Downstream

German Gymnastics Society.
The idea was to have a
national, multi-sport event of
‘manly exercises’, held over
three days in three different
locations, with medals (rather
than money) as prizes. At 6
p.m. on 31 July 1866, the
opening event of the National
Olympian Games began on
the River Thames, with one-
mile, half-mile and quarter-
mile races starting from a
barge moored a mile above