It all began in 776 BC, with a simple foot race of about 200m held at Olympia in Greece. (1) ____four years from then athletes as well (2) ____ poets and artists met there for a festival in honour of the god Zeus. (3) ______ from foot racing, the event came (4) _____ include wrestling, boxing and the pentathlon. Winners became overnight heroes and (5) ______festival merited a permanent place in the Greek calendar to mark a span of four years (6) ____they called the Olympiad.
The games (7) _____ for nearly 1200 years, until AD 393, (8) _____the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned all such 'pagan' celebrations. A millennium and a half later, a French baron began a campaign to recreate that spirit (9) ______ good-natured but serious competition. Baron pierre de Coubertin's family wanted (10) ______ to become an officer in the French Army. But de Coubertin believed that the cause of peace (11) ____be better served (12) ___ a regular meeting of amateur, world-class athletes and dedicated his energy (13) ____ realising his dream. During the 1890s he (14) ___speech after speech to international sports associations, and (15) _____ last persuaded them to revive the name and spirit of the ancient Olympic Games.