The Olympic Games () is an important international event featuring summer and winter sports. Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are held every four years. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece at Olympia. The first games were in 776 BC. They were held every four years until the 6th century AC. The first "modern" Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Athletes participate in the Olympics Games to represent their countries.
Over time the Olympics have become bigger. In old times, women were not allowed, but now there are women's events. The Winter Games were created for ice and snow sports. The Paralympic Games were created for athletes with physical disabilities. As well, the Olympics became bigger with the addition of the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. World War I and World War II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. As the decision-making body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for choosing the host city for each Olympic Games. The IOC is also responsible for choosing what sports are in the games. The creator of modern Olympics is Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
The celebration of the Games includes many rituals and symbols, such as Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive, respectively, gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Ancient Olympics
The Olympics of Ancient Greece featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic Games all struggles among the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished. The origin of these Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. The most widely accepted date for the beginning of the Ancient Olympics is 776BC; based on inscriptions of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting then. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events.
There is no agreement on when the Games officially ended, but many historians think it is 393AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all Pagan religious practices should end. Another date might be 426AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. After the Olympics stopped, they were not held again until the late 19th century.
The Growth of the Olympics
An attempt to copy the ancient Olympic Games was the L'Olympiade de la République annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France. The competition had several sports from the ancient Greek Olympics.
Greek interest in bringing back the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833. Evangelis Zappas, a wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece, in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games. Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859, which was held in Athens. Athletes from Greece and the Ottoman Empire participated. Zappas funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic stadium so that it could host all future Olympic Games.
Between 1862 and 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival. It was created by John Hulley and Charles Melly, with support from Dr. Brookes. These games were unfair in nature since only Men could compete.Ingomar Weiler (2004). The predecessors of the Olympic movement, and Pierre de Coubertin European Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, Cambridge University Press In 1865 Hulley, Dr. Brookes and E.G. Ravenstein founded the National Olympian Association in Liverpool, a forerunner of the British Olympic Association. Its articles of foundation provided the framework for the International Olympic Charter.
Dr. Brookes copied the sports which were in the Olympics held in Athens in 1859 in future Wenlock Olympian Games (Brookes created this first as a class in 1850 and then as an event in 1856.). In 1866, a national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organized by Dr. Brookes at London's Crystal Palace.