The First Olympics: Athens 1896

The First Olympics: Athens 1896 is a 1984 American television

• Louis Jourdan as Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee
• United States Olympic Committee
• Hunt Block as Robert Garrett, United States athlete
• David Caruso as James Brendan Connolly, United States athlete
• Arthur Blake
  , United States athlete
• Hutton Cobb as Thomas Burke, United States athlete
• Jason Connery as Thomas Curtis, United States athlete
• Ian Morton as Ellery Harding Clark, United States athlete
• William Armstrong as William Hoyt, United States athlete
• Aaron Swartz as Herbert Jamison, United States athlete
• Keith Edwards as Albert Tyler, United States athlete
• Terrance Conder as Sumner Paine, United States athlete
• Peter Merrill as John Paine, United States athlete
• Matt Frewer as Francis Lane, United States athlete
• Robert Addie as Grantley Goulding, British athlete
• Benedict Taylor as Edwin Flack, Australian athlete
• Nicos Ziagos as
  Spiridon Louis
  , Greek athlete
• Edward Wiley as John Graham, American coach
• Angela Lansbury as Alice Garrett, Robert Garrett's mother
• Honor Blackman as Madam Ursula Schumann
• Gayle Hunnicutt as Mary Sloane
• Bill Travers as Harold Flack
• Virginia McKenna as Annabel Flack

Historical inaccuracies in the series

• Louis Jourdan was 63 when he played the role of Pierre de Coubertin, who was 33 in 1896. He was also considerably taller than Pierre de Coubertin.
• James Connolly is told by Coach Graham and the dean of students at Harvard that he and Arthur Blake will be volunteering for the new U.S. Olympic Team as punishment for fighting with each other. In reality, after Connolly was denied a leave of absence to compete in the Games, he dropped out and competed anyway.^[2]
• It is noted that Edwin Flack is from a family of butchers, and he would be interrupting his studies at
  Price, Waterhouse, and Company, which later bought out his family's firm.^[3]
• Three Greek flags are raised after the finish of the Marathon, but it is not mentioned that the third Greek finisher,
  Spiridon Belokas, was later disqualified after he was found to have ridden part of the way in a carriage. Gyula Kellner of Hungary was elevated to third place.^[4]
• When athletes first competed in the Olympics, they only represented their clubs or their schools. They did not start participating on official national teams or marching in a Parade of Nations until the
  Commonwealth of Australia
  was not officially formed until 1901.
• Robert Garrett is incorrectly portrayed as being a participant in the marathon. Arthur Blake was the only American entrant in the event, and he did not finish.[6]^[7]
• In an incident similar to the one with an oversized discus, Robert Garrett is seen trying to enter the shot put with an oversized shot put. In reality, unlike the incident with the discus (which is very well documented), there is no record of a similar incident with the shot put having taken place.^[8][9]
• James Connolly is portrayed as having emigrated to America from Ireland, but he was actually born in Boston in 1868;^[6] it was Connolly's parents who emigrated to America.
• Blake is shown placing second in the 800 meters in a thrilling finish, and Edwin Flack brings him onto the first place podium. In reality, Blake was actually second to Flack in the 1500 meters - which was decided in the last 100 meters - and didn't run the 800. The 800 meters silver medal went to Nándor Dáni of Hungary, with the actual winning margin being five meters.

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

Writers Guild of America, USA

Casting Society of America, USA

References

External links

• The First Olympics: Athens 1896 at
  IMDb