The Olympic Games

What is the Olympic Games

The Olympics. It's the biggest international sporting event there is taking place around the world. With the Olympics being held here in my home country England, London (not my home city). I thought it would be fitting to write a bit about the Olympic games that every professional athlete strives for.

Being an International event, only the best competitors from each participating country are accepted with the standards incredibly high.  More than 200 nations compete. So imagine that you're an athlete that has been accepted into the Olympic games, and let's say that there are two people from every nation competing in your event. If there's 200 or more nations that compete, you've already got at least 399 (including one person from your own country) competing for gold medal. That's a lot of competition. Especially as the slightest of errors will cost you winning. Sort of like the chaos theory, small factors taking affect on the ending result.

The Olympics is split into two events, the summer event, and the winter event. Both of these take place at a two year interval to each other, meaning it's a four year period for either the summer or winter to take place again. E.g: 2012: summer, 2014: winter, 2016: summer, 2018: winter...

The 'International Olympic Committee' (IOC) is the governing body of the Olympic games being founded by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894. The origins of the Olympic games did not start with Baron, but was in fact held in Olympia, Greece, from 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.

Variations of the main Olympics have been created during the 20th and 21st centuries. This includes the creation of the winter Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Youth Olympic Games.

The Winter Olympics was invented for the inclusion of ice and snow events that were impossible to do during the summer events. The events that are included are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross‑country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing,  ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

The Ancient Olympics

The Ancient Olympics were based upon myth, and thought it was to hold honour for Zeus. Because of the nature of the Greeks, much of the origin of the Olympics is shrouded in mystery. There are many different mythological stories to how the Olympics first began, but historical records suggest that it began on 776 BC and ended 394 AD, this was due to Theodosius I banning the games. The games, like today, were held every four years.

The Games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals.

During the middle day of the games, 100 ox would be sacrificed to the Greek god Zeus. City-States relied heavily on their neighbours for political and military alliances, on the other they competed fiercely with those same neighbours for the resources necessary to sustain life.

If a City-state did well at the Olympics and did well consistently, the population would grow as a new desire to live their would increase. The Olympics weren't just about sports like it is today but was used as an opportunity for cities to show their power over others, giving them a political advantage over allies.

The 1896 Games

The 1896 Games were the first games to be hosted by the IOC and were the first Olympic games since the 4th century AD. It was hosted in Athens, Greece, inside the Panathenaic Stadium. 14 Nations competed, 241 athletes, and 41 events.

The Greek officials and public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting these Games. This feeling was shared by many, and it was even considered that the games should be held in Athens permanently. However the IOC did not agree, they wanted the Olympics to be an International event, and so thought best to rotate internationally, the second games were held in Paris.