The Rio Olympics were a marvelous affair, with diversity and feats galore; and even had the world’s first refugee Olympics team.
But the Olympics weren’t always like this. The originally began in ancient Greece, held every fourth year, much like the current ones. While the ancient games were the Greek way of paying homage to their gods, the modern ones which we know of, salute athletic talent around the world.
Modern Olympics began from 1896 with only 13 countries competing in nine sports events. Comparatively, more than 200 nations participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics in 306 events in 42 Olympic disciplines.
And it’s not merely the participation that’s grown, but the diversity, difficulty and expertise as well.
Recently, an Imgur user who goes by the name of ‘hyddox’ posted some pictures which provide a glimpse of just how far we’ve come in the last two decades. Check them out: