“Historical Foundation of Physical Education and

Sports”

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

776 B.C.

The Olympic Rings

(blue, yellow, black, green, red)

The rings were adopted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (Founder of the

Modern Olympic Movement) in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artifact
from Ancient Greece. The five rings represent the five major regions of the world:
Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Every national flag in the world
includes at least one of the five colors, which are: blue, yellow, black, green, and
red. It is important to emphasize that Pierre de Coubertin never said nor wrote
that the colors of the rings were linked with the different continents.
The Olympic flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp,
Belgium. At the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor of that host-city presents
the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. It then rests at the town hall pf the
next host-city for four years until the Opening Ceremony of their Olympic Games.
The original Olympic Games (Greek: Olympiakoi Agones) began in 776 BC in
Olympia, Greece, and were celebrated until 393 AD. In 1896, the ancient
Olympic Games were revived at the initiative of a French nobleman. Pierre Fredy,
Baron de Coubertin, thus beginning the era of the Modern Olympic Games.
The official Olympic Motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, a Latin phrase
meaning “Swifter, Higher, Stronger“. Coubertin’s ideals are probably best
illustrated by the Olympic Creed:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to

Win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life
Is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not
To have conquered but to have fought well.”
 The Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia and brought to the host-city by runners
carrying the torch in relay. There it plays an important role in the opening
ceremonies. Through the torch fire has been around since 1928, the relay was
introduced in 1936.
The Olympic Mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural
heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968. It has played an important
part of the games since 1980 with the debut of misha, a Russian bear.

French and English are the two official languages of the Olympic
Movement.

Since the first modern games, in Athens, Greece, participation in the

Olympic Games has increased to include athletes from nearly all nations
worldwide. With the improvement of satellite communications and global telecast
of the events, the Olympics are consistently gaining supporters. The most recent
Summer Olympics were the 2004 Games in Athens and the most recent Winter
Olympics were the 2006 Games in Turin. The upcoming games in Beijing were
planned to comprise 302 events in 28 sports. As of 2006, the Winter Olympics
ware completed in 84 events in 7 sports.
There are many myths and legends surrounding the origin of the ancient
Olympic Games. The most popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator
of the Olympic Games. He built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as
an honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labors. According to that
legend he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called his distance a
“stadion” (Roman: stadium) (Modern English: stage) that later also became a
distance calculation unit. This is also why a modern stadium is 400 meters in
circumference length (1 stadium=400 m.). Another myth associate the first games
with the ancient Greek concept of (ekecheiria) or Olympic Truce.
The date of the Games’ inception based on the count of years in Olympiads
is reconstructed as 776 BC, although scholars’ opinions diverge between dates as
early as 884 BC and as late as 704 BC.
From then on, the Games quickly became much more important throughout
ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The Olympics
were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and
ceremonies honoring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and
Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary
chariot race, in whose honor the games were held. The number of events
increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of
the event were greatly admired and were immortalized in poems and statues.
The games were held every four years, and the period between two
celebrations became known as an “Olympiad”. The Greeks used Olympiads as
one of their methods to count years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in this
times: the 6th century BC wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to
win a victory in six Olympics.
 The Games gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power in
Greece. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the
Olympic Games were seen as a pagan festival and in discord with Christian ethics,
and in 393 AD the emperor Theodosius I outlawed the Olympics, ending a
thousand-year tradition.
During the ancient times normally only young men could participate.
Competitors were usually naked, not only as the weather was appropriate but
also as the festival was meant to be, in part, a celebration of the achievements of
the human body. Upon winning the games, the victor would have not only prestige
of being in first place but would also be presented with a crown of olive leaves.
The olive branch is a sign of hope and peace.
Even though the bearing of a torch formed an integral aspect of Greek
ceremonies, the ancient Olympic Games did not include it, nor was there a symbol
formed by interconnecting rings. These Olympic symbols were introduced as part
of the modern Olympic Games.

REVIVAL
In early 17th century, an “Olympick Games” sports festival was run for
several years at Chipping Campden in English Cotswolds, and the present day local
Costwolds Games trace their origin to this festival. In 1850, an “Olympian” sports
festival was begun at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England, which also continues
to this day as the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games. Later, similar events
were organized in France and Greece, but these were all small-scale and certainly
not international.
The interest in reviving the Olympics as an international event grew when
the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archeologists in the mid-
19th century. At the same time, Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for
the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871). He thought the reason
was that the French had not received proper physical education, and sought to
improve this. Coubertin also sought a way to bring nations closer together, to have
the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war. In 1980 he
attended a festival of the Wenlock Olympian Society, and decided that the
recovery of the Olympic Games would achieve both of his goals.
In a congress at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, France, held from June 16
to June 23, 1894, he presented his ideas to an international audience. On the last
day of the congress, it was decided that the first modern Olympic Games would
take place in 1896 in Athens, in the country of their birth. To organize the the
Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established, with the
Greek Demetrius Vikelas as its first president.
The total number of athletes at the first Olympic Games, less than 250,
seems small by modern standards, but the games were the largest international
sports event ever held until that time. The Greek officials and public were also
very enthusiastic, and they even proposed to have the monopoly of organizing the
Olympics. The IOC decided differently, however, and the second Olympic Games
took place in Paris, France. Paris was also the first Olympic Games where women
were allowed to compete.

Modern Olympics
After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris
(1900) and St. Louis (1904) were overshadowed by the world’s fair exhibitions in
which they were included. The so-called Intercalated Games (because of their off-
year status, as 1906 is not divisible by four) were held in 1906 in Athens, as the
first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC
recognized and supported these games, they are currently not recognized by the
IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were
intended to mark the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics. The 1906 Games
again attracted a broad international field of participants-in 1904, 80% had been
American-and great public interest, thereby marking the beginning of a rise in
popularity and size of the Games.
From the 241 participants from 14 nations in 1896, the Games grew to
nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens. The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at
the Summer Games; at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2,633 athletes
from 80 countries competed in 84 events.
The Olympics are one of the largest media events. In Sydney in 2000 there
were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion
viewers watched the games on television. The growth of the Olympics is one of the
largest problems the Olympics face today. Although allowing professional athletes
and attracting sponsorship from major international companies solved financial
problems in the 1980’s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes
it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics.