The Olympic Games originated in 776 BC in Olympia, a small town in Greece. Participants in

the first Olympiad are said to have run a 200-yard race, but as the Games were held every four years, they expanded in scope. Only Greek amateurs were allowed to participate in this festival in honor of the god Zeus. The event became a religious, patriotic, and athletic occasion where winners were honored with wreaths and special privileges. There was a profound change in the nature of the Games under the Roman emperors. They were banned in 394 AD by Emperor Theodosius, after they became professional circuses and carnivals.

The modern Olympic Games began in Athens in 1896 as a result of the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator whose desire was to promote international understanding through athletics. Nine nations participated in the first Games; over 100 nations currently compete.

The taint of politics and racial controversy, however, has impinged upon the Olympic Games in our epoch. In 1936, Hitler, whose country hosted the Games, affronted Jesse Owens, a black American runner, by refusing to congratulate Owens for the feat of having won four gold medals. In the 1972 Munich Games, the world was appalled by the deplorable murder of eleven Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists. The next Olympic Games in Montreal were boycotted by African nations. In 1980, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, sixty-two nations caused great dismay to their athletes by refusing to participate in the Games. The consensus among those nations was that their refusal would admonish the Soviets.

According to the passage, the first Olympic games were held______.

A．as a religious festival

B．for political reasons

C．as an international competition

D．as a professional athletes' competition