A HISTORY OF THE SUMMER GAMES FROM ATHENS TO ATLANTA

The greatest champion in Olympic history won no medals. Baron Pierre de Coubertin wasn't even much of an athlete. But were it not for the diminutive French nobleman, we might not know the names of Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrikson, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Mark Spitz, Nadia Comaneci, Jackie Joyner-Kersee...

Coubertin was only 29 years old when he proposed the revival of the classical Olympic Games, which had been dead for 15 centuries. A man of erudition, zeal and diplomacy, Coubertin rallied sportsmen from around the world and persuaded the Greek government to play host to the first of what he hoped would be quadrennial spectacles. He personally wrote the invitations for those first Games and even helped design the medals. What thanks did he get? Well, as his wife said after the first successful modern Olympics, in Athens, "Why was it that not one time did they mention your name?"

The baron was eventually honored as the father of the modern Olympics. And despite some fitful starts, his dream grew by (pardon the expression) leaps and bounds. The Games have survived two World Wars and a cold one, not to mention mismanagement, terrorism, professionalism and overcommercialization. The Olympics have of course changed--the tug of war and the 200-m obstacle swim are no longer events--and the Games today may not be exactly what Coubertin, who disliked the idea of team sports, had in mind. But the baton of his athletic ideal has been passed from Athens to Paris to St. Louis ...and now to Atlanta, for the Centennial Games.

On the following pages, we will take a look back at the history of the Games, visit their newest host, provide a guide through the maze of events, profile six athletes who embody the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius (Swifter, Higher, Stronger), and, in a series of photographs, show the timeless quality of the Olympics. But for now, Let the Games begin!