There were no gold medals at the first modern Olympics in 1896.

1896

Winners got silver and an olive branch, runners-up copper, and third place got nothing.

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The event

• First modern Olympic Games1896 · Athens. In April 1896 Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games, revived on the initiative of Pierre de Coubertin. Athletes from 14 nations competed, with events held in the restored ancient Panathenaic Stadium.

19th century

More amazing facts

• 1895 In 1895 Popov demonstrated a radio receiver in St Petersburg, and the Lumière brothers held the first paid film screening in Paris.
• 1895 'I have seen my death!' cried Röntgen's wife when she saw the first X-ray of her hand about six weeks after he discovered the rays.
• 1895 · 1896 Audiences did not flee the Lumières' Arrival of a Train; it is most likely an urban legend.
• 1896 Kandinsky took up painting at 30.
• 1896 Five weeks after Ethiopia routed an Italian army at Adwa, the first modern Olympics opened in Athens.
• 1896 · 1935 Einstein never failed maths: he had mastered calculus before he was 15.

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