The Summer Olympics has evolved from an athletic competition involving 241 athletes from 14 nations in 1896 to 10,492 athletes from 204 nations in 2008. The list of sports in each Summer Olympics also has grown, although the International Olympic Committee moved several sports to the Winter Olympics in 1924. The Summer Olympics in 2008 had 28 sports and the Winter Olympics in 2010 had 15.
First Olympics
The first modern Olympics was held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, the site of several Olympics held more than 1,500 years earlier. It wasn't called the Summer Olympics because it was the only Olympics event, but the pre-1924 Olympics events were called Summer Olympics retroactively. The 1896 Athens Olympics was held in April. All 241 athletes were men. They competed in nine sports. Track and field, which is still officially called "athletics," had 12 of the 43 events. The other sports were bicycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting and Greco-Roman wrestling. American James Connolly won the first gold medal in modern Summer Games history by winning the triple jump.
Demonstration Sports
Many demonstration sports that didn't award medals have been included in the Summer Olympics. Some became medal sports in future Olympics, while others were never held again. Basketball, for instance, was a demonstration sport at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis and became a medal sport at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Sports that were contested once include automobile racing, ballooning, cricket and motorcycle racing. Polo and tug of war were in a few early Summer Olympics, but were removed decades ago. In 2005, the International Olympic Committee voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympics, the first sports removed from the Summer Olympics since polo in 1936.
Recent Olympics
The most recent Summer Olympics were in Beijing in 2008. The 6,305 male and 4,637 female athletes contested 302 events in 28 sports. All nine sports contested in 1896 were contested in 2008. The other 19 sports in the 2008 Olympics were archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, equestrian events, field hockey, handball, judo, the modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, soccer, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, the triathlon and volleyball. Most of these sports had far more events in 2008. This is reflected in the medal count. The United States was first with 110 medals in 2008; 16 nations had more than 10 medals. In 1896, the United States had the most golds, 11, and only four nations had more than 10 medals.
Men And Women
Women began competing in the Summer Olympics in 1900. Charlotte Cooper of England became the first female gold medalist by winning the Olympics tennis title. Women also competed in croquet. Twenty-five of the 28 sports in the 2008 Summer Olympics were contested by men and women. The only exceptions were men's-only baseball and boxing, and women's-only softball. Synchronized swimming also was contested only by women, but it is listed as part of the swimming events. The only sports that allowed men and women to compete together and against each other were the equestrian events and badminton. Mixed doubles is a regular part of tennis tournaments all over the world, but not at the Olympics.
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