1900-1932
After the success of the 1896 Games, many people supported the proposal that Athens should become the permanent host of the Olympics. Pierre rejected the idea and insisted that the Games of 1900 be held in Paris during the Paris World's Fair. He reasoned that the fair would increase the awareness of the Olympics.Women made their first appearance in the Modern Games, and the first female champion was in tennis: Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain. Competition on Sunday became a problem when US athletes refused to compete on Sundays. It was ruled that the athletes could choose to compete or not, but the competition would go on. To reward the US for their enthusiastic support of the 1896 and 1900 Games, the IOC awarded the 1904 Games to Chicago. However at the same time Louisiana was hosting the US's biggest sport conference. The US president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt sided with the idea that the Olympics be moved . These games ended up lasting for five months. De Coubertin did not bother to attend. Nor did many athletes from outside America. Less than half as many Nations were represented as in 1900. In 1908 the Olympics were awarded to Rome, but when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 1906 the Italian government decided that their limited financial resources were needed to rebuild Naples. The Olympics were resigned to London. The 1916 Olympics were cancelled due to WWI. The Games of 1920 were awarded to Anrtwerp to honor the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the War. The aggressor nations in the World, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were not allowed to participate. The Opening ceremony was notable for the introduction of the Olympic Flag and the Athlete's Oath. Between January 25 and February 4, in inaugural Winter Olympic Games were held in France. To the great relief of de Coudertin, who was due to retire the next year, the 1924 Olympics were rewarded to Paris. The 24 Olympics introduces the Olympic motto, "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". The number of participating Nations jumped from 29 to 44 , signaling wide spread acceptance of the Olympics as a major event. The 1928 Games were held in Amsterdam. During these Olympics, the number of women female athletes more than doubled. The 1932 Olympics were held during the middle of the Great Depression in Los Angles. As a result, the attendance to these Games was lower that the 1904 Olympics. But, other positive records were set. The biggest attendance to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics was set at 10,000 people, and these Games were the first to produce a profit of $1 million. They were also the first Olympics to last 16 days. Before, no Summer Olympics were shorter than 79 days. The duration of the Games has stayed between 15-17 days since.