The Olympian Games

Can’t make to the Olympics? UK-bound anyway? Get some snob bragging rights with this.

Way before the modern Olympics started (in October 1850, to be precise), Dr William Penny Brookes inspired the first Wenlock Olympian Games in a town called Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, England. They are still held there every year. And in the year of the London Olympics, the much older Games will precede the much more famous Games.

The Wenlock Olympian Games will be held from today, July 8th, up to the 21st, in 21 disciplines, most of them conventional, but also including gliding and a sport that will warm the cockles of Indian hearts, "Kwik Cricket."

See Wenlock Olympian Society for more about the Games, their history and their founder. For now, we'll only note that Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the man behind the modern Olympic movement, was a friend and admirer of Dr Brooke, and, it can be fairly assumed, the Wenlock Games played some part in inspiring him in his mission.

Though the good doctor has never got much recognition for his role in the revival of the Olympics, the town has finally been acknowledged: the London Olympic mascot is named Wenlock.