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
South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee Board has initiated a forensic audit into the amounts paid across by itself to SASCOC. The South African Olympic and Empire Games Association (SAOEGA) was the first South African NOC affiliated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The word "Empire" was changed to "Commonwealth" (SAOCGA) when the "British Empire Games" became the "Commonwealth Games", and "Republic" (SAORGA) when South Africa became a republic. In apartheid South Africa mixed-race competitions were banned and SOARGA's member bodies only governed white sports. In 1966 the anti-apartheid South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC; the O later standing for "Open") replaced the SAORGA in the