The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games

The Purpose of the Olympic Games:

To encourage the spirit of fair play, ethics and governance in sport.To educate youth though sport.To support the development of sport and sports participants.To promote the principle of equality and sport for all.To promote women’s sport.

- The Olympic Charter

History: The Ancient Olympic Games

The Olympic Games originated in Olympia, Greece.

The origin is in Greek mythology.

The Games were originally created to honour Zeus (a god) and the mythical king of Olmpia, Pelops.

One of the myths is that Pelops started the Olympic Games to celebrate him winning a chariot race held by the King Oinomaos of Pisa, where the winner got to marry the King’s daughter and the losers were be-headed and used to decorate the King’s palace.

A drawing of Zeus’s statue in Olympia

History: The Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games mainly consisted of athletic and combat sports and chariot racing.

They were held ever four years, without interruptions.

Only free men who spoke Greek could compete.

Possibly the first champion was Coroebus, a baker, who won the stadion race ( a running race) in 776BC.

The Stadion Race

History: The Ancient Olympic Games

The Games were held between the city-states of Greece.

While they were happening, a truce would be held between the states.

The victors were crowned with olive tree wreaths from a sacred tree.

The ancient Olympic Games ended around 400 AD after the Romans gained power over Greece.

History: The Modern Olympic Games

The Greeks started to revive the Olympic Games, and the first Games took place in an Athens city square in1859 with athletes from Greece and the Ottoman Empire participating.

The Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1890.

They first International Olympic Games took place in Athens, Greece in 1896.

They were held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.

241 athletes from 14 nations competed in 43 events.

The modern Olympics are held every four years in different countries every year.

There are many variations including the Winter Olympics, featuring snow and ice sports that couldn’t be held during the summer, the Youth Games, which allow youth ages 14 to 18 to compete and the Paralympics.

At the last Summer Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), 11,028 athletes from 204 countries participated in 28 sports and 302 events.

Amy Williams of team GB at Vancouver in the skeleton run

History: The Modern Olympic Games

History: The ParalympicsThe Paralympics originated as a multi-sport event which coincided with the 1948 London Olympics to help the rehabilitation of soldiers after World War 2, the idea of Sir Ludwig Guttmann.

The Paralympics allow physically-impaired athletes to compete.

They have their own governing committee.

The first official Paralympics was held in Rome, in 1960, where 400 athletes attended.

The Paralympics take place in the same host cities as the Olympic Games and just after them.

Advantages for the Host CountryThe local people receive an income, such as from selling souvenirs to the many spectators.

The infrastructure (like roads and transport networks) are improved so that they can cope with the increased amount of people using them.

Jobs are provided for local people, such as building the facilities.

The economy of the country improves, as more money is coming into it, and the country may make a profit from the Games.

People become more aware of the host country.

There is increased tourism to the country, and it can get more income from a different source other than the Games.

Advantages for the Host Country

The country’s sports players become better known.

The sports facilities in the country improve, as they have to be at a high standards for the Olympics.

Participation in sports increase in the country.

The coaching standards improve to ensure that their athletes are up to international standards, and especially as the host country wants to do well.

Disadvantages for the Host CountryThe country may lose money and make a loss; there is a big financial gamble involved.

If the standards of the housing or facilities are low, the country will receive negative feedback, especially in the media.

This will make people less likely to come to the country.

There are major security concerns including terrorism.

The infrastructure may not be able to cope with the many visitors, so there may be delays and traffic jams.

Disadvantages for the Host CountryThe country may become dependent on the visitors for the Games for an income, and when they leave after the games, there will be no more income.

The stadiums and facilities built may not be used again, and will cost the country or government to maintain them.

Conflicts may occur, such as racial tension.

There is high costs involved, such as building the facilities.

People may have to be relocated to make room for the stadiums.

Human Interest StoriesAt the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the youngest athlete was Antoinette Guedia, representing Cameroon in swimming when she was 12 years and 300 days old.

At the same Olympics, after going over the time limit on injury time, Angel Matos, a Cuban taekwondoist kicked the referee in the face and then pushed a judge before spitting on the floor. He was banned for life by the World Taekwondo Federation.

Antoinette Guedia

ControversiesDuring the 1972 Summer Olympics that were held in Munich, Germany, the terrorist group Black September took the Israeli team hostage.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson smashed the world record for the 100m, but was later found to of taken the steroid stanozolol.

In 2011, a year before the 2012 Summer Olympics, to be held in London, people looted and burned out buildings in London and other cities across the UK for over three days.

Munich Massacre (1972)

The members of the Israeli Olympic Team were taken hostage and some killed by the terrorist group Black September (from Palestine) during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

11 Israeli athletes and coaches and one West-German police officer were killed.

For the first time in the history of the Modern Olympics, the competition was suspended.

Munich Massacre (1972)

There was a memorial service on the 6th September.

After the memorial service, the members of the Israeli team that were left withdrew from the games and left Munich.

So did the Egyptian, Philippine, Algerian and some members of the Dutch and Norwegian teams.

Drug Scandal (1988)Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson broke his own world record for the 100m at the Olympics in Korea.

He set the record of 9.79 seconds, but he was later found to have taken the steroid stanozolol, and was disqualified later.

He was also stripped of his gold medal.

He then admitted to of taken steroids when running his 1987 world record also.

Drug Scandal (1988)However, Ben Johnson and his coach said that they only used steroids so they could compete equally with other athletes who were also using drugs.

They said that there were many more athletes using the steroids, it was just that Ben Johnson was caught.

London Riots (2011)From the 6th to the 10th of August, riots took place in several London boroughs.

They started after a peaceful protest against the shooting of Mark Duggan by police.

The riots spread to Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool through social networking.

There were at least five deaths and many more injuries.

London Riots (2011)One of the Olympic ambassadors, Chelsea Ives, was charged for looting.

The police didn’t react soon enough and the riots continued for four days and spread to other cities.

Many sports games had to be postponed, including the England versus Holland international football game.

London Riots (2011)These riots raised the question whether London is safe to hold the Olympic Games.

There are doubts whether if something like these riots happened during the Olympics, could it be controlled?

Especially as there will be more people, famous athletes and more tensions including racism.

Visitors may not want to come to London now and possibly even the athletes if they feel it will be unsafe.

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