Wenlock games

• Around what time did the Wenlock Olympian Games occur?


  1850s
• What were the aims of the Wenlock Olympian Games?

  To promote moral physical and intellectual improvements in lower class people of Wenlock. To increase participation in outdoor recreation challenges - with prizes offered for successful participants to encourage taking part.
• Who was the driving force behind the Wenlock Olympian Games?

  Dr William Penny Brookes - inspired to create such an event because of his work as a doctor and surgeon in the borough town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire.
• What events did the Wenlock Olympian Games contain?


  A mixture of athletics and traditional country sports (football cricket and quoits)In the early games it included fun games such as a blind folded wheel barrow race. Pageantry and celebration were important parts of the games from the start. For example, a band led the procession of flag bearers, officials and competitors as they marched to the event.
• How was the Wenlock Olympian Games organised?

  Rules were written and they drew athletes from all over the country
• What else did Dr William Penny Brookes campaign for as well as the Wenlock Olympian Games?

  For physical education to be on the school curriculum which further promoted the benefits of sport and exercise nationally
• How was the Wenlock Olympian Games games reformed into the modern Olympic Games in Athens (1896)?

  Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited the Olympian Society in 1890 and was inspired and went on to establish the International Olympic Committee and reform the modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896