The modern Olympic Games began anew in Athens, Greece, in 1896.
Thirteen or fourteen nations (explained below) competed in nine
different athletic competitions over the course of ten days in
April of that year. One of the members of the organizing
committee, a man named Thrasyvoalos Manaos, ended up having an
odd effect on the outcome of the games, specifically, in the
tennis competition. Manaos’s friend, John Pius Boland
(pictured), was a student living in the United Kingdom.
Fascinated with Greek mythology, Boland made the cross-continent
trip to Athens, intending to be a spectator at the Games. But
Manaos had an idea. Only fifteen entrants were signed up in the
tennis competition, leaving room for more athletes to join the
fray. Manaos convinced Boland to enter, even though Boland — who
had not come prepared to engage in the Games as anything beyond
a mere spectator — lacked appropriate footwear. Boland took the
courts wearing leather-soled shoes replete with heels. Boland
faced off against Germany’s Fried