The First Olympians 2/7: Harvard Said No. He Went to Athens Anyway (1896) (The True Story of James Brendan Connolly)

Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories · Oct 21, 2026 · 6m

The First Olympians, Episode 2 of 7. The true story of James Brendan Connolly, the son of poor Irish immigrants from South Boston, who became the first Olympic champion of the modern era at the 1896 Athens Olympics. Harvard refused to give him leave to travel, so he withdrew from the university and went anyway. On the way he was robbed in Naples and had to chase the thief to get his ticket back. On 6 April 1896, on the first day of the Games, he won the triple jump with 13.71 metres, the first Olympic title in more than 1,500 years. Later he became a writer of sea stories, and when Harvard…