Who were the first Africans to compete in the modern Olympic Games? The answer to that question reveals the surprising story of a 1904 marathon – and exposes the history of racism and white supremacy that characterised the Olympics in its early days.
The first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896 in Greece. This was at the height of European colonialism and there is no record of Africans participating. It was only after the second world war, in the late 1940s, that African countries began to join the Olympic movement in significant numbers, as African independence took hold.
