Encyclopedia
The
Olympic Games, or
Olympics, are an international multi-sport event taking place every four years and comprising summer and winter games. Beginning in 776 BC, they were originally held in
Olympia, Greece until 393 AD. In 1896, they were revived by a
French nobleman,
Pierre Frèdy, Baron de Coubertin, thus beginning the era of the
Modern Olympic Games.
The
Summer Olympics have been held every fourth year starting in 1896, except in 1916, 1940, and 1944 due to the
World Wars.
An event specifically for
winter sports, the
Olympic Winter Games, was first held in 1924. The first winter Olympics competitions were held as a non-Olympic sports festival, but were declared to be official Games by the International Olympic Committee in 1925. Originally these were held in the same year as the Summer Olympics, but from 1994 the Winter Games and the Summer Games have been held two years apart.
Ancient Olympics
There are many legends surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. One of these associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of
e?e?e???a 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 sixth and fifth centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental
religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both
Zeus , and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honour the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalised 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 these times: the sixth 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 CE 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 the 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.
During competition for some of the events, many of the participants would use oils to keep their skin smooth, as well as provide an appealing lustre to anyone who saw them.
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.
According to legend, King Ifitos of Elis, seeking to establish peace among warring Greeks, visited the Oracle of Delphi. There, he was advised to break the cycle of conflict every four years by replacing war with friendly athletic competition. Ifitos sought the cooperation of Kings Lycourgos of Sparta and Cleosthenes of Pisa. They agreed to a truce called “Ekeheiria” and organized the first Olympic Games at Olympia.
Fighting ceased from 12 days before until 12 days after the Games, allowing athletes, artists, and spectators to travel to Olympia, participate in the Olympic Games and return to their homelands in peace.
Revival of the Olympic Games
In the seventeenth century, the
Olympic Games sports festival was held in Much Wenlock,
Shropshire,
England, followed by the National Olympic Games, which were established in the nineteenth century and continue to this day. Later, similar events were organised 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
archaeologists in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for the French defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War . He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and sought to improve this. In 1890 he attended the Wenlock Olympian Society. Coubertin also thought of a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war. In his eyes, the recovery of the Olympic Games would achieve both of these goals.
In a congress at the
Sorbonne University, in
Paris, 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 organise the Games, the International Olympic Committee was established, with the Greek Demetrius Vikelas as its first president.
The total number of athletes at the
the first modern 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 and
St. Louis were overshadowed by the
world's fair exhibitions in which they were included. The so-called
Intercalated Games were held in 1906 in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC recognised and supported these games, they are currently not recognised 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.
Growth
From the 245 participants from 15 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
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City, 2,400 athletes from 77 countries competed in 78 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 sponsorships from major international companies solved financial problems in the 1980s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics.
Membership
203 countries currently participate in the Olympics. This is a noticeably higher number than the number of countries recognised by the
United Nations, which is only 193. The International Olympic Committee allows nations to compete which do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that many other international organizations demand. As a result, many colonies and dependencies are permitted to host their own Olympic teams and athletes even if such competitors hold the same citizenship as another member nation. Examples of this include territories such as
Puerto Rico,
Bermuda, and
Hong Kong, all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country. Also, since 1980,
Taiwan has competed under the name "
Chinese Taipei", and under a flag specially prepared by the IOC. Prior to that year the
People's Republic of China refused to participate in the Games because Taiwan had been competing under the name "
Republic of China". The Republic of the
Marshall Islands was recognised as a nation by the IOC on February 9, 2006, and will compete in the
2008 Beijing Olympics.
Disruption to the Olympics
War
Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not stop wars from happening. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war; due to
World War I the 1916 Games were cancelled, and the games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of
World War II. Also, the winners of
World War I banned the defeated countries from the 1920 games.
Terrorism
In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in
Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the
Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by
Palestinian terrorists. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed. This event is known today as the
Munich massacre.
During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in
Atlanta,
Georgia,
USA, a bomb was set off at the
Centennial Olympic Park, killing two and injuring more than 100. The bomb was purportedly set by
Eric Robert Rudolph, who is currently serving a life sentence at Supermax in
Florence, Colorado, although various conspiracy theories exist.
The
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City,
Utah, USA, were the first Olympic Games since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Olympic Games since then have required an extremely high degree of security due to the fear of possible terrorist activities.
Politics
Politics also interfered with the Olympics on several other occasions, the most well-known of which was the
1936 Summer Olympics in
Berlin; the games were used as
propaganda by the German
Nazis. At this Olympics, a true Olympic spirit was shown by Luz Long, who helped Jesse Owens to win the long jump, at the expense of his own silver medal.
The
Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympic Games until the
1952 Summer Olympics in
Helsinki. Instead, the Soviets organised an international sports event called
Spartakiads, from 1928 onward. Many athletes from associations organized by
Communists or close to them chose not to participate or were even barred from participating in Olympic Games, and instead participated in Spartakiads.
A political incident on a smaller scale occurred at the
1968 Summer Olympics in
Mexico City. Two American track-and-field athletes,
Tommie Smith and
John Carlos, performed the Black Power
salute on the victory stand of the 200-meter
track and field race. In response, the IOC's autocratic president Avery Brundage told the USOC to either send the two athletes home, or withdraw the complete track and field team. The USOC opted for the former.
In 1963, various newly independent nations set up a challenge to the IOC called Games of the New Emerging Forces , which openly espoused politics in sport. The IOC declared participants in GANEFO "personae non gratae" for the Olympic Games.
Between 1964 and 1992
South Africa was barred from participating in the Olympics due to its
Apartheid policy.
Between 1999 and 2002,
Afghanistan's National Olympic Committee was suspended from the Olympic Movement. Afghanistan returned to Olympic competition in
2004 after the 2001 American victory over and subsequent overthrow of the Taliban regime.
Boycotts
The
1956 Melbourne Olympics were boycotted by the
Netherlands,
Spain and
Switzerland, because of the repression of the
Hungarian Uprising by the
Warsaw Pact; additionally,
Cambodia,
Egypt,
Iraq, and
Lebanon, boycotted the games due to the
Suez Crisis.
In
1972, and
1976, a large number of African countries threatened the IOC with a boycott, to force them to ban
South Africa,
Rhodesia, and
New Zealand. The IOC conceded in the first 2 cases, but refused in 1976 because the boycott was prompted by a New Zealand
rugby union tour to South Africa, and rugby was not an Olympic sport. The countries withdrew their teams after the games had started; some African athletes had already competed. A lot of sympathy was felt for the athletes forced by their governments to leave the Olympic Village; there was little sympathy outside Africa for the governments' attitude. Twenty-two countries boycotted the
Montreal Olympics, because New Zealand was not banned.
Also in 1976, due to pressure from the
People's Republic of China ,
Canada told the team from the
Republic of China that it could not compete at the Montreal Summer Olympics under the name "
Republic of China" despite a compromise that would have allowed
Taiwan to use the
ROC flag and
anthem. Taiwan refused and as a result did not participate until 1984, when it returned under the name "
Chinese Taipei" and used a special flag.
In 1980 and 1984, the
Cold War opponents boycotted each other's games. The
United States led and 64 other Western nations followed in refusing to compete at the
Moscow Olympics in 1980, because of the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but 16 other Western nations did compete at the Moscow Olympics. The boycott reduced the number of nations participating to only 80. This is the lowest number of nations to ever compete since 1956. The
Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners countered by skipping the
Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, arguing the safety of their athletes could not be guaranteed there. The 1984 boycotters staged their own
Friendship Games in July-August.
In 1988,
North Korea boycotted the
Seoul Olympics to protest at not being made co-host with
South Korea. Three other nations,
Cuba,
Ethiopia and
Nicaragua stayed away in solidarity, though in order to avoid censure by the IOC it was not officially announced as a boycott.
Iran's general sporting boycott of
Israel is manifest not in explicit refusal to compete but in withdrawals due to "injuries" and similar reasons. During the
2004 Athens Games, Iranian
judoka Arash Miresmaeili intentionally over-ate, exceeding the weight limit and forfeiting his match against
Israeli Ehud Vaks, the first time this had happened at the Olympics.
Environmental groups have also called for a boycott of the
2008 Summer Olympics 
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