Olympic Games funding, which was expected to be recouped through the sale of tickets and from the sale of the first Olympic commemorative stamp set. Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris. After the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation that threatened their survival. The
Ancient Olympic Games festival, the Eleusinian Mysteries. The games started in Olympia, Greece, in a sanctuary site for the Greek deities near the towns of Elis and Pisa (both in Elis on the peninsula of Peloponnesos). The first games began as an annual foot race of young women in competition for the position of the priestess for the goddess, Hera, and a second race was instituted for a consort for the priestess who would participate in the religious traditions at the temple. The Heraean Games, the first recorded competition for women in the Olympic Stadium, were held as early as the sixth century