Olympic Facts This is a collection of facts about both the ancient and modern Olympics. • The first ancient Olympics was in 776 BC. The winner of the only race was Corubus, a chef. • In 1920 Germany, Austria, Turkey, Hungary and Bulgaria were banned from the Olympics. Germany was banned again in the 1924 Olympics but the other countries were allowed back in again. • So far, no one has set a world record in the discus at an Olympics. This is the only event where this has happened. • Boxing is the only sport in the Olympics where only amateurs can compete. • In the 1936 Olympics Adolf Hitler refused to give medals to a black runner who had won many races because he couldn't believe a black person could beat his 'master race'. How wrong he was! (Usain Bolt) • The 1916, 1940 and 1944 Olympics were missed because of the wars. • The marathon started because a messenger had to run from Marathon to Athens. He then died afterwards. • The set distance for the marathon came from the 1948 Olympics when the Royal Family wanted the Royal children to watch. Therefore they made a course that went past Windsor castle. The exact distance was 26.3 miles and now the distance is 26 miles.