The silver medal was made for the first modern Olympic Games, which were held in Athens in the summer of 1896. At the time, winners in each sport were awarded silver medals instead of the shiny ...

and the King of Greece himself opened the first modern Olympic Games on April 6, 1896 (March 24 on the Greek calendar). The honour of being the first Olympic champion of the modern era fell to ...

Since the advent of the modern-day Olympics in 1896 ... shows the progression of gold medalists' times for the marathon since 1896. Use the zoom controls at the top right to get a closer look ...