were not revived until the modern era.

A number of initiatives to re-establish an international sporting event were attempted at the end of the 19th century, but failed due to the lack of coordination among the worldwide sporting movement – until one man decided to bring the main stakeholders together in Paris. 

The Olympic Games were therefore revived at the first Olympic Congress, organised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and held at the Grand Amphitheatre at the Sorbonne University from 16 to 23 June 1894. Two thousand people attended, including 58 French delegates representing 24 sports organisations and clubs, and 20 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States representing 13 foreign sports federations.

The first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in Athens, in the country where the original Games took place in Antiquity, in April 1896.

Paris hosted the second Games in 1900.

The Paris 1900Olympic Games saw women compete for the first time. The first female Olympic champion was Charlotte Cooper, a British tennis player who won Wimbledon five times. Out of a total of 997 athletes, 22 were women, competing in just five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian events and golf. 

The1904Olympic Games in St. Louis (Missouri) were the first to distribute gold, silver and bronze medals, and also included the first known disabled athlete to compete in the Olympic Games, George Eyser. He won six medals in gymnastics, three of which were gold.

The Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 were the first to include competitors from all five continents represented by the Olympic rings. It was also the year that women made their debut in the swimming events.