OLYMPIC GAMES

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, was the founder of the modern Olympics. All the competitors were amateurs and there wasn’t any prize-money. The Olympic Games (French: les Jeux olympiques) (JO), is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitors .

The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200nations participate. The Games are currently held every four years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece.

Ancient Olympic Games The first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC, more than 2500 years ago. It was held in Olympia, Greece in honour of the Greek God, Zeus the Olympics was a symbol of a religious gesture.

Modern Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern History. Because Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural Modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin

The colours of the rings The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe). The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic flag.

Past and Future The 2008 Summer Olympics, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, will take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012.