By igan Larisa and Ranisav Andrei The Symbols of The Olympic and Paralympic The Symbols of The Olympic and Paralympic games Liceul Teoretic “Grigore Moisil” Timisoara Coordonated by: Mirianici Lavinia Bohm Cristina Ivascu Simona Iosa Alina

INDEX The history of the ancient olymic games The more recent history of olympic games The symbols of the olympic games The meaning of the them The history of the paralympic games The meaning of that symbols

The Story of the Olympic Games A Journey to Ancient Greece

The ancient Olympic Games were primarily a part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods and goddesses. The festival and the games were held in Olympia, a rural sanctuary site in the western Peloponnesos.

No one is sure how the Olympic Games really began, but the first recorded event took place in Olympia about 3000 years ago. Athletic competition became so important to the Greeks that the Olympic festivals were a peaceful influence on the warlike city-states.

At first, the Games were strictly for Greek citizens. Eventually, however, athletes from all over the Roman Empire were permitted to participate. ! Only free men and boys from Greece were allowed to compete in the ancient Greece Olympic Games. Women were forbidden, on penalty of death, even to see the Games.

For the first thirteen years it was said that the stade, which is a 200 ft. foot race, was the only real event of these games and after that they started to add many more events.

The pentathlon, in which the athletes competed in five events (jumping, javelin, sprint, discus, and wrestling). But over the years, new sports were added to the Games. The hoplitodrome, for instance, was a footrace the athletes ran wearing full armor.

After the Roman Empire conquered Greece the Games continued, but their standards and quality declined. In A.D. 393, Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, called for a ban on all “pagan” festivals, ending the ancient Olympic tradition after nearly 12 centuries.

REVIVAL OF THE OLYMPIC TRADITION It would be another 1,500 years before the Games would rise again, largely thanks to the efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. Coubertin proposed the idea of reviving the Olympics as an international athletic competition held every four years.

Two years later, he got the approval he needed to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which would become the governing body of the modern Olympic Games.

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in In the opening ceremony, King Georgios I and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed 280 participants from 13 nations (all male), who would compete in 43 events.

The olympic rings Created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914, the Olympic flag contains five interconnected rings on a white background. The five rings symbolize the five significant continents and are interconnected to symbolize the friendship to be gained from these international competitions.

The meaning of the Olympic rings colors is not of any important significance, but the five colors of the Olympic rings has at least one color of every nation’s flag in it.

Educational Values Values of Olympism : Pursuit of excellence (blue) Joy of effort (black) Fair play (red) Respect for others (yellow) Balance between body, will and mind (green)

The olympic torch The tradition of lighting an Olympic Flame comes from the ancient Greeks. During the Ancient Olympic Games, a sacred flame was lit from the sun ’ ’s rays at Olympia, and stayed lit until the Games were completed.

It was first introduced into our Modern Olympics at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. Since then, the flame has come to symbolize "the light of spirit, knowledge, and life"

The way of the olympic torch The flame is lit in an ancient ritual in Olympia, Greece, the site of the first Olympic Games, then is carried up mountains and across rivers, down city streets, over footbridges and through national parks. They carried it on canoes, horse-drawn carriages, cross-country skis, kayaks, mountain bikes and tractors.

The motto A motto is a phrase which sums up a life philosophy or a code of conduct to follow. The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words : These words mean Faster - Higher - Stronger.

It was the Dominican priest Henri Didon who first expressed the words in the opening ceremony of a school sports event in Pierre de Coubertin, who was present that day, adopted them as the Olympic motto. It expresses the aspirations of the Olympic Movement not only in its athletic and technical sense but also from a moral and educational perspective.

The olympic Creed To better understand the motto, we can compare it with the Olympic creed : The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight ; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well

Paralympics Games The Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport event, involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power.

Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability were organised for the first time in Rome in In Toronto in 1976, other disability groups were added and the idea of merging together different disability groups for international sports competitions was born.

The Current Paralympic Symbol consists of three elements in red,blue and green, the three colours that are most widely represented in national flags around the world. The symbol of Paralympics

The symbol also reflects the Paralympic Motto: “Spirit in Motion” -representing the strong will of every Paralympian. The Paralympic Symbol also emphasizes the fact that Paralympic athletes are constantly inspiring and exciting the world with their always moving performances: always moving forward and never giving up.

The Paralympic logo was designed to reflect the four core values of the Paralympics: courage, determination, inspiration and equality.