奥林匹克运动兴起于欧洲资本主义工业化时代，但其渊源可以追溯到古希腊的奥林匹克运动会。古代奥运会为祭祀希腊的万神之王宙斯神而设立，每四年一届，在古希腊最著名的宗教祭祀圣地奥林匹亚举行。从公元前776年开始，到公元393年结束，古代奥运会共举行了293届，历时1169年，其延续时间之长，影响之深远，在人类历史上是一个奇迹。之后，历史中断了，直到19世纪现代奥运会的兴起，它再次绽放辉煌。

Legends obscure the origins of the games, so placing any certain date on the start of the contest is impossible. Even our earliest sources hold the festival in the highest regard, suggesting the games were quite ancient. Pausanias says:

Later on Iphitus, ... arranged the games at Olympia and reestablished afresh the Olympic festival and truce¹, after an interruption of uncertain length. ... At this time Greece was grievously worn by internal strife² and plague, and it occurred to Iphitus to ask the god at Delphi for deliverance from these evils. The story goes that the Pythian priestess ordained³ that Iphitus himself and the Eleans must renew the Olympic games. (Pausanias 5.4.5-6)

Most historians date Iphitos (Iphitus) to some time in the ninth century B.C.

The first recorded Olympic victor was Koroibos of Elis, traditionally dated to 776 B.C. Historical records and documents have preserved a long list of subsequent Olympic victors. Greek historians later used number of the Olympiad, the four year period between contests, as a means of dating events. If an event was said to have occurred in the first Olympiad, for example, it would be dated to the period of 776 to 772 B.C.  

The games carried on, even as Greece's power declined and Rome's rose. Although the Olympics continued to enjoy a measure of prestige, the varying political and economic changes of the Hellenistic and Roman periods affected⁴ both the site and the games. Some later Roman emperors, who admired Greek culture, revived the splendor⁵ of the games and restored the site and buildings.

By the 3rd century A.D., however, the lists of victors are increasingly uncertain and incomplete; by the end of the century the lists stop altogether. Once the Roman emperors formally adopted Christianity, they discouraged and eventually, outlawed⁷, old "pagan" religious practices. Since the Olympic Games were first and foremost a religious celebration in honor of Zeus, they held no place in the Christian⁶ empire. The emperor Theodosius I legally abolished the games in 393 or 394 A.D