The Olympic Games

By Julita

Next Friday a new edition of the Olympic Games will begin. Our General Editor, Julita, decided to brush up our Olympic Knowledge with this very good background article!

 

The Olympic Games are a sports event in which athletes from all over the world participate representing their country in 28 different sports. This is the biggest competition and it is held every four years. It is subdivided into Summer and Winter sporting events.

How everything started

There is a myth that says that Heracles (Zeus’s son) was the Olympic Games’ creator and built the stadium in Athens to honor his father.

The games were held every four years and a period between two celebrations was known as “Olympiad”. The Greeks used the Olympiads as one of their methods to count years.

Modern Olympics

Until the late 20th century, only amateur athletes could compete. But now, professionals can participate too. Olympic events for women appeared in the year 1912.

Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French man who invented the Modern Olympic Games and was part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The first Olympics were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece.

As every competition, the Olympics have many problems:

1. Doping: Many athletes began using drugs to improve their performance. Up to now, the only death caused by these drugs occurred in 1960, in Rome. Danish Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bike and died a little later because he had consumed amphetamines. During the Winter Olympics in the year 2006, the IOC introduced blood testing for the first time.
2. Violence: Three times the Olympic Games had to be suspended. In 1916, (Berlin) they couldn’t take place due to the First World War and in 1940 (Helsinki) and in 1944 (London) due to the Second World War. In some cases due to different facts, athletes have been killed and injured.
3. Boycots: In 1956 Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland didn’t want to compete because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union. In 1976 the China team (Taiwan) didn’t participate because they wanted to play under the name of “Republic of China” and this was not allowed. The Chinese athletes returned in 1984 under the name “Chinese Taipei” and used a special flag. In 1980 and 1984, 65 nations refused to go to the Moscow Olympics due to the Afghanistan’s Soviet Invasion. In 2008 the Chinese people, as well as people all over the world, are holding protests against China’s poor human rights policies. There have been many incidents because of this.

Olympic symbols

The Olympic Rings are five intertwined rings that represent the five continents’ unity. The Olympic Flag consists in the five rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red) on a white field. These colours were chosen because each nation has one of these colours on its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914.

Emblems and mascots

The Olympic Games 2008´s emblem is known as “Dancing Beijing” and according to what Jacques Rogge (International Olympic Committee’s president) said, it represents a traditional Chinese red seal and athletic features.

The 2008 Olympic mascots are five: fish, panda, fire, antelope and a swallow. They represent the five elements: water, metal, fire, wood and earth. They have the Olympic Rings colours (“Beibei” blue, “Jingjing” black, “Huanhuan” red, “Yingying” yellow and “Nini” green).When the syllables of each name are said together they mean “Beijing welcomes you” in Chinese.

What does an athlete feel?

“When an athlete is told that he or she is going to the Olympic Games they just think about how long they have wanted to go there. You feel really excited.” Christina Loukas a 22-year-old girl who will be participating as a three-meter springboard diver in the Olympics.

The Olympic Games also represent fraternity and equality above all the problems that it faces. But when the athletes are told this excellent news they feel very nervous:

“I have worked with a sports psychologist for about some months before the Olympics just so I could learn how to relax” Nancy Hogshead who won three gold medals and one silver medal in swimming at the 1984 Olympic Games.

The best thing that can occur to an athlete in his or her career is to participate in the Olympics; there is no doubt about it.