Passage 3 The Olympic Games are the biggest sports event in the world. Over 10,000 athletes from around the world take part in more than 300 events! The first Olympic Games took place in ancient Greece in 776 BC. The games took place every four years in the town of Olympia. That’s how the Olympics got the name. The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens, the capital of Greece. There were only nine sports then. Today there are 28 sports (about 300 events) in the summer Olympic Games and 7 sports (about 60 events) in the winter Olympics. There are traditional sports like wrestling, athletics and gymnastics, but there are also some relatively new sports like baseball, badminton, softball and table tennis. It’s not easy for a sport to become an Olympic sport. Men have to practice the sport in 75 countries in 4 continents, and women in 40 countries in 3 continents.