Supposedly bikinis were started to be worn as early as the 1930s and the modern bikini was created in 1946. Not so! In reality, Roman female athletes were wearing bikinis around 300 AD long before the modern era bikini and most likely much earlier - as seen in these beautiful mosaics from the Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily from around the first quarter of the 4th century AD.
The Roman female athletes dressed in different bikinis are engaged in a variety of different sports. One Roman woman is weighlifting. Looks like she has 2 dumbbells in her hand. Another is throwing a ball to 2 running women, 2 others are playing ball with each other and in another, the winner receives her crown and palm first place or winner prizes.
These 4 images I took while watching the documentary Rick Steeves Europe 
: Best of Sicily episode (they are from this documentary). I found this topic quite interesting and different to present on my fitness website. Also, his travel documentaries are very well-presented and interesting. Most documentaries these days are corny and very repetitive. He does a great job when narrating and presenting the places he visits with the time he has for the half hour shows.
Roman woman wearing a bikini weighlifting with 2 dumbbells
