http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/06/olympic_countdown_43_anyone_fo.html en-gb 30 Mon 28 Dec 2009 11:38:28 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/06/olympic_countdown_43_anyone_fo.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/06/olympic_countdown_43_anyone_fo.html?page=13#comment2 In actual fact, the first British Olympic champions to compete in an Olympic Games were those that competed at the London 1866 Olympic Games held at Crystal Palace.Although the Games at Crystal Palace were a national Olympic Games they were the first to look like an Olympic Games to be held outside of Greece in modern times.A number of events were held inside the Crystal Palace itself and W.G. Grace, the famous cricketer, was the Olympian victor in the hurdles event.There were also "Olympian Games" held at the town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire that preceded the London 1866 Games but they were neither national nor very Olympic. Credit due to Dr William Penny Brookes and the Wenlock Olympian Society who adopted events in to the programme from the Athens 1859 Olympic Games to make the programme more "Olympic-like". It was Dr Brookes who deservedly led the organising committee for the 1866 Games.Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited Dr Brookes in Much Wenlock and was inspired to go on to found the International Olympic Committee. The Baron adopted many of Dr Brookes ideas. By default, that makes Dr Brookes a founder of the Modern Olympic Movement.As for the even earlier "Cotswold Olympicks", well anybody that wants to compare those Games with the "Olympic Games" really needs to participate in that "Olympick's" blue-riband event, the most un-Olympic shin-kicking contest before attempting the comparison.Yours faithfully,Mike PagomenosFounder of Zappas.orgMember of the International Society of Olympic Historians Fri 27 Jun 2008 08:43:04 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/06/olympic_countdown_43_anyone_fo.html?page=6#comment1 Good point!The link to 43 is that is how many events were staged at the 1896 Olympics - the copy has been rectified!Thanks. Thu 26 Jun 2008 16:05:20 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/06/olympic_countdown_43_anyone_fo.html?page=0#comment0 what is the link to '43'? Thu 26 Jun 2008 15:42:22 GMT+1