P assage 1 T he Olympic Games are the biggest sports event in the world. O ver 10 000 athletes from around the world take part in more than 300 events! T he first Olympic Games took place in ancient Greece in 776 BC. T he games took place every four years in the town of Olympia. T hat ’ s how the Olympics got the name. The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens, the capital of Greece. T here were only nine sports then. T oday there are 28 sports (about 300 events) in the summer Olympic Games and 7 sports (about 60 events) in the winter Olympics. T here are traditional sports like wrestling, athletics and gymnastics, but there are also some relatively new sports like baseball, badminton, softball and table tennis. I t ’ s not easy for a sport to become an Olympic sport. M en have to practice the sport in 75 countries in 4 continents, and women in 40 countries in 3 continents.