The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 contested nine sports.
Held in Athens from April 6 to 15, 1896, the Games of the I Olympiad marked the revival of the Olympics as an international sporting festival. The programme included athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Those nine sports contained 10 disciplines and 43 events. Several activities discussed during the planning stage never reached the final programme: football and cricket were proposed but not held, while rowing and sailing were scheduled but cancelled because of poor weather and logistical problems.
The number can be confused with the 12 athletics events contested at Athens 1896. Athletics was just one of the nine sports, not the total number of sports. The Games involved athletes from 14 nations, and all competitors were men; women first competed at the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900.