The Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games are usually held every year in Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England. The 2006 Games were the 120th.

On 25 February 1850, the Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society resolved to establish a class called The Olympian Class "for the promotion of the moral, physical and intellectual improvement of the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Wenlock and especially of the working classes, by the encouragement of out-door recreation, and by the award of prizes annually at public meetings for skill in Athletic exercise and proficiency in Intellectual and industrial attainments". The secretary of the Class and driving force behind the Olympian Games was Dr. William Penny Brookes. The first meeting was held at Wenlock racecourse on 22-23 October 1850.

In 1859, it sent £10 to Athens for a prize for the best runner in the longest race at an Olympic Games held in November. The Wenlock Prize was the largest prize on offer and was won by Petros Velissarios of Smyrna, from the Ottoman Empire, and one of the first international Olympians.

In 1860, the Class officially became the Wenlock Olympian Society and Dr Brookes adopted some of the athletics events from the Athens 1859 Games and added them to the programme of the Olympian Games.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited the Olympian Society in 1890, who held a special festival in his honour. He was inspired by Dr Brookes and went on to establish the International Olympic Committee.

References

• Wenlock Olympian Society
• BBC - Father of the modern Olympics