現代奧運會的誕生

\"I hereby proclaim1) the opening of the first International Olympic Games at Athens.\" With these words on April 6， 1896， King George I of Greece welcomed the crowd that had gathered in the newly reconstructed2) Panathenian Stadium to the modern-day Olympic Summer Games.

The idea to hold an event to commemorate3) the Ancient Olympic games was suggested by a friend of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France， William Penny Brookes. Brookes organized Much Wenlock Olympian Society's games every year in his home town. He invited the Frenchman， then 27-years-old， Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin was impressed with what he saw and sat up with Brookes long into the night discussing how the Wenlock games might be translated on to a bigger stage. He channeled his energies in the direction of what had long been Brookes' dream—a modern， international games. Coubertin traveled the world to gather support to have nations come together and overcome national disputes4)， all in the name of sport.

If not for the generous private donations of Greek businessmen like George Averoff， these first Olympics might have been moved to Budapest， Hungary.

The program for the Games included track and field， fencing， weightlifting， rifle and pistol shooting， tennis， cycling， swimming， gymnastics， and wrestling. Although 14 nations participated， most of the athletes were Greek.

De Coubertin was pleased with the first games and stressed to organizers the importance of moving the Games all around the world， which set into motion the international festival we know today as the Olympic Summer Games.

“現在我宣布第一屆雅典國際奧林匹克運動會開幕。”1896年4月6日，希臘國王喬治一世宣布首屆奧運會開幕，歡迎聚集在剛剛重建好的雅典競技場前來參加現代夏季奧運會的人們。

舉辦一項活動來紀念古代奧林匹克運動會的想法是由法國皮埃爾·德·顧拜旦男爵的一位朋友威廉·彭尼·布魯克斯提出來的。布魯克斯每年都會在他的家鄉小鎮舉辦一次馬奇·溫洛克奧林匹克運動會。他邀請了這位法國朋友，當時只有27歲的皮埃爾·德·顧拜旦前去觀看。顧拜旦對于運動會中的見聞印象深刻，之后便與布魯克斯徹夜長談，探討如何在一個更大的舞臺上來詮釋溫洛克奧運會。他將精力轉向布魯克斯長期以來的夢想——一種現代的國際運動會。顧拜旦開始在全世界游走，爭取各個國家的支持，希望各國可以消除分歧，以體育之名聚集到一起。

如果沒有諸如喬治·阿韋羅夫等希臘商人的慷慨捐助，第一屆現代奧林匹克運動會極有可能會移址到匈牙利的布達佩斯舉辦。

第一屆現代奧林匹克運動會的比賽項目有田徑、擊劍、舉重、步槍射擊與手槍射擊、網球、自行車、游泳、體操和摔跤。盡管有14個國家參加了本次奧運會，但是大部分的參賽運動員都來自希臘。

德·顧拜旦對第一屆現代奧林匹克運動會非常滿意，他向舉辦者強調了在世界各地舉辦奧運會的重要性，讓這場國際盛會，即今日我們所知的夏季奧運會在全球盛行起來。