History of Olympic

 Ancient Olympic Games were a series of competitions held between representatives of several city-states and kingdoms from Ancient Greece, which featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic Games all struggles against the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished. The origin of these Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend. One of the most popular myths identifies Heracles and his father Zeus as the progenitors of the Games. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. A legend persists that after Heracles completed his twelve labors, he built the Olympic stadiums an honor to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion" ("stage"), which later became a unit of distance. Another myth associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of Olympic truce. The most widely accepted date for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus, a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion.

       The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honoring both Zeus and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia. Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were admired and immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. There is no consensus on when the Games officially ended, the most common-held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius declared that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated. Another date cited is 426 AD, when his successor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. This was because the taking part in any worshipping of idols was forbidden. The Olympic games would have to wait at least 1500 years before they were revived again.

The Olympic Games wasn't until after efforts by French Baron Pierre De Coubertin and the Greek Dimitrios Vikelas that the games were brought back to life after nearly 1500 years in the wilderness. De Doubertin believed that sport was a very strong power that could inspire a feeling of unity and peace among the many nations of the world. He believed that this desire could be brought about with the revival of the Olympic Games. After an unsuccessful attempt at reviving the games, he finally achieved his ambition. In 1894 at an international congress that was actually devised for the study of amateur sports he voiced his view on the revival of the Olympic Games, and was delighted when the other countries participating in the congress agreed with him. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded that year.



Held in Athens in 1896 at the Panatheniac Stadium, the games heralded a welcomed return to the original beliefs and virtues of the ancient games. With competitors from 14 nations, the games commenced on April 6th and came to a climax on 15th April. There were 43 events, which were competed in by 245 athletes, all of whom were male. Probably the biggest cheer of the 1896 Olympics was when a Greek Shepard, Spiridon Louis, was victorious in the most popular of all events, the marathon. The athletes from the United States were also big winners in these games, winning 9 events.

What is even more remarkable regarding this is that their Olympic squad barely made it to Athens in time to compete. The Olympics have taken place every four years, since the first games in 1896. However, even the ideals of the Olympic Truce could not prevent the games being cancelled during the first and second world wars. The games cancelled were the 1916 Olympics, due to be held in Berlin, the 1940 games to be held in Tokyo and the 1944 games to be held in Helsinki.

The Winter Olympic Games were introduced in 1924, and also took place every four years. However, it wasn't until 1992 that it was decided that the Olympic and Winter Olympic Games would not take place in the same calendar year. The Winter Games were moved forward two years to 1994, and would continue to take place at four-year intervals. Now these two Olympic games are the major competitions for the athletes all around the world.