Though the Greeks wanted to host every Olympics after 1896 and fought hard to claim that right, Baron Pierre de Coubertin disagreed. In his ambition to make the Games truly universal, he wanted every nation to get a chance to host the grand event. Thus, Paris was chosen as the venue for the second edition of the Modern Olympics.
At this time Paris was hosting the Great International Exhibition, for which the Eiffel Tower was built. On the assumption that the Olympics would draw crowds that were in France to attend the Exhibition, the IOC decided to extend the dates of the meet, making it six months long. This, plus the fact that it was the turn of the century meant that all the ingredients that would make the Games in Paris a success as well as immortalize Baron de Coubertin were there.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite go according to the script. His own country failed to recognize the Baron's efforts and none of the newspapers mentioned his role in reviving the Olympic Games. Furthermore, the decision to extend the dates turned out to be a poor one. So little publicity did the Games get that although over 1200 athletes took part from over 22 countries, several of them weren't even aware that they were at the Olympics. The Games were also poorly attended with only about 3000 people attending the Games from the Exhibition.
Hosting the games during the Exhibition led to some absurdities, such as the fencing competition being held as a sort of sideshow in the exhibition's cutlery area. Because there were other sporting events held in connection with the exposition, there was a great deal of confusion about which were Olympic contests and which weren't. Some athletes didn't even know they were taking part in the Olympics, while others thought they were in the Olympics when they really weren't. As an example of the confusion, Margaret Abbott of the United States won a nine-hole golf tournament, which she entered as a lark. She is now on record as the first woman ever to win a gold medal but she died in 1955 without knowing it.
Another problem was that the French staged some events on Sunday, when a number of American athletes refused to compete because they believed in honoring the Lord's Day. Myer Prinstein, the world record holder in the long jump, entered into a gentleman's agreement with other U. S. athletes not to compete on Sunday even though he was Jewish and it was not his Sabbath. However, Alvin Kraenzlein of the U. S. entered the long jump finals on Sunday, July 14, and won the gold medal. That led to a fist fight between the two athletes on Monday, when Prinstein discovered the deception.
Cricket was part of the 1900 Olympics. Great Britain took the gold and the British Embassy in France took the silver medal. Only 2 teams competed.
The 1900 games were the only Olympics to include Cricket. Soon after, Cricket was stricken off the Olympic roster.
