The Modern Olympics: The History Of The Olympics

People over the centuries have expressed their love for competition. The ancient Greeks glorified athletes as a representation of a state's military skill and prowess. The Scottish competed in games for centuries to test each other's strength, grit, and wartime capabilities. The ancient Roman people had gladiators and chariot racers to test battle skills and might. These games were tests, as well as entertainment for citizens. More recently the world has competed in the intense modern Olympic Games. These modern games have developed from a relatively small competition to now include thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries. The achievements of the athletes make up only part of the history of these Olympic games. The roots of these Olympics came from ancient Greece in Olympia. The ancient games lasted from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. This means the Greeks competed for near twelve centuries and the next Olympics were not held for another fifteen hundred years. The modern Olympics began to truly form in 1894, when a man named Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee. He is considered the father of the modern Olympic games. Although he planned to hold the first

In 1936 the Olympics were hosted by Berlin Germany. Berlin was voted to be the host in 1931, but the Nazi party did not come along until 1933. This lead to a Nazi host for the Olympics and many of the competitors considered boycotting. Although there was much controversy, it was the biggest olympiad to date. There were 49 countries competing against each other. Adolf Hitler wanted the games to prove his Aryan race was superior to other races. Hitler expected his athletes to win because they were supposed to be superior. This was Hitler’s plan, but Jesse Owens, an African American won four gold medals and defeated many German