PARIS 1900

The Games, overshadowed by the Eiffel Tower, were very much a sideshow to the Paris Exposition and the organisation was an embarrassment.

Charlotte Cooper of Britain had already won three of her five Wimbledon titles when she became the first women's Olympic champion.

American college students Alvin Kraenzlein, Irving Baxter, John Tewksbury and Ray Ewry won 11 of 23 track and field events, five seconds and a third. Kraenzlein is still the only athlete to win four individual athletic golds at one Olympics - 110m hurdles, long jump and the discontinued 60m hurdles and 200m hurdles.