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 after it was discovered that the Chinese government had placed an order of $1 billion on 800,000 cubic meters of hardwood from the endangered rainforests of Indonesia's Papua province to be used in construction for the games.
Olympic Movement
A number of organizations are involved in organising the Olympic Games. Together they form the Olympic Movement. The rules and guidelines by which these organisations operate are outlined in the
Olympic Charter.
At the heart of the Olympic Movement is the International Olympic Committee , currently headed by
Jacques Rogge. It can be seen as the government of the Olympics, as it takes care of the daily problems and makes all important decisions, such as choosing the host city of the Games, and the programme of the Olympics.
Three groups of organisations operate on a more specialised level:
- International Federations , the governing bodies of a sport
- National Olympic Committees , which regulate the Olympic Movement within each country
- Organising Committees for the Olympic Games , which take care of the organisation of a specific celebration of the Olympics.
At present, 202 NOCs and 35 IFs are part of the Olympic Movement. OCOGs are dissolved after the celebration of each Games, once all subsequent paperwork has been completed.
More broadly speaking, the term Olympic Movement is sometimes also meant to include everybody and everything involved in the Olympics, such as national sport governing bodies, athletes, media, and sponsors of the Olympic Games.
Criticism
Most Olympic Games have only been held in European and North American cities; only a few games have been held in other places, which were still limited to
eastern Asian cities. All bids by countries in South America and Africa have failed. Many non-westerners believe the games should expand to include locations in poorer regions.
Economists point out that the massive infrastructure investments could
springboard cities into earning higher
GDP after the games.
In the past, the IOC has often been criticised for being a monolithic organisation, with several members remaining a member at old age, or even until their deaths. The leadership of IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch especially has been strongly criticised. Under his presidency, the Olympic Movement made great progress, but has been seen as autocratic and corrupt. Samaranch's ties with the former
fascist government in
Spain, and his long term as a president —until he was 81 years old—have also been points of critique.
In 1998, it became known that several IOC members had
taken bribes from the organising committee for the
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City,
Utah, in exchange for a vote on the city at the election of the host city. The IOC started an investigation, which led to four members resigning and six being expelled.
The scandal set off further reforms, changing the way in which host cities are elected to avoid further bribes. Also, more active and former athletes were allowed in the IOC, and the membership terms have been limited.
A BBC documentary aired in August 2004, entitled
Panorama: "Buying the Games", investigated the taking of bribes in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The documentary claimed it is possible to bribe IOC members into voting for a particular candidate city. In particular,
Bulgaria's member Ivan Slavkov, and Muttaleb Ahmad from the Olympic Council of Asia, were implicated. They have denied the allegations. Others have alleged that the
2006 Winter Olympics were held in
Turin because officials bribed the IOC and so Turin got the games and
Sion, Switzerland did not.
The Olympic Movement has been accused of being overprotective of their symbolism , and have taken action against even things totally unrelated to sport, such as the role-playing game
Legend of the Five Rings.
Use of podia
According to Professor Emeritus Robert K. Barney, the founding director of the University of Western Ontario's International Centre for Olympic Studies, the idea of having winning athletes mount a podium while they received their medals, is a
Canadian idea, born in
Hamilton, Ontario in 1930.
Professor Barney's 25-page research paper in the
International Journal of Olympic Studies indicates that podiums were first used at the 1930 British Empire Games in Hamilton and were subsequently used during the 1932 Olympics Summer Games in Los Angeles and Winter Games in Lake Placid.
Olympic symbols
The Olympic movement uses many symbols, most of them representing Coubertin's ideas and ideals. The best known symbol is probably that of the
Olympic Rings. These five intertwined rings represent the unity of five continents . They appear in five colors on a white field on the
Olympic Flag. These colors, white , red, blue, green, yellow, and black were chosen such that each nation had at least one of these colors in its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914, but the first Games at which it was flown were
Antwerp, 1920. It is hoisted at each celebration of the 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. Though torches have played a part historically, the relay was introduced in
1936.
Opening ceremonies
Apart from the traditional elements, the host nation ordinarily presents artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country.
Various traditional elements frame the opening ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. The ceremonies typically start with the hoisting of the host country's flag and the performing of its national anthem. The traditional part of the ceremonies starts with a parade of nations, during which most participating athletes march into the stadium country by country. One honoured athlete, typically a top competitor, from each country carries the flag of his or her nation, leading the entourage of other athletes from that country.
Traditionally Greece marches first, because of its historical status as the origin of the Olympics, while the host nation marches last. Between these two nations, all other participating nations march in alphabetical order of the dominant language of the host country, or in English alphabetical order if the host country does not write its dominant language using the latin alphabet. In the
1992 Summer Olympics in
Barcelona, both
Spanish and
Catalan were official languages of the games, but due to politics surrounding the use of Catalan, the nations entered in
French alphabetical order.
After all nations have entered, the president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president, who at the end of his speech, introduces the organising country's
head of state, who in turn formally opens the Olympics. In some cases, the country's head of state did not open the Olympics. Two examples of this are from the United States. Once, in 1960, when
Vice-President Richard Nixon opened the
VIII Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California instead of
President Dwight Eisenhower, and again in 1980, when Vice President
Walter Mondale, not President
Jimmy Carter opened the XIII Olympic Winter Games in
Lake Placid, New York. Despite this, the Games are awarded to a city, not to the country.
Next, the Olympic Flag is carried into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Anthem is played. The flag bearers of all countries circle a rostrum, where one athlete and one judge speak the Olympic Oath, declaring they will compete and judge according to the rules. Finally, the
Torch is brought into the stadium, passed from athlete to athlete, until it reaches the last carrier of the Torch, often a well-known athlete from the host nation, who lights the fire in the stadium's cauldron. Beginning at the post-
World War I 
