Olympic Games
Held every four years in different countries, the Olympic Games were originally an athletics and sports festival of ancient Greece. It is believed that the Games were originally played about 3,500 years ago. Discontinued for 1,500 years, they were revived in 1896. The Games are considered the world's foremost sporting competition.
The modern Games are administered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is a permanent organization founded in Paris in 1894. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Each country that wants to participate in the Games has to have its own national Olympic committee. The honor of holding the Olympic Games is given to a city and not to a country. The choice of the city lies with the IOC.
First, second, and third place awards are given for each event. The awards are gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively. The fourth to eighth places are awarded diplomas. All competitors and officials also receive a medal as a souvenir.
The Olympic Games are classified into the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. Summer Olympics include a large number of sports. Archery, football, athletics (track and field), badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, diving, field hockey, gymnastics, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling, and yachting are some of them. Men do not participate in softball and women do not participate in baseball, boxing, and wrestling.
The Winter Olympics have been held separately since 1924. In 1986 the IOC voted to alternate the Winter and Summer Games every two years, beginning 1994. Thus, the Winter Games were held in 1992 and again in 1994 and after that reverted to a four-year cycle.. The Summer Games continued with their original four-year cycle. Winter Olympics include games played on snow or ice. These include bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, ice skating, sledding, skiing, and snowboarding, among others. Both male and female athletes may compete in all these sports.
The flag for the Olympic Games has five interlinked rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—on a white background. These rings represent the “five parts of the world” joined together in the Olympic movement. The five colors and white were chosen because they contained the flag colors of all nations in existence at the time the flag was created. The Olympic flag is flown freely with the flags of all the participating nations in the stadium. The Olympic motto is “Citius, altius, fortius” which means “Faster, higher, stronger.” The purposes of the Olympic Games are to foster the ideal of a “sound mind in a sound body” and to promote friendship among nations.
All the participants and officials stay in a single place, called the Olympic Village. This concept was introduced in Los Angeles in 1932. The village is located as close as possible to the main stadium.
The Games begin with the opening ceremony. The Greek team is always the first to enter the stadium. The other nations follow in alphabetical order as determined by the language of the host country. The host team is always the last. Each contingent is dressed in its official uniform and is preceded by an athlete carrying its national flag. All the teams march around the stadium before gathering in the middle. The presidents of the organizing committee and the IOC give welcome speeches and then the head of state declares the games open.
The Olympic flag is raised. The Olympic flame, which has traveled around the world being passed from runner to runner, beginning in Olympia, Greece, is brought into the stadium. It is used to light the Olympic fire, which burns day and night till the Games are over.
The closing ceremony takes place after the final event. It is less formal. The Olympic fire is extinguished, and the Olympic flag is lowered, signifying the end of the Games.
The most notable features of the Olympic Games have been the brilliant performances of individuals. Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first to score the maximum score, a perfect 10, in Olympic gymnastics. Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Carl Lewis, Bonnie Blair, and many more have cornered individual glory in these games.
The Olympic Games are believed to have begun in Greece in about 1276 BC. The first recorded sprint champion in the Games was Coroebus of Elis in 776 BC. The Olympics were the most popular of all the games held throughout Greece.
The Games, like all Greek games were an integral part of a religious festival. They were held in the honor of Zeus, the Greek god, in Olympia, southern Greece. Initially there was only the racing event but gradually other events were included. All the contests took place on the same day till 472 BC. Later they ranged over four days and the fifth day was reserved for the awards distribution, closing ceremony, and a banquet for the champions.
The Games were abolished in AD 393 by the Roman emperor Theodosius I. In 1887 a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, began a successful campaign to revive the Olympic Games. The first of the modern Summer Games were held on March 24, 1896, in Athens, Greece.
