the first olympic games took place at olympia.
the first olympic games took place at olympia.
where did the first olympic games take place?
olympia
the 1896 summer olympics, officially known as the games of the olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in athens, greece, from 6 to 15 april 1896. it was the first olympic games held in the modern era. about 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games. the athletes came from 14 nations, with most coming from greece. although greece had the most athletes, the u.s. finished with the most champions. 11 americans placed first in their events vs. the 10 from greece. ancient greece was the birthplace of the olympic games, consequently athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern games. it was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organised by pierre de coubertin, a french pedagogue and historian, in paris, on 23 june 1894. the ioc was also established during this congress.
summer olympic games
when the olympic games returned to greece in athens 2004, the colombian delegation collected two bronze medals through weightlifter mabel mosquera and cyclist maría luisa calle, who won colombia's first olympic medal in cycling. calle was originally stripped of her medal after failing an antidoping test for heptaminol. she assured that hours before the race, she took a anti-migraine pill which contained isometheptene, a substance which transforms into heptaminol during laboratory analyses. the bronze medal she won in the women's points race was later returned, being one of a few cases in which ioc returned a medal stripped for doping. for the beijing olympics in 2008, the colombian roster won two medals: weightlifter diego salazar won silver in the men's 62kg, and jackeline rentería won colombia's first olympic medal in wrestling, earning bronze in women's freestyle 55kg category. during a wave of retests in 2016, it was disclosed that original gold and bronze medalists in the women's weightlifting 69kg event failed an antidoping test; weightlifter leidy solís finished fourth in that event back in 2008. later in january 2017 the disgraced aforementioned medalists were officially disqualified, meaning that solís was upgraded to second place. she received her silver medal in december 2017. colombia made its winter olympics debut in 2010 in vancouver. us-born swiss skier cynthia denzler represented the country in the women's slalom and giant slalom. she ranked 51st in the slalom event. to participate at the 2012 olympics, colombia sent a delegation composed of 104 athletes; this was the first time a delegation exceeded one hundred participants. the performance of national athletes improved remarkably as well. the maximum number of medals won in one edition of the games was three, number reached at munich 1972 and beijing 2008. in london the colombian contingent won eight medals in six different sports. bmx rider mariana pajón won colombia's first golden medal since sydney 2000. cyclist rigoberto urán won silver in the men's road race, the first olympic medal in road cycling competitions for the country. track and field athlete caterine ibargüen won silver in the women's triple jump, the first medal in athletics since barcelona 1992. weightlifter óscar figueroa won also silver in the men's 62kg, setting an olympic record of 177kg in the clean and jerk phase. jackeline rentería matched her performance in beijing and won again a bronze medal, joining helmut bellingrodt as the only colombian athletes to win two olympic medals. carlos oquendo also won bronze in the cycling men's bmx race, on the same day pajón won gold in the women's race. the bronze medals won by yuri alvear in judo and óscar muñoz oviedo in taekwondo, were the first olympic medals for colombia in those sports. the good performance achieved in london 2012 continued and improved in rio de janeiro 2016. competing at the first olympic games held in south america, colombian athletes won three gold, two silver and three bronze medals, winning again a total of eight medals. triple jump world champion caterine ibargüen won a gold medal in the women's event, the first olympic golden medal in athletics for colombia. óscar figueroa upgraded his silver medal to gold in the men's weightlifting 62kg category, keeping colombia's good streak in olympic weightlifting since 2000 and becoming the first male olympic champion for the country. mariana pajón became the first colombian athlete to be olympic gold medalist twice, as she won again the women's cycling bmx race. judoka yuri alvear won silver in the women's 70kg event, improving her 2012 bronze medal. ibargüen, figueroa, pajón and alvear joined shooter bellingrodt and wrestler rentería as the only colombian athletes to have won two olympic medals. boxers yuberjén martínez and ingrit valencia won colombia's first olympic medals in boxing since seoul 1988; martínez won silver and valencia earned bronze, making her the first colombian female boxer to win an olympic medal. bmx rider carlos ramírez won bronze in the men's race. weightlifter luis javier mosquera originally finished fourth in the men's 69kg event, but was later awarded the bronze medal as original winner kyrgyzstan's izzat artykov was disqualified after testing positive for the stimulant strychnine. after an absence of eight years, colombia competed again at the winter olympics in 2018 in pyeongchang. the colombian delegation was made up of athletes competing in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and ice speed skating, becoming in the first latin american country to compete in the latter.
colombia at the olympics