> On April 6th 1896, James Connolly became the first Olympic champion of moderntimes. Which country did he represent?> And the answer: United States of America. Photo credit: public domain.The 27-year-old athlete from Boston became the firstOlympic champion in over 1500 years when he won the triple jump competition. Hewent on to place second in the high jump and third in the long jump.Since the modern iteration of the Olympic Games, thousands of athletes haveclaimed a medal, whether that be gold, silver or bronze. At the time of his goldmedal win, James Connolly was a student at Harvard. Desperate to compete at theOlympic Games, Connolly submitted a request for a leave of absence which,according to Harvard records, was denied. Connolly then requested an honorablewithdrawal as a student, which was granted. Meanwhile, the track-and-fieldprogram at the 1896 Athens competition was dominated by athletes from the USA,who would go on to win nine of the 12 events.To no one's surprise, the most decorated Olympic athlete in modern history isMichael Phelps, with a whopping 28 Olympic medals (23 of which are gold).Interestingly, though, gold medals are now mainly made of silver— production ofsolid gold medals lasted only up until 1912 (I'm sure that makes the load a lotlighter for athletes like Phelps). Significantly, the United States entered the 2021 games with over 2,800 medalswon, while no other country has won 1,000. The United Kingdom is second with883. Additionally, the United States is the only country in the world that hashosted the Summer Olympics four times. In 2028, the United States will host thegames for the fifth time. St. Louis (1904) and Atlanta (1996) were past notableAmerican hosts of the Summer Games.Learn more about the Olympics in its modern iteration here[https://www.ef.edu/blog/language/24-facts-about-the-olympics/].