A brief history of the Olympics
According to the
Greek history, the first
Olympic Games
in the Greek Antiquity can be traced back to the 776 BC. The games
were dedicated to the 12 Olympian Gods and were hosted on the
ancient green plains of Olympia, the place was famous for its
magnificent great temples of the two gods
Zeus and his wife Hera. The games initially had a very religious
character combined by a number of ancient sport events, which many
of those were based on the ancient Greek mythology.
The ancient Olympic Games had an important position in the life of
the Ancient Greeks. The Olympiad it was a time of union, with a
four-year interval. The participants came from every corner of the
Greek world to compete for the ultimate prize, the olive wreath and
the return to their city-states as heroes. But the Olympic values
apart from the victory, it was themselves which had the special
meaning in the Games, the noble competition and effort to combine
the body, mind, and will in a balanced whole.
As the Olympics developed, so did developed the procedures such
as the standard schedule of the events and the
Olympic Truce. They Games
continued for almost 12 centuries, until the Roman Emperor
Theodosius
banned them, in 393 AD, accusing them as pagan cults.
The Olympics is a sporting event for many different sports
that is every four years. The original Olympic Games were held in
the ancient Greek city of Olympia that since the 10th century BC.
was a religious and political meeting place.
The first recorded celebration of the Games at Olympia was in 776
BC. It is almost certain that this was not the first time that the
Games were held. Then the Games were only local and had only one
race, the race of the stadium.
Although the Olympic games were originally held on the fields around the
temple of Zeus, with the growth of the Games increased also the
buildings of the Stadium. Finally Ancient Olympia had a stadium that offered
enough space to 40,000 spectators. The Olympic Games which were held
every four years, were one of the four Pan-Hellenic Games. The
purpose of Olympic Games was for young men to show their physical
qualities and to enforce the relationship between the various Greek
cities. Only Greek men were allowed to participate in the Olympics
but not women.
From 776 BC the Olympic Games, became more important in the ancient
Greece reaching the height of their fame in the 5th and 6th century
BC. The Olympics also had religious significance since there were
dedicated to Zeus, whose huge statue was standing in Olympia. The
number of sports was twenty and the celebrations were held for
several days. The winners of the games were admired and immortalised
through poems and statues. The prize for the winner was a crown of
olive branches.
The Games gradually lost their importance when the Romans conquered
Greece and when Christianity became the official religion of the
Roman Empire. The Games were regarded more as a pagan celebration,
and in 393 AD, the Emperor Theodosius banned them completely. So
ended a period of one thousand years during which the Olympics were
to be conducted every four years thereafter.
The Olympic games revived by the French
Baron Pierre de Coubertin in
the late 19 th century. The Games of the Olympiad, also known as
Summer Olympics, taking place every four years since 1896 onwards,
with the exception of the years during the World Wars. In 1924 began
the Winter Olympics, for winter sports. Since 1994, the Winter Games
are not held the same year with the
Summer Olympics.In
July 2012 the Olympics will be held in London UK.
