Olympic Games History Essay

The Olympic Games originated from Ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago. The games started as a way of honoring Zeus, the God of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. The first written records of the ancient Olympics date back to 776 B.C. when a cook named Coroebus won the only event called the Stade, a 192 meter race on foot. This made Coroebus the first Olympic champion. Although, many people believe the Olympics went on for many years before. From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. The games were held every four years in Olympia. It was always held between August 6 and September 19 during a religious festival honoring Zeus. An ancient legend has it that Alcmene, the mortal woman and Hercules, son of Zeus, originally

founded the games.
In 394 A.D.

the last ancient Olympics were held. The Romans had overthrown the Greeks and banned the games. Then on April 6, 1896 the first modern Olympics began. The modern Olympics owes its existence to Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Baron was very interested in education, and he believed the best way to have a healthy mind was to also be very physically healthy. After visiting the ruins of ancient Olympia he thought that the best way to prove his theory was to bring back the Olympic Games. In 1892 Baron introduced the idea of reestablishing the games, but many people rejected his idea. Then two years later Baron created the International Olympic Committee and started planning for the first modern Olympics. Baron Pierre de Coubertin once said, “The most important thing in the Olympics is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” When the modern Olympics were created many changes were made from the original Olympic Games. The ancient Olympics allowed only people from Greek descendent to compete in the Games but the modern Olympics encouraged people from all around the world to participate. The current Olympics consist of multiple winners from many different events, but the ancient Olympics crowned only one victor at the end of the Games. The creation of the Winter Olympics is fairly new to the Games. The Greeks never considered including any cold weather sports in their Olympics, and as the Modern Olympics

were created this remained the same. It wasn't until 1924 when the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France. The winter and the summer Olympics were held in the same year until 1994 when it was decided that they should be held two years apart.
There are many different sports competed in the Olympics but to become an official Olympic sport they had to meet certain requirements. For a sport to be considered for the Summer Olympics it must be played in at least 75 different countries and four different continents. For a sport to be considered for the Winter Olympics it must be played in at least 25 different countries and three different continents. Although the criteria is much higher for the Summer Olympics, there are 41 events competed in the Summer Olympics and only 21 events competed in the Winter Olympics.
On multiple occasions the Olympics were shut down due to war. In 1948 the Games were being held in London. Japan and Germany were not invited to compete because of their wartime roles. The Soviet Union, although they were invented, did not show up. The 1948 Olympics were the first to be broadcasted on TV. There was much debated on whether to hold the Games, but it turned out a success with 4,000 participants representing 59 different countries. Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympic Games.