First Olympic Games

The earliest recorded Olympic Games took place in 776 BCE, though the games had undoubtedly been held for many years, perhaps centuries, before that. According to the Chronicon, compiled by historian Eusebius of Caesarea in the fourth Century CE from many now-lost Greek sources, the winner of the ancient Olympics' premier event – the Stadion foot-race – was a cook from the nearby city of Elis called Koroibos (or Coroebus).

The games were a single-day event held within the Sanctuary of Olympia until 684 BCE, when they were expanded to three days. They were later extended to five days and the event moved to a larger purpose-built stadium nearby. At the peak of the Games' popularity, it's estimated that 40,000 people attended the event.

The only event mentioned in accounts of the earliest Games is the Stadion foot-race – a roughly 200 m (656 ft) straight-line sprint. It's not clear if this was the only event, or just the only one whose winners were recorded. Later events added two longer footraces (one of roughly 400 m and another of around 1500 m), the pentathlon, a long jump (in which athletes used heavy counterweights called halteres to boost their jumps), and field events such as javelin, shot put, and discus. Combat sports included boxing, wrestling and pankraton – a sort of ancient mixed martial arts that combined elements of both boxing and wrestling.

The games went into decline between the first and fourth centuries. The Christianization of Greece severed the link between the games and religious ceremony, while the economic and military decline of the Roman Empire sapped the region's resources and ability to support such grand events. The games were officially ended by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 393 CE, but probably persisted at a small local scale for some time after that.