#37: Coroebus of Elis
It’s pretty amazing to think about the fact that the Olympic games have been around for over 2,000 years. The earliest historical recording of the Olympic games was in 776 BCE in ancient Greece. As far as we know, there was only one sporting event during those first fateful games. Thanks to historians, we know who won that game, too.
The very first Olympic game was a simple footrace that was about 210 yards long. The winner was a man named Coroebus of Elis. He wasn’t a professional athlete who had been training his whole life to win. He was simply a cook! Our version of the Olympic Games is much different, so a one-day event with a chef gold medalist may seem anticlimactic. However, this is such a cool historical nugget of information. We’re pretty lucky enough to have this information!