The first Olympic Games took place more than a century ago in Athens, Greece, with 43 events, 241 athletes and 14 teams, from April 6-15, 1896, according to the Olympics.
Photos from the first Summer Games show how far the Olympics have come -- and how some traditions have stayed the same. The all-marble Panathenaic Stadium still stands today.
1896: View of athletes, standing in rows, and crowds filling the stadium at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
ATHENS - 1896: The start of the 100 meters sprint at the first Olympic Games of the Modern Era in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Getty Images)
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View of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, 1896. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
The first Olympic stadium entrance, Olympia, Greece. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Marble Stadium was built in Greece to host the first Olympic Games in 1896. (Photo by Jerry Cooke/Corbis via Getty Images)
A bird's-eye view of the Panathenian Marble Stadium, which held the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, dated July 25, 2003, one year ahead of the August 2004 Summer Olympics. (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
ATHENS, GREECE: A bronze statue of a discus thrower stands outside the all-marble Panathinian stadium,in Athens 02 April 2004, as the Olympic rings are seen in the background. The flame for the Athens Games arrived in Athens after nearly a week-long journey in southern Greece and will burn outside the stadium, which hosted the 1896 Olympics, until the international leg of the torch relay begins in early June. AFP PHOTO/ Aris MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
ATHENS, GREECE - NOVEMBER 3: A crowd gathers to watch athletes running in the Athens Marathon finish in the marble Panathenian stadium November 3, 2002 in Athens, Greece. The ancient Olympics were revived in 1896 in Athens, where the marathon was first run to the marble Panathenian stadium. The race, from the village of Marathon to Athens, will use an almost identical route to the original race for the 2004 Summer Games. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
Russian opera soprano singer Anna Netrebko performs during a rehearsal at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on July 8, 2021. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP) (Photo by ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
This photograph taken on June 17, 2021 shows a general view of the Panathenaic Stadium ahead of the 2022 Dior Croisiere (Cruise) fashion show, in Athens. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
