The Olympics A brief History

Contents The Games of Olympia Modern Olympics Host Cities of the Olympics Host Cities since World War II

The Games of Olympia First recorded in 776 BC – consisted of one race, the Stadium race By 708 BC wrestling and the pentathlon had been added 648 BC onwards Olympiad programs featured any combination of 23 different events Additional Notes for the Presenter: Between 776 and 724 BC the Stadium (also known as stade) race was the only event of the Olympiad. This was a foot race of approximately 200 metres The five Pentathlon events were discus, jumping, javelin, running and wrestling – in that order. Boxing was added in 688 BC. Boxers fought until they collapsed or admitted defeat. Chariot racing and the Hippodrome were added in 680 BC. Note: The Hippodrome was a wide level space where the equestrian events (chariot races) took place. The chariots were small wooden carriages and open at the back. They were only wide enough to fit two standing men. Reference: http://www.ecnet.net/users/gemedia3/Olympics/olympics.html

The Games of Olympia Games originally lasted only 1 day 632 BC onwards, games and ceremonies lasted 5 days 393 AD last ancient Olympiad held – Roman Emperor Theodosius 1 banned all pagan festivals Notes for the Presenter: Ceremonies included opening and closing ceremonies – as well as rituals to Zeus, feasting, parades, choral singing and the sacrifice of 100 oxen at the altar of Zeus. When the Romans invaded Greece, the athletes were replaced with slaves who were forced to fight wild animals and celebrated Roman gods. Theodosius was one of the first Christian emperors of Rome. The early Christians were against the Olympics because of their pagan nature and the importance of the Roman gods. Reference: http://www.ecnet.net/users/gemedia3/Olympics/olympics.html

Modern Olympics 1894 – Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the ancient games be revived with international competitors 1896 – First modern Olympics held in Athens. Notes for the Presenter: 1. The Baron was speaking to a group of international sporting leaders at the Sorbonne in Paris. 2. 1896 Olympics had 245 athletes competing from 14 countries. Greece won the most medals with a total of 47 and the Americans won 9 of the 12 track and field events.

Host Cities of the Olympics Cities that hosted the Olympics before World War 1: 1900 – Paris 1904 – St Louis 1908 – London 1912 - Stockholm 1900 – the games were part of the World Fair and spread over 5 months. Women took part for the first time. 1904 – Fred Lorz (USA) was disqualified from his win of the marathon after it was discovered that he covered much of the 42 kilometres course travelling in a car! Reference: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp

Host Cities of the Olympics These cities hosted the Olympics between the wars: 1920 – Antwerp 1924 – Paris 1928 – Amsterdam 1932 – Los Angeles 1936 - Berlin 1924 – Johnny Weismuller, who later starred as Tarzan in 12 Hollywood movies, first swam in these Olympics winning two gold medals and a bronze in the water polo. He also swam in the 1928 Olympics where he won the 100m and 400m freestyle races. 1936 – Adolf Hitler was unable to prove this theory of Aryan racial superiority as the most popular person was an African-American named Jesse Owens who won 4 gold medals in the Reference: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp

Host Cities since World War II 1948 – London 1952 – Helsinki 1956 – Melbourne 1960 – Rome 1964 – Tokyo 1968 – Mexico City 1972 – Munich 1948 Olympics games were the first to be shown on home television although few people owned televisions at the time. 1956 Olympics games in Melbourne saw a change to the closing ceremony. Following a suggestion by an Australian carpenter’s apprentice, John Ian Wang, it was decided that all athletes parade together rather than country by country as is the practice for the opening ceremony. 1972 Olympics – probably best known for the terrorist attack by the Palestinians when two members of the Israeli team were killed and nine more taken hostage. These nine were also killed along with five of the terrorists and a policeman. Reference: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp

Host Cities since World War II 1976 – Montreal 1980 – Moscow 1984 – Los Angeles 1988 – Seoul 1992 – Barcelona 1996 – Atlanta 2000 – Sydney 1980 – only 80 nations competed due to a US led boycott of the games. 1984 – Soviet Union boycotted these games in retaliation. 1996 – Olympic cauldron lit by Muhammad Ali, former world heavyweight boxing champion. A terrorist bomb killed one person and injured 110 others. 2000 – the Sydney games were the largest ever held with more than 10,600 athletes competing in 300 events. Women took part in the pentathlon for the first time. Reference: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp