Olympics

Graham Douglas

Description

The Olympic Games: a major international amateur sporting competition that brings together hundreds of nations and thousands of athletes. This book is a collection of fun, facts and figures about the Games (from ancient to modern times) for sports lovers all over the world. "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well" Pierre de Coubertin

Sujets

• Lifestyle

Informations

• Publié par: Crombie Jardine Publishing Limited
• Date de parution: 27 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781471615030
• Langue: English

Extrait

INTRODUCTION
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The Olympic Games: a major international amateur sporting competition that brings together hundreds of nations and thousands of athletes.
 
This book is a collection of fun, facts and figures about the Games for sports lovers all over the world.
 
“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well”
Pierre de Coubertin
ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES
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The very first recorded Ancient Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. There was only one event: the ‘stadion’; a footrace with a distance of 600 (human) feet.

For the first thirteen Games, the stadion race was the only competition. At the fourteenth Games, a double race was added.

The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival from 776 B.C. until 393 A.D. However, when the Romans conquered Greece, they saw the festival as a pagan one (the Olympics celebrated the Greek god Zeus). As such, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Games in part to make Christianity a state religion. The Games were to be revived some 1,500 years later in 1896.

Ancient Olympic athletes competed in the nude. The word ‘gymnasium’ comes from the Greek ‘gymnos’ meaning nude; and ‘gymnasium’ translated literally means ‘school for naked exercise’. However, athletes were allowed to wear a penis restraint (‘kynodesme’), if they so desired...
 
The Ancient Olympic Games had no medals: winners won olive wreaths, branches, and woollen ribbons.

The early Olympic Games included competitions for trumpeters, wrestling (‘pale’) and boxing (‘pygme’).
MODERN-DAY OLYMPIC GAMES
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“The Olympic Games are for the world and all nations must be admitted to them”
Pierre de Coubertin
 
“The Olympic Games are the quadrennial celebration of the springtime of humanity”
Pierre de Coubertin
 
BACKGROUND
 
In 1894, the French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin came up with the idea of reviving the ancient Olympic Games tradition, and from this the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born.

The Games are given to a city, rather than a country.

The Olympic Games celebrate each Olympiad or period of four successive years. For the modern Olympic Games, the first Olympiad celebration was in 1896. Thus the 1896 Summer Olympic Games are officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, the 1900 Summer Olympic Games are known as the Games of the II Olympiad, and so forth.

As every four years celebrates another Olympiad, even the Games that were cancelled (in 1916, 1940, and 1944) count as Olympiads.
 
OLYMPIC FLAG
 
Created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914, the Olympic flag contains five interconnected rings on a white background.
 
Each of the five rings symbolizes a major region of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana.
 
The interconnection of the rings symbolizes the friendship between the nations, coming together for sport.

The rings, from left to right, are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The colours were carefully chosen because at least one of them appears on the flag of every country in the world.

The Olympic flag was first flown during the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.
OLYMPIC FLAME AND TORCH RELAY
 
In Olympia, in ancient Greece, a flame was ignited by the sun and then kept burning until the closing of the Olympic Games.
 
The flame itself represents a number of things, including purity and the endeavour for perfection.
 
The flame first appeared in the modern Olympics at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

It was Carl Diem, the chair of the organizing committee for the 1936 Olympic Games, who suggested what is now the modern Olympic Torch relay. The relay represents a link from the ancient Olympics to the modern Olympics. The Olympic flame is lit at the ancient site of Olympia (by women wearing ancient-style robes), using a curved mirror and the sun. The Olympic Torch is then passed from runner to runner from the ancient site of Olympia to the Olympic stadium in the hosting city. The day of the opening of the Games, the flame enters the stadium. With the lighting of the cauldron by the last relay runner, the flame is transferred from the torch to the place where it will continue to burn for the entire length of the Games. Once the Games have finished, the light is extinguished.
 
“May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure”
Pierre de Coubertin
 
“By carrying the torch, you will be bridging cultural and social barriers, and all the boundaries that separate nation from nation”
Carl Lewis
 
OLYMPIC MOTTO

In 1921, Pierre de Coubertin borrowed a Latin phrase from his friend, Father Henri Didon, for the Olympic motto:
Citius, Altius, Fortius
(Swifter, Higher, Stronger)
 
OLYMPIC OATH
 
“In the Olympic Oath, I ask for only one thing: sporting loyalty”
Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin wrote an oath for the athletes to recite at each Olympic Games. During the opening ceremony, one athlete reads aloud the oath on behalf of all the athletes taking part.
 
The Olympic Oath was first taken during the 1920 Olympic Games (in Antwerp) by the Belgian fencer Victor Boin.
 
"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams"
The Olympic Oath
 
OLYMPIC CREED

Pierre de Coubertin got the idea for the Olympic Creed from a speech given by Bishop Ethelbert Talbot at a service for Olympic champions during the 1908 Olympic Games in London.
 
"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 Creed
 
IOC
 
Founded in Paris in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, The International Olympic Committee’s aim is to promote amateur athletics and to organize the Games. Now based in Lausanne, the committee generally comprises one committee member from each country participating in the Games.
 
“Throughout its history, the international Olympic Committee has struggled to spread its ideal of fraternity, friendship, peace and universal understanding”
Juan Antonio Samaranch
 
“Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history”
Pierre de Coubertin
 
“The Olympic Games must not be an end in itself, they must be a means of creating a vast programme of physical education and sports competitions for all young people”
Avery Brundage, 5th president of the IOC (1952-1972)
OLYMPIC ANTHEM

The Olympic Anthem, also known as the Olympic Hymn, played when the Olympic Flag is raised, was composed by Spyros Samaras (1863-1917) and the words added by Costis Palamas (1859-1943).

The Olympic Anthem was first played at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens but wasn't declared the official hymn by the IOC until 1957.
 
Olympic Anthem (English Lyrics)

Immortal spirit of antiquity,
Father of the true, beautiful and good,
Descend, appear, shed over us thy light
Upon this ground and under this sky
Which has first witnessed thy unperishable fame.

Give life and animation to those noble Games!
Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victors
In the race and in strife!
Create in our breasts, hearts of steel!

In thy light, plains, mountains and seas
Shine in a roseate hue and form a vast temple
To which all nations throng to adore thee,
Oh immortal spirit of antiquity!
OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY
 
The first opening ceremony was held during the 1908 Olympic Games in London.
 
During the opening ceremony of the modern Olympic Games, the procession of athletes is always led by the Greek team, followed by all the other teams in alphabetical order (in the language of the hosting country), except for the last team which is always the team of the hosting country.
OLYMPIC SPORTS

Sports have been added and taken away over the years: for example, tennis was played at the Olympics until 1924, then re-instituted in 1988; polo was played at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, and 1936.

These lists of the Summer and Winter Olympic sports are based on the scheduled for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
 
Summer Games Sports

Aquatics
Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball
Boxing
Canoe and kayak
Cycling
Equestrian
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern pentathlon: shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, running
Rowing
Sailing