The Olympics were an ancient Greek sporting event first held from 776 BC - A.D. 393. It possible the Games had been in existence for many years, but the first written records are dated to 776 BC. At these games, the only event - the stade (a run of approximately 192 meters, or 210 yards) - was won by a cook from Eros, called Coroebus. This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.
According to a legend, Hercules built a temple to his father, Zeus. Hercules wanted people to come and worship his father, so he made a series of games to bring the people to Zeus’s temple. This was so unifying that people started to count time by it.