The first modern Olympic Games

希腊首都雅典是欧洲古代文明的中心，古奥运会发源地奥林匹亚就在离此约300公里的地方。1894年6月经过巴黎国际体育会议协商，历史名城雅典赢得了首届现代奥运会主办权。

应邀参加首届现代奥运会的有澳大利亚、奥地利、保加利亚、英国、匈牙利、德国、丹麦、美国、法国、智利、瑞士、瑞典和东道主希腊14个国家的311名运动员，希腊阵容最大，共230人，占总数的三分之二；德国、法国各19人；美国14人，居第四位。美国詹姆斯·康诺利在三级跳远赛中旗开得胜，成绩是13.71米，成为现代奥运会的第一个冠军。他获胜后，运动场奏起了美国国歌，升起了美国国旗。这在以后就成了奥运会的传统发奖仪式。

During the first Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Paris on 18-23 June 1894, the city of Athens was selected for the Games of the I Olympiad. Pierre de Coubertin's dream finally came true, and the revival of the ancient Olympics attracted athletes from 14 nations, with the largest delegations coming from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. On 6 April 1896, the American James Connolly won the triple jump to become the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years.

德国人卡尔·舒曼是一位跨项选手，除摔跤外，他还参加了田径、体操比赛。他在体操赛中也取得了出色的成绩，获跳马冠军和双杠、单杠团体第一名，加上摔跤，总共4项第一，是本届获金牌最多的选手。

The German athlete Carl Schumann won three events in gymnastics (individual horse vault and horizontal bar and parallel bars team competitions) en 1896. He also won the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament in a major upset. Schumann also competed in three events in athletics (long jump, triple jump and shot put) and in weightlifting.

在最受关注的马拉松比赛中，身着浅蓝背心的希腊人斯皮里东·鲁易斯第一个冲入运动场，为希腊赢得了极高的荣誉。

The people of Athens greeted the Games with great enthusiasm. Their support was rewarded when a Greek shepherd, Spyridon Louis, won the most popular event, the marathon. On 10 April 1896, Louis, wearing shoes that had been donated by his fellow villagers, set off from Marathon with sixteen other runners. He took the lead four kilometers from the Panathenaic Stadium and, to the great joy of the 100,000 spectators in and around the stadium, won the race by more than seven minutes.

当时的冠军获得了银牌，橄榄枝和证书，第二名则获得了铜牌，月桂枝和证书。奖牌的正面是希腊神话中主神宙斯的脸，他的手中握着地球，地球上是胜利女神，奖牌的背面则是雅典卫城。

First place winners were awarded a silver medal, an olive branch and a diploma. Those in second place were given a copper medal, a branch of laurel and a diploma.

The obverse side of the medal has Zeus' face along with his hand holding a globe with the winged victory on it, with the caption in Greek "Olympia". The reverse side had the Acropolis site with the caption in Greek "International Olympic Games in Athens in 1896."