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The
Olympic Games - The History Of The Olympic Games by Lucy Bartlett
Olympics or The Olympic Games
is a multi-sports event which takes place once in four years and comprises
of winter and summer games. It is an international event and almost all
the countries in the globe participate in the games.
The first Olympic game was
held in the year 776 BC in Olympia, Greece. The games were held in Greece
till 393 AD. Subsequently in 1896, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, a
French nobleman revived the games which heralded the beginning of the Modern
Olympic Games.
Starting from 1896, Games
of the Olympiad or The Summer Olympics were held once in four years except
during the World War 1 and 2.
The Olympic Winter Games,
a special edition of winter sports was first held in 1924. In the beginning,
both summer and winter editions of The Olympic Games were held simultaneously.
From 1944 onwards the summer and winter games have been held two years
apart.
The origin of the ancient
Olympic Games was surrounded by many legends. The ancient Greek concept
of Olympic Truce is one such legend associated with The Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games reached their zenith during fifth and sixth century BC.
The Olympic Games were held
in honour of Pelops a mythical king and divine hero of the Greeks. Poems
were written and statues were created immortalizing the winners of the
events in the Olympic Games. Milo of Croton, a wrestler in the sixth century
BC, was the only victorious athlete in six Olympic Games.
After the Romans captured
power in Greece, there was a gradual decline in the importance of the Olympic
Games. The Emperor Theodosius banned the Olympic Games in 393 CE citing
the games as a Pagan Festival not suitable for the Christian Ethics.
Even though the Greek ceremonies
included the bearing of a torch as its integral aspect, it was not included
in the ancient Olympic Games. This was introduced later as a part of the
modern Olympic Games.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics
held in Athens, nearly 11,100 contestants from 202 countries participated
in various events whereas there were only 245 participants from 15 nations
in the 1896 edition of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games has become
one of the biggest events for the media. In the Sydney Olympics held in
2000, more than 16,000 journalists presented the events in various media
format while 3.8 billion people watched the games on Television.
Munich Olympics held in 1972
saw the first act of terrorism in the .Olympic Games. Subsequently the
Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, and the Winter Olympics
held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 were also subjected to acts of terrorism.
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