Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics At the 1900 Summer Olympics, a football tournament was contested for the first time. Only two demonstration matches were held between the three club sides, and no medals were awarded. Despite this, the International Olympic Committee currently credits Great Britain, France and Belgium with gold, silver and bronze medals respectively as part of its attempt to reconcile early Olympic Games with the modern award scheme. The football matches were held at the Vélodrome de Vincennes in Paris. The matches were held at the Vélodrome de Vincennes in Paris. In the first game, the British
President of the International Olympic Committee congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, being the original home of the Olympics, and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first President of the IOC. Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrius Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention. The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic