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With the Summer time Olympics set to open tomorrow, it appeared the right time to peruse newspaper protection from the primary fashionable Olympic Video games. When the fashionable Olympics began on April 6, 1896, the world of communications and expertise was archaic, in comparison with the units and choices that litter the panorama at this time. Reporters, nonetheless, had been in Athens to cowl the Video games, so newspaper tales will be discovered in regards to the occasion.
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The Video games attracted 241 athletes from 14 international locations. Greater than 65 per cent of the athletes had been from Greece; no Canadian athletes attended. Canadian newspapers did, nonetheless, give some protection of the Video games.
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The primary story from the Video games within the Calgary Each day Herald — revealed on April 7, 1896 — got here from a London information service and was primarily based on a letter from a yachtsman who was lower than impressed with what he noticed.
One other story from the Video games revealed within the Herald occurred April 14, 1896, specializing in the marathon which featured 17 opponents from 5 international locations. A Greek water-carrier named Spyridon Louis received the occasion. The primary a part of the race had been an in depth contest and included an American named Arthur Blake and an Australian named Edwin Flack, however Blake was unable to complete the race, quitting after 23 kilometres. Flack, who had by no means raced greater than 16 kilometres at a time, collapsed just a few kilometres from the top of the then-40-kilometre marathon. Nevertheless, Flack earlier received the 800 metre and 1500 metre races, and competed in singles and doubles tennis, wherein he positioned third.
Protection of the closing ceremonies within the Herald on April 17, 1896 was as follows:
![The 1896 winner of the first modern Olympics marathon, Spyridon (Spyros) Louis. Postmedia archives](https://smartcdn.prod.postmedia.digital/calgaryherald/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/spyros-p.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&sig=HfXU8lSMQw5cTOgdgZ9KHA)
Older Canadian cities, with extra established and complex printing presses, devoted extra information area to these first fashionable Olympics. With no Canadians competing, nonetheless, revealed experiences targeted on People, as this April 8, 1896 article from the Montreal Gazette exhibits:
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