Five things you didn’t know about the first modern Olympic Games in Athens 120 years ago

Google has marked the 120th anniversary of first modern Summer Olympics, which took place in Athens in 1896

The first tournament in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896 Henry Guttman/Getty Images
Today marks the 120th anniversary of the modern incarnation of the ancient Olympic Games which were staged in Athens in 1896. 

Only 14 countries participated in the original tournament and there were only 43 events, but over the next century it grew in prestige to the international sporting festival it is today. 

Here are some of things you may not know about the revival of the Olympics:

It was not the first attempt to revive the ancient tournament in Greece

The “pagan” sporting festival was banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 394AD as part of his campaign to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire. 

In the 19th century, European philanthropists were inspired to revive the ancient tournament as a way to improve the “moral and physical education” of the masses. 

Greek philanthropists Evangelos and Konstantinos Zappas paid for the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium where they sponsored the first games held there in 1859, then again in 1870 and 1875.