First Games
It is a secret to few that the first Olympic Games were held in Greece as early as 776 BC. The small village of Olympia was chosen as the location for the competition. At that time, competitions were held in only one discipline, which was running over a distance of 189 meters. Interesting feature, which distinguished the first Olympic Games in Greece, was that only men could take part in them. At the same time, they competed without shoes or any clothing on themselves. Among other things, only one woman, whose name was Demeter, received the right to observe the competition.
History of the Olympics
The first Olympic Games were a great success, so the tradition of holding them continued for another 1168 years. Already at that time it was decided to hold such competitions every four years. Confirmation of their great authority is the fact that during the competition between states that were at war, a temporary peace treaty was always concluded. Each new Olympics has received many changes compared to what the first Olympic Games were. First of all, we are talking about adding disciplines. At first it was running over other distances, and then long jumping, fist running, pentathlon, discus throwing, javelin throwing, dart throwing and many others were added to it. The winners were so highly respected that monuments were even erected to them in Greece. There were also difficulties. The most serious of them was the ban on the Games by Emperor Theodosius the First in 394 AD. The fact is that he considered this kind of competition to be pagan entertainment. And 128 years later, a very strong earthquake occurred in Greece, because of which the Games were forgotten for a long time.
Renaissance
In the mid-eighteenth century, the first attempts to revive the Olympics began. They began to become a reality about a hundred years later thanks to the French scientist Pierre de Coubertin. With the help of his compatriot, archaeologist Ernst Curtius, he, in fact, wrote new rules for conducting such competitions. The first Olympic Games of modern times began on April 6, 1896 in the Greek capital. Representatives of 13 countries from all over the planet took part in them. Russia, due to financial problems, did not send its athletes. The competitions took place in nine disciplines, including the following: gymnastics, shooting, track and field and weightlifting, wrestling, fencing, tennis, swimming and bicycle racing. Public interest in the Games was colossal, a clear confirmation of which is the presence at them, according to official data, of more than 90 thousand spectators. In 1924, it was decided to divide the Olympics into winter and summer.
Failed competitions
It happened that competitions were not held, despite the fact that they were planned. We are talking about the Berlin Games of 1916, the Helsinki Olympics of 1940, as well as the London competitions of 1944. The reason for this is one and the same - world wars. Now all Russians are looking forward to the first Olympic Games, which will be held on Russian territory. This will happen in Sochi in 2014.
When and where did the Olympic Games appear? And who is the founder of the Olympic Games, you will learn from this article.
Brief history of the Olympic Games
The Olympic Games were born in Ancient Greece, because the inherent athleticism of the Greeks became the reason for the emergence of sports games. The founder of the Olympic Games is King Oenomaus, who organized sport games for those who wanted to take his daughter Hippodamia as a wife. According to legend, he was predicted that the cause of death would be his son-in-law. Therefore, young people who won certain competitions died. Only the cunning Pelops overtook Oenomaus in chariots. So much so that the king broke his neck and died. The prediction came true, and Pelops, having become king, established the organization of the Olympic Games in Olympia every 4 years.
At Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games, it is believed that the first competition took place in 776 BC. The name of the one who was the first winner of the games in Ancient Greece – Koreb from Elis, who won the race.
Olympic Games in ancient Greece sports
For the first 13 games, the only sport in which the participants competed was running. Afterwards there was the pentathlon. It included running, javelin throwing, long jump, discus throwing, and wrestling. A little later they added a chariot race and a fist fight.
The modern program of the Olympic Games includes 7 winter and 28 summer sports, that is, 15 and 41 disciplines, respectively. It all depends on the season.
Once the Romans annexed Greece to Rome, the number of nationalities that could take part in the games increased. Gladiator fights were added to the competition program. But in 394 AD, Emperor Theodosius I, a fan of Christianity, canceled the Olympic Games, considering them entertainment for pagans.
The Olympic Games have sunk into oblivion for 15 centuries. The first to take a step towards reviving forgotten competitions was the Benedictine monk Bernard de Montfaucon. He was interested in the history and culture of Ancient Greece and insisted that excavations should be carried out in the place where the famous Olympia had once been.
In 1766, Richard Chandler found the ruins of unknown ancient structures near Mount Kronos. It was part of the temple wall. In 1824, Lord Stanhof, an archaeologist, began excavations on the banks of the Alpheus. In 1828, the baton of excavations at Olympia was picked up by the French, and in 1875 by the Germans.
Pierre de Coubertin, a French statesman, insisted that the Olympic Games must be resumed. And in 1896, the first revived Olympic Games were held in Athens, which are still popular today.
We hope that from this article you learned where and when the Olympic Games originated.
In Paris in Great hall The Sorbonne convened a commission to revive the Olympic Games. Her general secretary became Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Then the International Olympic Committee - the IOC - was formed, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.
The first modern Olympic Games were originally planned to be held in the same stadium in Olympia that hosted the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece. However, this required too much restoration work, and the first revived Olympic competitions took place in the capital of Greece, Athens.
On April 6, 1896, at the restored ancient stadium in Athens, the Greek King George declared the first Olympic Games of modern times open. The opening ceremony was attended by 60 thousand spectators.
The date of the ceremony was not chosen by chance - on this day, Easter Monday coincided with three directions of Christianity at once - Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. This first opening ceremony of the Games established two Olympic traditions - the opening of the Games by the head of state where the competition is taking place, and the singing of the Olympic anthem. However, such indispensable attributes of modern Games as a parade of participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the recitation of the Olympic oath did not take place; they were introduced later. There was no Olympic village; invited athletes provided their own housing.
241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the Games of the First Olympiad: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary (at the time of the Games, Hungary was part of Austria-Hungary, but Hungarian athletes competed separately), Germany, Greece, Denmark, Italy , USA, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden.
Russian athletes were quite actively preparing for the Olympics, but due to lack of funds, the Russian team was not sent to the Games.
As in ancient times, only men took part in the competitions of the first modern Olympics.
The program of the first Games included nine sports - classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, shooting, tennis, weightlifting and fencing. 43 sets of awards were drawn.
According to ancient tradition, the Games began with athletic competitions.
Athletics competitions became the most popular - 63 athletes from 9 countries took part in 12 events. The largest number of species - 9 - were won by representatives of the United States.
The first Olympic champion was American athlete James Connolly, who won the triple jump with a score of 13 meters 71 centimeters.
Wrestling competitions were held without uniform approved rules for conducting fights, and there were also no weight categories. The style in which the athletes competed was close to today's Greco-Roman, but it was allowed to grab the opponent's legs. Only one set of medals was played among five athletes, and only two of them competed exclusively in wrestling - the rest took part in competitions in other disciplines.
Since there were no artificial swimming pools in Athens, swimming competitions were held in an open bay near the city of Piraeus; the start and finish were marked by ropes attached to the floats. The competition aroused great interest - by the start of the first swim, about 40 thousand spectators had gathered on the shore. About 25 swimmers from six countries took part, most of them naval officers and sailors of the Greek merchant fleet.
Medals were awarded in four events, all swims were held “freestyle” - you were allowed to swim in any way, changing it along the course. At that time, the most popular swimming methods were breaststroke, overarm (an improved way of swimming on the side) and treadmill style. At the insistence of the Games organizers, the program also included an applied swimming event - 100 meters in sailor's clothing. Only Greek sailors took part in it.
In cycling, six sets of medals were awarded - five on the track and one on the road. The track races took place at the Neo Faliron velodrome, specially built for the Games.
In competitions on artistic gymnastics Eight sets of awards were awarded. The competition took place outdoors at the Marble Stadium.
Five sets of awards were awarded in shooting - two in rifle shooting and three in pistol shooting.
Tennis competitions took place on the courts of the Athens Tennis Club. Two tournaments were held - singles and doubles. At the 1896 Games there was no requirement that all team members represent the same country, and some pairs were international.
Weightlifting competitions were held without division into weight categories and included two disciplines: squeezing a ball barbell with two hands and lifting a dumbbell with one hand.
Three sets of awards were competed for in fencing. Fencing became the only sport where professionals were also allowed: separate competitions were held among “maestros” - fencing teachers (“maestros” were also admitted to the 1900 Games, after which this practice ceased).
The highlight of the Olympic Games was the marathon running. Unlike all subsequent Olympic marathon competitions, the marathon distance at the Games of the First Olympics was 40 kilometers. The classic marathon distance is 42 kilometers 195 meters. The first to finish with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds was the Greek postman Spyridon Louis, who became a national hero after this success. In addition to the Olympic awards, he received a gold cup established by the French academician Michel Breal, who insisted on including marathon running in the program of the Games, a barrel of wine, a voucher for free food for a year, free tailoring of a dress and the use of a hairdresser throughout his life, 10 centners of chocolate, 10 cows and 30 rams.
The winners were awarded on the closing day of the Games - April 15, 1896. Since the Games of the First Olympiad, the tradition of singing the national anthem and raising the national flag in honor of the winner has been established. The winner was crowned with a laurel wreath and given a silver medal, olive branch, cut in the Sacred Grove of Olympia, and a diploma made by a Greek artist. Second place winners received bronze medals.
Those who took third place were not taken into account at that time, and only later the International Olympic Committee included them in the medal standings among countries, but not all medalists were determined accurately.
The Greek team won the largest number of medals - 45 (10 gold, 17 silver, 18 bronze). Team USA came second with 20 medals (11+7+2). The third place was taken by the German team - 13 (6+5+2).
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
The Olympic Games are the largest sporting event loved by many. Millions of people watch them on TV, thousands come to the cities where the competition is held to see the strongest, most dexterous and fastest athletes in person. Every professional athlete dreams of not only winning, but at least getting into the Olympic arena. However, not many people know how they were created games, when they first took place and what the original concept of this competition was.
Legends about the origin
Many legends and myths have come down to us about the origin of these competitions, which have different plots and histories. However, one thing is certain: their homeland is Ancient Greece.
How the first competitions were held
The beginning of the first of them dates back to 776 BC. This date is very ancient, and it might not have survived to this day if not for the tradition of the Greeks: they engraved the names of the winners of the competition on columns specially erected for this. Thanks to these buildings we know not only the time when the games began, but also the name of the first winner. This man's name was Korab, and he was a resident of Ellida. It is interesting that the concept of the first thirteen games was very different from the subsequent ones, because initially there was only one competition - running a distance of one hundred and ninety-two meters.
At first, only the indigenous residents of the city of Pisa and Elis had the right to take part. However, the popularity of the competition soon grew so much that other large policies began to contribute to its development.
There were laws according to which not every person could take part in the Olympic Games. Women did not have this right, slaves and foreign inhabitants called barbarians. And anyone who wanted to become a full participant had to submit an application to the meeting of judges a whole year before the start of the competition. Moreover, before the actual start of the competition, potential participants were required to provide proof that since registration they had worked hard on their physical fitness, performing various types of exercises, training in long-distance running and maintaining athletic shape.
Ancient games concept
Starting from the fourteenth, they began to actively introduce different kinds sports
The winners of the Olympics got literally everything they wanted. Their names were immortalized in history for centuries, and during their lifetime they were honored as demigods until old age. Moreover, after his death, each Olympiad participant was ranked among the minor gods.
For a long time, these competitions, without which it was previously impossible to imagine life, were forgotten. The thing is that after Emperor Theodosius came to power and the strengthening of the Christian faith, games began to be considered one of the manifestations of paganism, for which they were abolished in three hundred and ninety-four BC.
Renaissance
Fortunately, the games have not sunk into oblivion. We owe their revival famous writer and public figure, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, creator modern concept Olympic Games. It happened in 1894, when, on the initiative of Coubertin, an international athletic congress was convened. During it, a decision was made to revive the games according to the standard of antiquity, as well as to establish the work of the IOC, that is, the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC began its existence on June 23 of the same year, and Demetrius Vikelas was appointed its first head, and Pierre Coubertin, already familiar to us, was its secretary. At the same time, Congress developed the rules and regulations under which the games would exist.
The first modern Olympic Games
It is not surprising that Athens was chosen to host the first modern games, since Greece is the origin of these competitions. It's interesting to note that Greece is a country, in which they were held in three centuries.
The first major competitions of modern times were opened on April 6, 1896. More than three hundred athletes took part in them, and the number of sets of awards exceeded four dozen. At the first games competitions were held in the following sports disciplines:
The games ended by the fifteenth of April. The awards were distributed as follows:
- The absolute winner, who collected greatest number Greece won medals, namely forty-six, of which ten were gold.
- The USA took second place with a decent margin from the winner, collecting twenty awards.
- Germany collected thirteen medals and finished in third place.
- But Bulgaria, Chile and Sweden left the competition with nothing.
The success of the competition was so enormous that the rulers of Athens immediately offered to hold the games on their territory. However, according to the rules established by the IOC, the venue must change every four years.
Unexpectedly, the next two terms were quite difficult for the Olympics, because world exhibitions were held in their venues, which made it difficult to receive guests. Due to the combination of these events, the organizers were afraid that the popularity of the games would quickly decline, however, everything was quite the opposite. People fell in love with such large competitions, and then, on the initiative of the same Coubertin, traditions began to form, their flag and emblem were created.
Traditions of the Games and their symbols
The most famous symbol looks like five rings of the same size and intertwined with each other. They come in the following sequence: blue, yellow, black, green and red. Such a simple emblem carries a deep meaning, showing the union of five continents and the meeting of people from all over the world. It is interesting that each Olympic committee has developed its own emblem, however, the five rings are certainly its main part.
The games flag appeared in 1894 and was approved by the IOC. The white flag features the five traditional rings. And the motto of the competition is: faster, higher, stronger.
Another symbol of the Olympics is fire. The lighting of the Olympic flame has become a traditional ritual before the start of any games. It is lit in the city where the competition is held and remains there until it ends. This is how they did it back in ancient times However, the custom did not return to us immediately, but only in 1928.
An integral part of the symbolism of these large-scale competitions is the Olympic mascot. Each country has its own. The issue of the appearance of mascots arose at the next IOC meeting in 1972. By committee decision it could be any person, animal or any mythical creature, which would not only fully reflect the identity of the country, but also speak about modern Olympic values.
The emergence of winter games
In 1924, it was decided to establish winter competitions. Initially, they were held in the same year as the summer ones, however, later it was decided to move them two years relative to the summer ones. Mistress of the first winter games became France. Surprisingly, only half as many spectators were interested in them as expected, and not all tickets were sold out. Despite previous failures, the Winter Olympics were increasingly liked by the fans, and they soon gained the same popularity as the summer ones.
Interesting Facts from the history
It took many centuries to resume these wonderful sports festivals. But we - participants and spectators of modern Olympics - must not forget about our distant predecessors. We are grateful to them for the idea of peace and friendship of peoples that we borrowed, which forms the basis of the modern Olympic movement, and for the opening ritual of the Games suggested to us by the ancient Greeks, and for the strict rules of wrestling and honoring the winners.
The resumption of the Olympic Games was preceded by many events that attracted everyone's attention to the Olympics ancient world. One of these events was the excavation of the ruins of Olympia, undertaken in the 70s of the last century by the German Ernst Curtius. It was possible to discover the remains of 40 buildings, find many sculptures and bas-reliefs, bronze objects, including sports equipment.
Excavations made it possible to restore the appearance of ancient Olympia, located in the valley of the Althea River among shady olive groves, to imagine what the stadium, hotels, facilities for athletes, numerous temples and the main shrine of Olympia - the Temple of Zeus, with a statue of the supreme god of the Greeks, looked like in those distant times, sculpted by the great Phidias.
Interest in the Olympic Games increased every year. More and more proposals were made to restore this greatest sporting forum of the ancient world. And when in 1892 a French teacher and public figure Pierre de Coubertin made a report at the Sorbonne “The Revival of the Olympics”; the ground for organizing the Olympic Games had already been prepared.
On July 24, 1894, the International Sports Congress, which was attended by representatives of 34 countries, gathered in the assembly hall of the Sorbonne, decided to hold the first Olympics in Greece in 1896 and subsequently to hold them every four years.
The program of the Olympic competitions caused a lot of controversy among the organizers. No one had any doubts about athletics alone. Indeed, running, jumping and throwing competitions formed the basis of the Olympic Games of the ancient world. Athletics have become widespread in our time, becoming one of the main means of physical education.
The competition program in Athens included 12 types of athletics. At the Marble Stadium in Athens, sprinters could compete in the 100 and 400 meters.
Intermediate and long distances- in running 800, 1500 meters and marathon running. The jumpers competed in the long, high, pole and triple jumps. The throwers put the shot and threw the discus. Finally, hurdlers had the opportunity to compete in the 100-meter hurdles.
From the first Olympics in 1896 to the XXI Olympic Games held in Montreal in 1976, 80 years passed. Over the years, the athletics program has changed beyond recognition. Instead of 12 types, it now includes 36 types of running, jumping, throwing, all-around and race walking. In 13 types of athletics they compete at modern Games women.
Eighty Olympic years On the running tracks, jumping and throwing sectors, there was a fight for places on the podium, for records and highest achievements. More and more countries, new generations of athletes were involved in this struggle. If only 59 athletes from 10 countries took part in the athletics competitions in Athens, then in 1976 in Montreal the number of participants in these competitions reached 1,379 people from 80 countries.
Your contribution to Olympic history Many countries contributed to the development of athletics. The leading role in sprinting and throwing has long belonged to US athletes. Finland became famous for its outstanding long-distance runners and javelin throwers, France and England for its middle-distance runners, and Japan for its pole vaulters and triples.
Since the 1952 Olympic Games, to the forefront in athletics Athletes from socialist countries come out, putting an end to the long-term hegemony of American sprinters, jumpers and throwers at the Olympics. IN last years Athletes from the countries of the African continent that have freed themselves from colonial oppression begin their victorious march through stadiums around the world.
The achievements of Olympic Games participants are growing. Sometimes it seems that the limits of human capabilities have already been reached. But new Games begin, and old results are again surpassed, new records are set. Science comes to the aid of coaches and athletes. Training means and methods are being improved. The quality of sports equipment is improving. As if on wings, the tartan track carries the runners to the finish line. Screws himself into the air and plans for a long time new form a spear with excellent aerodynamic properties.
And now sprinters are covering distances of 100, 200 and 400 meters faster and faster, middle-distance runners 800 and 1500 meters, stayers - 5000 and 10,000 meters. The bar in high jumps and pole vaults is rising higher and higher. The disk, spear and hammer fly further and further. Fantastic milestones have already been overcome: 10 and 20 seconds in the 100 and 200 meters. The bar in the high jump was raised by 2 meters 35 centimeters. 10 centimeters left to reach the 9-meter limit in the long jump. The 70-meter mark in the discus throw, the 80-meter mark in the hammer throw, and the 90-meter mark in the javelin throw were achieved. Results in other types of athletics are also growing.
How did you manage to achieve these milestones? Will Olympic achievements continue to grow in the future?
Is there really no limit to human capabilities in athletics?
Who and why became the hero of the Olympic Games?
What lies on the path of Olympic champions to sports glory and what is their future fate?
The answers to these questions can be found on the pages of the website
