1906 Intercalated Games

1906 Intercalated Games

Contemporary artwork for the 1906 Intercalated Games
Location	Athens, Greece
Nations	20
Athletes	854 (848 men, 6 women)
Opening	22 April 1906
Closing	2 May 1906
Opened by	King George I
Stadium	Panathenaic Stadium
← St. Louis 1904 London 1908 →

The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games (Greek: Μεσολυμπιάδα, romanized: Mesolympiada, lit. 'Mesolympics'), held from 22 April 1906 to 2 May 1906, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece.^[1] They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games in Athens" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).^[2] However, the medals that were distributed to the participants during these games were later not officially recognised by the IOC^[3] and are not displayed with the collection of Olympic medals at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The 1906 games are noted for their influence on the Olympic tradition and the records broken during these games are recorded in history, but are no longer considered part of the Olympic records. 894 athletes from 20 nations competed in this competition. The idea behind the Intercalated games was to have an Olympics in Greece every four years, but this would be the first and last. The idea was not pursued further and is sometimes called the "forgotten games" in the context of the Olympics. The next Olympic Games would be the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, and the next time the Olympic Games would return to Greece was 98 years later in 2004 also in Athens.