The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, and commonly known as Athens 1896 (Greek: Αθήνα 1896), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, the event was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.
Fourteen nations (according to the IOC, though the number is subject to interpretation) and 241 athletes (all males; this number is also disputed) took part in the games. Participants were all European or living in Europe, with the exception of the United States team, and over 65% of the competing athletes were Greek. Winners were given a silver medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has designated the top three finishers in each event as gold, silver, and bronze medalists. Ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. On April 6, 1896, American James Connolly became the first Olympic medalist in more than 1,500 years, competing in the triple jump. The United States won the most gold medals, 11, while host nation Greece won the most medals overall, 47. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four events.
Athens had been chosen to stage the inaugural modern Games during a congress organised by Coubertin in Paris on 23 June 1894, during which the IOC was also created. The main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place; other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras and written by Kostis Palamas.
The 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. The Panathenaic Stadium overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures, including Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris, and, with the exception of the Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics, 108 years later.
During the 19th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the ancient Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, adopted William Penny Brookes's idea to establish a multi-national and multi-sport event (even though the ancient games only allowed male athletes of Greek origin to participate). In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athlétique, which espoused the importance of Much Wenlock, a rural market town in the English county of Shropshire. It was here that, in October 1850, the local physician William Penny Brookes founded the Wenlock Olympian Games, a festival of sports and recreations that included athletics and team sports like cricket, football and quoits.
Coubertin also took inspiration from earlier Greek games organised under the name of Olympics by businessman and philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859, 1870 and 1875. The 1896 Athens Games were funded by the legacies of Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas and by George Averoff who had been requested by the Greek government to sponsor the second refurbishment of the Panathenaic Stadium. The Greek government did this despite the cost of refurbishing the stadium in marble already being funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier.
On 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposal's acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games was discussed; Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a six-year waiting period might lessen public interest, Congress members opted to hold the inaugural Games in 1896.
With a date established, members of the congress discussed the selection of a host city. It is unknown how Athens was chosen: Coubertin and Demetrius Vikelas's descriptions of the selection process contradicted the congress's official minutes. Most accounts state that several congressmen first proposed London, but Coubertin dissented. After a brief discussion with Vikelas, who represented Greece, Coubertin suggested Athens. Vikelas made the Athens proposal official on 23 June; since Greece had been the original home of the Olympics, the congress unanimously approved the decision. Vikelas was then elected the first president of the newly established International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The return of the Olympic Games to Greece was well-received by the Greek public, media, and royal family. The Crown Prince conferred their patronage on the games. However, the country had financial troubles and was in political turmoil. The country's prime minister frequently alternated between Charilaos Trikoupis and Theodoros Deligiannis during the last years of the 19th century. This instability caused Trikoupis and Stephanos Dragoumis, the president of the Zappas Olympic Committee, which had attempted to organise a series of national Olympiads, to believe that Greece could not host the event. In late 1894, the organising committee under Stephanos Skouloudis presented a report that the cost of the Games would be three times higher than originally estimated by Coubertin. They concluded the Games could not be held and offered their resignation. The total cost of the Games was 3,740,000 gold drachmas (equivalent to €37,417,000 in 2025).
With the prospect of reviving the Olympic Games in doubt, Coubertin and Vikelas commenced a campaign to increase the Olympic movement's popularity. On 7 January 1895, Vikelas announced that Crown Prince Constantine would assume the presidency of the organising committee. His first responsibility was to raise the funds necessary to host the Games. He relied on the patriotism of the Greek people to motivate them to provide the required finances. Constantine's enthusiasm increased contributions from the Greek public, raising 330,000 drachmas (equivalent to €3,246,000 in 2025). A special set of postage stamps was commissioned; the sale of which raised 400,000 drachmas (equivalent to €3,935,000 in 2025). Ticket sales added 200,000 drachmas (equivalent to €1,967,000 in 2025). At the request of Constantine, businessman George Averoff agreed to pay for the restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium. Averoff would donate 920,000 drachmas (equivalent to €9,050,000 in 2025) to this project. As a tribute to his generosity, a statue of Averoff was constructed and unveiled on 5 April 1896 outside the stadium.
The IOC's first regulation, voted on in 1894, was to allow only amateur athletes to participate in the Olympic Games. The various contests were thus held under amateur regulations, except for fencing matches. The rules and regulations were not uniform, so the Organising Committee chose among the codes of the various national athletic associations. The jury, the referees and the game director bore the same names as in antiquity (Ephor, Helanodic and Alitarc). Prince George acted as final referee; according to Coubertin, "his presence gave weight and authority to the decisions of the ephors". Women could not compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics because Coubertin felt that their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect".