The vision of the revival of the Olympic Games became a reality in 1896, when the first modern Olympiad took place at the Panathenaic Stadium of Athens. The idea of staging international athletic events in a different country every four years was eventually realized.
«πολλὰ μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλα ἴδοι τις ἂν ἐν Ἕλλησι, τὰ δὲ καὶ ἀκούσαι θαύματος ἄξια: μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς Ἐλευσῖνι δρωμένοις καὶ ἀγῶνι τῷ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ μέτεστιν ἐκ θεοῦ φροντίδος.»
«Many are the sights to be seen in Greece, and many are the wonders to be heard; but on nothing does Heaven bestow more care than on the Eleusinian rites and the Olympic games.» (Παυσανίας 5, 10, 1).
In the first Olympic Games, the running race of dromos was the sole athletic event staged. In their long history, their programme was gradually enriched so that the games turned into the most significant athletic pursuit in antiquity as it is nowadays.
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