November 25th, 1892 marked the Athletic Sports Union’s fiftieth anniversary. On this date, at a French theatre in the town of Sorbonne, Pierre de Coubertin proposed the idea of bringing the Olympic games back. On June 16th, 1894, 2 years later in the same town, it was decided that they would announce the Olympics’ return. Finally, 2 years later in 1896, the first Modern Olympics was held. One of the reasons Pierre de Coubertin wanted to bring the games back as because of the legacy that the games hold (Callebat, 1).
In 1894, de Coubertin wrote that, “The new Olympic Games will be modern, very modern,” and, “There will be no question of wearing pink tunics to run in a cardboard stadium.... No tripods or incense; these beautiful things are dead,
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In order to celebrate the dignity, strength, and beauty of the athletes during the ancient Olympics, de Coubertin said that the athletes could not be professionals, could not take any type of substance to enhance their performance, and could not be “unsullied by commercialism (Lang, 1).” In a typical Olympic advertisement there would be an image of an athlete with a laurel wreath crown on top of his head. The crowns were placed on the event winner’s head during the time of the ancient Olympics. Behind the image of the athlete would be the Olympic rings. Pierre de Coubertin created the rings in 1913 to symbolize all of the different continents joining together in a harmonized way. Each of the five rings is the same size in order to show equality, and every ring is a different color. The colors of the rings from left to right are blue, yellow, black, green, and red, with a white background. These six colors were chosen because every country that participates in the games has at least one of the six colors in its flag. In the poster there would also be an image of a chariot to symbolize victory and the history of the games (Lang,
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.
ABSTRACT: The purity of the Olympics has been smeared by scandal, corruption, boycotts, political disputes and even acts of terrorism. Sadly, politics have taken control of the Olympics and turned it into a political and money-making extravaganza. Olympic boycotts became a way for countries to protest each other. Hitler tried to use the Games to prove his belief of racial superiority. Wars interfered with the Olympics. Bloodshed even covered the Olympics, in the 1972 Munich Games where terrorists killed eleven Israeli Olympic members. Unfortunately, throughout Olympic history, politics have overshadowed the true focus of the Games. They were "intended to unite the countries of the world through friendly competition" not segregate them through politics (Siggers 1).
Kindersly, Dorling. The Olympic Games: Athens 1896-Sydney 2000 Chronicle of the Games, 1 July 2000
The Olympic Games of Munich started like any other, the parade of nations, proud representatives filled with dreams of gold medals and strong finishes. A moment of glory and hopefully standing tall on the podium as their flag is raised. This is a time when nations come together in peace to show the power of human achievement through sport. It did not happen that way.
Print. The. Jane Laing, ed., pp. 113-117. Chronicle of the Olympics, 1896-1996. New York: DK Pub., 1996.
With over two hundred countries participating, the Olympic Games is easily considered as one of the largest multisport event known to history. The Olympics are held at a different country, and even more rarely at the same city. For a country to be chosen to host the Olympics, the country’s National Olympic Committee (the country’s representatives for the Olympics) nominates a city (from the country they represent) that they think has potential in hosting the Olympics nine years prior to when they wish to host the Olympics. It is a two year process that consists of: Application Phase, Candidate Phase and the Election of the Host City. The country that wins the election is given seven years to prepare for the Olympics. (International Olympic Committee, n.d., p. xx-xx) The hosting country expends billions of dollars, usually money they don’t have, preparing for the Olympics. Then the question is raised 'why would a country go through so much trouble and spend an outrageous amount of money to host this event?' Throughout this discussion paper it will address all the pros and cons for a country to host the Olympics. It will also see if a smaller sports event can produce the same benefits the Olympic offers with less cost and risk.
As we all know, Beijing, China is the host for Summer Olympics 2008, were a major international multi-sport event from August 8 to August 24, 2008. Even though Olympic Beijing is all dress up, but no one is going because the organizer was struggling to handle an unexpected inside Summer Games venues. The Olympics officials feel disappointed because so many empty seats at nearly every event and the lack of pedestrian traffic throughout the park. To overcome the problems the officials are busing in teams of state-trained cheer squads to help fill the empty seats and improve the atmosphere and encourage residents to apply for access to the heavily secured park.
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
Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.
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
Citius, Altius, Fortius. In other words, “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” That is the Olympic motto which is also tagged with the five rings. The Olympic Rings are an honor. The five rings represent the five inhabited continents uniting together in one place. The five rings represent something else to me; it represents the five characteristics an Olympian has…the five characteristics I have.
... able to be the competitors of the Olympic Games, this is an internationally recognized action for them. If the IOC did not co-ordinate this event well, believe that the development of Olympic Games may not be as well as today.
Sports throughout history have shown close ties and relations to values and cultures of a society. Sports and competition have adapted and grown as the world and people have grown and developed. Sports are often seen as simple consequence of the industrial revolution. The Impact of increased urbanization, better communication and transportation, as well as more time and income for specialization, all led to the creation of sports. (szymanski). In essence As the public sphere grew so did the concept of sport. (Szymanski). Even the impact colonization had on spreading sports, shows the congruence between the development of society and development of modern sports. What make sports very unique is that they always bring about a sense of culture
Introduction Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. Well-known throughout the world the games have been used to promote understanding and friendship among nations, but have also been a hotbed of political disputes and boycotts. The Olympic games started thousands of years ago and lasted over a millennium.. The symbolic power of the Games lived on after their demise, and came to life again as the modern Olympic Games being revived in the last century. Both the modern and Ancient Olympics have close similarities in there purpose and in there problems.