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Importance of the ancient olympic games
Olympics ancient greece to now
Ancient greek olympics research paper
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At first thought, it may be difficult to understand any possible connection between sports and politics. The New International Webster's Dictionary of the English Language defines politics as 'the science of government', and sports as 'a particular game or physical activity pursued for diversion'. On the surface the two concepts have very little in common, yet their connection can be traced to antiquity and the first organized sporting events. The first Olympic games took place in Greece in the ninth century, b.c.e. to worship the gods, win personal glory, and, most importantly, unite the Greek city-states. At that time, Greece was made up of many small, isolated communities which, as they flourished, sought to dominate the others. The first Olympic games brought them together once every four years, and most of the city-states declared truces to allow the athletes and spectators to make their way to the games without being hurt or killed. The 'sacred truce' beginning the first known Olympic games read, "May the world be delivered from crime and killing and freed from the clash of arms" (8)
Pierre de Fredy, the Baron de Coubertin, was the founder of the modern Olympic movement. He drew his inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games. After visits to England and the United States, Coubertin formulated a plan to revive the games. In June of 1894, his vision became a reality when delegates meeting in Paris voted to hold modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 (8).
The first world leader to sponsor the Olympics for an almost purely political motive was Adolph Hitler with the 1936 Summer Games. For two weeks in August of that year, Germany was the site of the most lavish Olympic games that had been held up to that po...
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...of the Month Club. New York. 1940
14.) ThinkQuest: The Politics Behind the Olympics
15.) Toland, John. Adolf Hitler. Doubleday and Co. New York. 1976
16.) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
17.) Unsigned article by an American Olympic boxing competitor
18.) Veng, Jazmin Kuan: Sins of War
Sources: Images
19.) Barrett, Bill. Internet Resources: Leni Riefenstahl
20.) Kosmulski, Marek. Homepage created by Michal Kosmulski
21.) Maratonna della Citta di Roma: Foro Italico
22.) The Olympic Information Center: Olympic Primer
23.) Leni Riefenstahl - Filming of Olympia I and II 1938 copyright 1999 artnet.com
24.) Leni Riefenstahl: Olympiad (1936)
25.) Stamp of an Olympian. Homepage
26.) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
27.) vanKranenberg, Rob: A Strange Kind of Beauty
28.) SportsLine USA
The controversy in Berlin Olympic Games was that the some of the Jews excluded from the Olympic team were actually world class athletes. The athletes left Germany, along with other Jewish athletes, to resume their sports careers abroad.The Nazis also disqualified Gypsies.The Olympics were intended to be an exercise in goodwill among all nations emphasizing racial equality in the area of sports competition. But the Nazis thought that only the Aryans should participate in the Olympics games to represent Germany.Then after that controversy then the committee of the Games wanted to move the Olympic Games to another country.This was because usually the U.S. got the most medals because they sent the most athletes.
Since 776 BCE, the Olympics have been a way for people of different cultures to come together and compete in friendly competition. In 1892 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, although it had been over a thousand years since the last game it still had brought together an assortment of different religions and ethnic groups together. Many factors shaping the Olympic Games reflect the changes that have taken place in our world since the last game in 393 CE in Greece such changes include woman’s suffrage, global economy, world wars, and proving competency.
Berlin was chosen as the site of the 1936 Olympics in 1931, five years before the actual event, and two years before Adolf Hitler came to power (Bachrach 9). World War I had caused the 1916 Olympics in Berlin to be canceled (Bachrach 11), and Germany was not invited back to the Olympics after World War I until 1928 (Bachrach 12). Hitler and the Nazis started gaining power in the 1930s (Bachrach 16), with their ultimate goal to create one big German community composed of Germany and German-speaking people in surrounding countries, and conquer eastern countries to “gain more land for this united Germanic population…” (Bachrach 17). The Nazi’s persecution began with opponents of Hitler, who they arrested and put in prison or concentration camps (Bachrach 18). This persecution extended to other races as well, mainly Jews (“Hitler”). Hitler’s “purification” of the German race encompassed every part of the culture, including sports. Jews were excluded from participating on the German team, destroying many athlete’s careers (Streissguth 38). The United...
The Penn Museum. "The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games | Introduction." Penn Museum - Penn Museum. Penn Museum. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
The Foundation of the Hellenic World ( Lazaros Efraimoglou and Dimitiros Efraimoglou) and Dartmouth College, The Ancient Olympic Games Virtual Museum, http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic, October, 1999.
Professor Chris Pelling of UCL wrote The Ancient Olympics. In addition, the author is a member of the UCL Department of Greek and Latin. In this article, the author describe and explain how sports were more than a competition in the ancient Greece. His hypothesis was that sports were a way to get honor and power instead of just competing. It represents more than a simple crown of leaves and olive-branch at the Olympics. It gave power, fame and honor to the athlete and their home city. In addition, they were awarded with many material rewards such as money, and women. For instance, the primary method employed in this research consisted
middle of paper ... ...A. & Co. The Olympics, A History of the Modern Games. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois. of Illinois, in 1992.
Adolf Hitler, the leader of Greater Germany, August 1, 1936, opened the 1936 World 11th Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Adolf Hitler was a perfect host; he welcomed the world's athletes to the Berlin Olympic Stadium, which was designed to seat an audience of 110,000.
The Ancient Greek Olympics were not only sporting events, it was a celebration to honor the great and powerful Zeus. The Ancient Olympics were held every four years at the famous Olympia, a district of Elis, here all free Greek men were allowed to compete. The first record of the Olympic Games was held in 776 B.C. The main sports were the Pentathlon, the Equestrian Events, Pankration, and Boxing.
Politics is the art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs. The Olympic Games is an event held every 4 years, which includes a variety of sporting activities in which different countries compete against one another. “Sport is frequently a tool of diplomacy”. By sending delegations of athletes abroad, states can establish a first basis for diplomatic relations or can more effectively maintain such relations” (Espy 3). One might think that politics and the Olympics have nothing to do with each other, but in fact, they do have a lot in common.
The Olympic Games are the leading worldwide sport event that held every 4 years, featuring thousands of international athletes from more than 200 nations participating in a variety of sports competitions. Although the Games are about winning the sports competitions, they also provide a platform for the nations throughout the world to learn different cultures and share uniqueness. The Games are important, and have to be held because they transmit a message of friendship and peaceful between nations.
The Olympic Games plays a significant role in the world. The relationship between it and host countries is important to investigate for comprehending cultural studies. According to Xu and Kirby (2008), the Olympic Games has a considerable impact on the expression of national identity. For example, London applied this approach to promote its national identity. This can be discovered from the BBC video called James Bond escorts The Queen to the opening ceremony in 2012 (2012): an amiable identity is perceived by the audience through presenting corgi at Buckingham Palace. Moreover, China is no exception. There is an image about the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, it shows a spectacular drumming performance. In addition, an article about
The Olympic Games were started by the Greeks a long time ago. It was in the honor of Zeus, the kings of the gods and were part of a religious festivals. They started in 776 B.C. The games were held every four years in Olympia, which is located in southeast Greece. People came from all around Greece to take part or just watch the games. Events in the Ancient Olympic Games were boxing, chariot racing, riding, pentathlon, discus, javelin, jump, running, and wrestling. Events in modern Olympic Games are swimming, diving,
The Olympic Games, hosted in Olympia, Greece, reflected and represented many of Greece 's traditional values in their culture, politics, and social institutions. With the Olympics being the biggest event in Greece at the time, the occasion brought many new ideas and showed what the traditions and customs of Greece were really about. Through this big spectacle people learned about their own culture and went through many experiences ranging from listening to poets and praying at the Temple of Zeus to spectating the sport of “Pankration”, a combination of boxing and wrestling. They would even compete in the nude as a time-honored tradition. “...the practice [competing in the nude] also symbolically stripped away social rank, an extraordinary gesture toward a democratic sporting ideal in the status-obsessed ancient world.”(pg. 7) The Olympics
Ancient Olympics The ancient Olympics had some differences from the modern Games. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Women where not allowed to even watch the games on penalty of death let alone play in them.. Also, the games were always held at Olympia in Greece instead of being moved around to different sites every time. But also they had some similarities to our modern Olympics, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map, and became financially sound for life. The conflict between the Olympic's ideals of sportsmanship and unity and the commercialism and political acts which accompany the Games where also present in ancient times. "Sotades at the ninety-ninth Festival was victorious in the long race and proclaimed a Cretan, as in fact he was. But at the next Festival he made himself an Ephesian, being bribed to do so by the Ephesian people. For this act he was banished by the Cretans."