There was no winter Olympic festival in ancient times. Separate Winter Games were first authorized in to be held in , but due to World War I they didn't occur until , in Chamonix. Starting with Lillehammer in , it was decided that every other year will be an Olympic year with Summer and Winter Games alternating , rather than holding Summer and Winter Games every 4th year. This was done to accommodate TV networks and audiences.
The Modern Olympic flag of five linked rings, each with a primary color used in the flags of the nations competing in the games, was introduced in There is no ancient basis for this modern symbol. Detail from an Attic Red Figure Kylix, ca. Above them hang a discus in its bag and a pair of jumping weights called 'halteres. These olive leaves were taken from a sacred tree that was located at Olympia behind the temple dedicated to Zeus.
Horse races, chariot races, boxing, and wrestling were all popular events in addition to the foot races. There was also a special event that consisted of five different sports activities: wrestling, running, the long jump, disc throwing, and spear throwing. Instead of receiving gold, silver and bronze medals, there was only one victor in each of the events and they were rewarded with a wreath wild olive leaf crown , and of course the glory and honour of being an olympic victor in other words — bragging rights!
In AD the new Roman emperor and Christian, Theodosius, banned the olympic games because he considered them a pagan practice. So ended 1, years of tradition, during which olympics games were held. That is until Pierre de Coubertin , a French academic and historian, pushed to resurrect them and so began the modern olympic games in Athens, Greece. The first Olympics of ancient Greece by Lisa M.
As a testimony to the religious nature of the Games which were held in honor of Zeus, the most important god in the ancient Greek pantheon , all wars would cease during the contests. According to the earliest records, only one athletic event was held in the ancient Olympics — a footrace of about m yd , or the length of the stadium. A cook, Coroibus of Elis, was the first recorded winner.
The first few Olympics had only local appeal and were limited to one race on one day; only men were allowed to compete or attend. A second race — twice the length of the stadium — was added in the 14th Olympics, and a still longer race was added to the next competition, four years later.
When the powerful, warlike Spartans began to compete, they influenced the agenda. The 18th Olympiad included wrestling and a pentathlon consisting of running, jumping, spear throwing the javelin , discus throwing, and wrestling. Boxing was added at the 23rd Olympiad, and the Games continued to expand, with the addition of chariot racing and other sports. In the 37th Olympiad B. The growth of the Games fostered "professionalism" among the competitors, and the Olympic ideals waned as royalty began to compete for personal gain, particularly in the chariot events.
Human beings were being glorified as well as the gods; many winners erected statues to deify themselves. The revival of the Olympic Games in , unlike the original Games, has a clear, concise history. Pierre de Coubertin — , a young French nobleman, felt that he could institute an educational program in France that approximated the ancient Greek notion of a balanced development of mind and body.
The Greeks themselves had tried to revive the Olympics by holding local athletic games in Athens during the s, but without lasting success. It was Baron de Coubertin's determination and organizational genius, however, that gave impetus to the modern Olympic movement.
Despite meager response he persisted, and an international sports congress eventually convened on June 16, He found ready and unanimous support from the nine countries. De Coubertin had initially planned to hold the Olympic Games in France, but the representatives convinced him that Greece was the appropriate country to host the first modern Olympics. The council did agree that the Olympics would move every four years to other great cities of the world.
Thirteen countries competed at the Athens Games in Nine sports were on the agenda: cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weight lifting, and wrestling.
The man U. The Games were a success, and a second Olympiad, to be held in France, was scheduled. Olympic Games were held in and , and by the number of competitors more than quadrupled the number at Athens — from to 2, Beginning in , a Winter Olympics was included — to be held at a separate cold-weather sports site in the same year as the Summer Games — the first held at Chamonix, France. In about 1, athletes from 38 nations competed at Lake Placid, N. But the Summer Games, with its wide array of events, are still the focal point of the modern Olympics.
Among the standard events are basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian arts, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling freestyle and Greco-Roman , and yachting.
New sports are added to the roster at every Olympic Games; among the more prominent are baseball, martial arts, and most recently triathlon, which was first contested at the Games.
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