1. The Olympics
A brief History

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

3. 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.
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4. 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.
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5. 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.
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.

6. Host Cities of the Olympics
Cities that hosted the Olympics before World War 1:
1900 – Paris
1904 – St Louis
1908 – London
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!
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7. Host Cities of the Olympics
These cities hosted the Olympics between the wars:
1920 – Antwerp
1924 – Paris
1928 – Amsterdam
1932 – Los Angeles
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
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8. 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.
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9. 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.
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