in the I Congress of the International Olympic Committee in 1894 at the Sorbonne, was elected as first president Demetrius Vikelas the Greek merchant, who two years later in 1896, would be replaced by Baron Coubertin. It suggested a number of sports for the Athens program and as a result the first official announcement about the events to be undertaken include sports like football and cricket. These plans fell through and not all sports were initially announced in the final list as only eleven sports were included in the program of the Games, and rowing and sailing were included but were canceled due to strong winds the race day.

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