As tough as it is for millions of people (maybe billions!) that the olympics to have been postposed, this isn't the first time the Olympics games didn't happen.
The Olympics have been traced back to 776 BC, when Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won thestadionrace, a foot race 600 feet long. However, some historians claim there is evidence showing even before then! Literary and archaeological evidence suggests the games may have existed at Olympia as early as the 10th or 9th century BC.
According to some literary traditions, the foot race was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals (until 724 BC). From 776 BC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries. The Greek athletes were all male citizens of the city-states from every corner of the Greek world, coming from as far away as Iberia (Spain) in the west and the Black Sea (Turkey) in the east.
The ancient Olympic Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, but after the event in 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, starting on April 6, 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. His original thought was to unveil the modern Games in 1900 in his native Paris, but delegates from 34 countries were so enthralled with the concept that they convinced him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the first host.
Pierre de Coubertin became the IOC president in 1896 and was also the designer behind the Olympic Rings. The Rings were publicly introduced in 1913 and became the Official Olympic symbol in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium (the 1916 games were canceled due to WWI).
Olympic Rings definition: “The Olympic symbol consists of five interlaced rings of equal dimensions (the Olympic rings), used alone, in one or in five different colours. When used in its five-colour version, these colours shall be, from left to right, blue, yellow, black, green and red. The rings are interlaced from left to right; the blue, black and red rings are situated at the top, the yellow and green rings at the bottom in accordance with the following graphic reproduction.” (Olympic Charter, Rule 8)
“The Olympic symbol expresses the activity of the Olympic Movement and represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.” (Olympic Charter, Rule 8)
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