The first Olympic Games began when a chef from a town near Athens, won the stadium race, a foot race 600 feet long. According to some traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals.
From 776 BC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries. Additional athletic events were gradually added until, by the 5th century BC, the religious festival consisted of a five-day program. The athletic events included: three foot races the stadion or the 200m and the diaulos or the 400m. The pentathlon (five contests: discus, javelin, long jump, wrestling, and foot race), pugme (boxing), pale (wrestling), pankration, and the hoplitodromos. Additional events were added throughout the course of the history of the Olympic Games.
Later on, the games stoped when Greece was taken over. The games started again in 1896, and they were held in Athens. Now, contestants from all over the world come to compete in them.
