History of the Olympic Games - Research Paper Example

History of the Olympic Games The Olympic Games originated in ancient Greece about 3000 years ago and later on revived in the 19th century and as for now the games have become the world’s prominent sporting completion. Between the 8th century BC and the $th century AD, the games were held after every four years in Olympia, a city located in the west of Peloponnese Peninsula in honour of Zeus, a god. The first Olympic Games dated back to 776 BC when a person named Coroebus won the race that was the only even, and it was called ‘The Stade ‘and became the first ever Olympic champion. The stade run was the only event for the first 13 Olympic Games, but over time new sporting events were introduced (David 14). The hoplitodrome was a footrace while athletes wore full amours. There was an even where athletes competed in five competition called Pentathlon; that was javelin, sprint, jumping, wrestling and discus throwing. Boxing was later introduced at the 23rd games, and they continued to expand adding more and more games such as chariot racing. In the 37th Olympic Games, the Greek extended the games to a five-day competition. At first, the games were only participated by the Greek citizens only but eventually the whole Mediterranean region joined in which was then the Roman Empire (Ben 8). The Olympic Games were linked to the religious festivals of Zeus closely but were not part of any rite. They were aimed more on showing the physical qualities and performances done by young people and also to enhance good relationships between Greece and its surrounding allies. The festival was a peaceful event influencing all the war-like cities, even the Sparta were famous for brutal and strict military always waited for the Olympic Games to end before attacking the Greek cities. In the ancient games, women were not allowed to attend the games, only freeborn boys and men could participate and attend. Athletes would take oaths first to observe the rules and standards of the games. The participants did not receive any monetary awards; they paid their expenses. The winners were crowned with olive leaves and paraded like heroes, and they were given gift after being announced by a Greek judge while spectators cheered. The ceremony took place at the temple of Zeus. The greatest athlete in the ancient games was a wrestler called Milo of Croton who won the boxing competition six times and was said to be the most powerful man then. Many artists were also inspired by the Olympics. A poet Pindar was honoured at the games after he wrote many odes praising the games winners. The games continued until an emperor Thodosius in 393AD decreed that they are banned calling the games “pagan cults”. The games were introduced back after 1500 years by Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France, who promoted physical education and was inspired by the idea of introducing modern Olympic Games after he visited the ancient site of Olympia. He proposed the idea in 1892 and got the approval needed and founded the International Olympic Committee, which governed the modern Olympic Games. Athens is where the first modern Olympic Games were held in the year 1896. The event was attended by a crowd of 60,000 spectators, King Georgios I welcomed 280 participants from 13 nations in the opening ceremony to compete in 43 events. The events included tennis, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, weight lifting, fencing, cycling and race tracking. The games were dominated by a 14-man team from United States taking first place in most of the games. The games were then held in1900 and 1904 by 1908 the number of competitors were four times the number in Athens In 1920 the Olympic flag flew for the first time consisting of the modern Olympics symbol of five interlocking rings representing five continents. This is the same year when the Olympic oath was also introduced. The idea of the Olympic flame came later in 1928 in Amsterdam, but torch relays did not exist until at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin..At the beginning of 1924, the Winter Olympics were included so as to be held in a separate site with cold weather sports while still in the same year they also held the summer games. The winter games included events such as ice hockey, figure skating, biathlon and bobsledding. While the summer games include, basketball, cycling, boxing, fencing, archery, field hockey, canoeing, hockey, judo, shooting, swimming, tennis, weight lifting, wrestling and yachting. After that the Olympic Games took off as an event hosting international sporting and were held in Paris. Nearly 3000 athletes with more than 100 women participated from 44 nations and that year for the first time they held a closing ceremony in the end. In 1940-1944, the games were put off because of interruptions by the Second World War and were held next in Switzerland 1948 because the city was untouched by the war(Guttmann, 37). Olympic movement expanded its influents to create Special Olympics, Paralympics, and Deaf Olympics for people with hearing impairment, cognitive and physical disabilities. When technology advancements was availed, the Olympics were covered by media and the International Olympic Committee started including more professional athletes in the competitions compared to before when they only featured amateurs who only took pride in competing each other. The first television broadcast was done in 1956 at the winter games in Italy. Then in 1960, most of the European countries benefited from live broadcasting of the games. A tape was flown to the countries further such as Japan, United States and Canada every day. The Olympic audience became larger than the spectators only. In 1964 games in Japan, Tokyo, satellites transmitted image with few seconds delay to the whole world hence making it possible to follow up the games in real time. From there on, we continued to advance technology, and today picture quality has improved as the television networks buy rights to broadcast the games on live TV. In 1904 and 1932 games held in the USA, the number of participants was low because many of the athletes were unable to afford a long journey. But later with the help of technology participants were able to travel by plane like in 1956 games in Austria(Guttmann, 28). Thanks to technology now the Olympic Games have been held in all continents. Diplomatic exploitations and International politics have affected Olympic games a lot in the past years. For example, athletes did boycott the event in 1936 in Germany because of the Nazi, in 1956 the Suez crisis and the Soviet Union provoked some countries and also 1968 black American athletes were demonstrating against racism. During the 1976 games, 22 countries did boycott the games protesting against apartheid in South Africa and also in 1980 the USA called for a worldwide boycott to Moscow games because they had invaded Afghanistan. The Olympic games have evolved such that now they are not just some sports competition but have become an International event awaited eagerly and watched all over the world. It is a time when all countries participate and show patriotism to their countries. The event brings people of diverse cultures together hence enhancing understanding and peace between nations. The games are now highly regarded, they have strongly and fast influenced people to being United living according to the Olympic motto which is, ”Citius,Altius,Fortius” meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger” (Guttmann, 48). References Ben Raber,A brief History of the Olympic Games, Ancient and Modern. Hub Pages Inc, 2014 David Miller. The official history of the Olympic Games and the IOC: Athens to London 1984-2012.Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2012 Guttmann, Allen. The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Read More