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The history of olympic games essay
History essays on the olympic games
History essays on the olympic games
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The Olympic games is a series of events that takes place every two and four years that originated in Greece to honor the Greek gods (Cartledge 1). The Olympics is an inspirational contest where many nations of the world come together and compete. This pertains to the athletic competitors who have trained for years to enter the Olympics. This includes swimmers, boxers, hockey players, runners, cyclists, ice-skating, figure skating, and many other sports (Cartledge 2). The Olympics have changed since ancient times because of technology, innovations, and a broader audience. The first Olympic games started in 776 B.C, beginning with the Isthmos games, which were held every two years in Corinth (Cartledge 3). The four-year Olympics were in Delphi. The Olympics in Greece was only to worship Zeus, a Greek god. This started off as a five-day event in which the first day was a day for sacrifices to honor the different gods. At this time, there were only 3 sports that took place; running, boxing, and horse racing, although there were four types of racing on foot (Grolier 3). The only differences were the length in which athletes ran and what they wore to race. Boxing was a very violent sport that took place. Boxers usually fought until one of the participants had to admit that he was weak and could not fight any longer. Another type of boxing was with armor, usually more violent, and ended up with a bruised athlete (Lassila 4). Out of all sports, horse racing was the most watched and attracted sport to many viewers. Participants usually had two or four horses on chariots, depending how many laps they did (Lassila 2). The games went over 11 centuries until a roman emperor named Theodosius banned the Olympics (Cartledge 1). The first moder... ... middle of paper ... ...rts across the world. Back in ancient times, no athlete became recognized, there were no sponsors, and it did not benefit your life as much as it does today being a professional athlete. Being an Olympic trainer or athlete takes hard work and dedication to be an Olympic participant. In ancient times, people could be amateurs and still participate in an event while today, being an athlete determines your career or your future. If you are a phenomenal athlete in any type of sport, worldwide sponsors will notice you and that basically starts you whole career. If an athlete is fluently good in what he does best, he or she will start getting paid a lot of money for commercials, interviews, shows, and products. When an athlete starts making enough money in the Olympics, he or she can start his or her own business, which leads you to know what your future will be like.
Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods.
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.
Overall, this article was written to inform readers about how the ancient Olympics were set up back in ancient Greece.William J. Baker is the author of the article titled, “Organized Greek Games.” Baker is a history professor at the University of Maine at Orono. Furthermore, Baker is well-known for his studies in the history of western civilization sports. This indicates that Baker was more than qualified to write the article. The author organized his article in chronological order that way it would be easier to understand the events that lead up to the evolution of the games. Overall, there were no errors because of how the article was organized.
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 beginning of the modern Olympics started about one hundred and sixteen years ago. The first Olympic was held in Athens, Greece. It differed by far because only thirteen countries participated in it, and the total number of athletes was three hundred and eleven (Gettings). The Olympics were the small sporting event at that time. The original proposer of the Olympic, Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator and historian, and a founder of the International Committee, conceived that sports are necessary for French young people t...
At the end of the ancient Games, there were around fifty events (“Ancient”). Throughout the modern Olympics various events have been added and taken away. In the aquatic category, for example, swimming races were a part of the first modern Olympic Games, but it wasn’t until 1904 that diving was added, and not until 1912 that women’s swimming and diving was also a part of the Games. In 1900, archery was introduced, but it was excluded from the 1912 Stockholm Games. In 1920, archery made its last appearance until 1972. Men’s track and field events were a part of the ancient and first modern Olympics, but women’s events were first added in 1924. Badminton joined the Olympics in 1992. Baseball was introduced in 1992, but just twenty years later in 2012, it was dropped. Men’s basketball was an exhibition event in the 1904 Olympics, but was added as an actual event in 1936. Women’s team joined men’s in 1976, and in 1992, professional players were allowed to participate (“Summer”). The first Olympic event that allowed women to participate was the 1900 Games in Paris, France. In the 1900 Games, winners were also awarded paintings as prizes in place of the medals used today
The Ancient Olympics began being very simple and didn’t have many sports or events involved. In fact, the very first olympics was held on just one day and contained one event called the stade (Barton). The stade was an event where several racers lined up and ran the equivalent of a 220 yard dash (Barton). However this changed rather quickly. After a few Olympic Games, seven to twenty-four length stades were added as endurance contests. After running races came the pentathlon. This was a five in one event consisting of running, wrestling, discus throwing, javelin throwing, and long jumping (Barton). The winner of this event ultimately became the grand champion of the Olympics and received many perks such as free food, housing, no taxes, and
In Olympia , 776 B.C. ,the first Olympic games were held being linked closely to religious festivals. There are a variety of differences between Modern day Olympics and Ancient Olympics. During the Ancient Olympics Games , the games were held to honor Zeus , also to entertain the gods and goddesses.
The Greek Olympic Games was very important to Greek mythology. Lots of people know about these games, but most people have no idea what made it popular, why they came up with it, and what events there were.
2794 years ago, athletes from all over Greece came to Olympia to compete for Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder. They ran, threw discus, jumped, boxed, and wrestled. The first ever recorded event was the stade race, which is a 192-meter sprint to the finish line. Now in modern times things have changed. We have added a plethora of summer and winter sports that includes skiing, shooting, basketball, and swimming. The man who brought the Olympics back after its fourth century demise was Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In 1894 he created the Olympic committee we know today that upholds the rules and regulations to make every event fair. Most rules are for manipulation prevention, so no one tampers with the results.
The Olympic Games are one of the most popular Pan-Hellenic Games dating back to 776 BC. The Games were a religious festival, and I believe they were an excuse for all Greeks to unite. It was held in Olympiads, four year intervals, and lasted a total of five days as seen today. Ekecheiria, a sacred truce, was proclaimed during the Games. The Olympic Games were temporarily banned by 393 AD but revived as the Games we know and love today. Although the Olympic Games were around since 776 BC, it has changed dramatically over the years.
The Olympic Games, initially originated to respect Zeus, were the most critical national celebration of the ancient Greeks, and a center of political competitions between the city-states. Olympia, in Greece is
The Olympic Games is a world competition in which various nations come together for a friendly competition to see which country competes best at each particular sport. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Greek Olympic games in the 8th century BC, which were held in Olympia, Greece. Presently, the Olympic Games are broken apart into the summer and winter Olympic Games and take place every 4 years, but alternate every 2 years from each other. The IOC stands for the International Olympic Committee, who is a non-profit independent international organization made up of volunteers who want “to develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in their respective countries” (About the IOC Institution, 2016). The IOC is dedicated
The Early Olympics was an original festival to honor the god of thunder Zeus. It was a series of competitions between athletes from different poleis in ancient Greece. The first Olympics games were supposedly dated in 776 BC. During this time the ancient games origins were attributed to gods and others competing for the win in the games. (https://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicorigins.shtml)
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."