The History of the Olympic GamesIntroductionToday, the Olympic Games are the world's large

The History of the Olympic Games

Introduction

Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest exhibition 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. The Olympic Games started thousands of years ago and lasted over a millennium. The symbolic power of the Games lived on after their interruption, and came to life again as the modem Olympic Games being revived(恢复；复兴) in the last century. Both the modern and ancient Olympics have close similarities in their purpose and in their problems.

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 were not allowed to even watch the games, 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 modem Olympics, winning athletes were heroes who put their hometowns on the map, and became financially sound for life.

The conflict between the Olympic ideals of sportsmanship and unity and the commercialism and political acts which accompany the Games were also present in ancient times. Potades 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(驱逐) by the Cretans. The first Olympic Games at Olympia were held in 776 B.C. According to Hippias of Elis, who edited a list of Olympic winners in 400 B.C., the only event held at the first Olympics was the stadium footrace.

Every four years the games were started on the first full moon after the summer solstice(夏至), lasting for five days. For over 1100 years, from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D., the games were played, thousands of people ceased all warfare and flocked to a small sanctuary(圣殿) in northwestern Greece for five days in the late summer for a single reason, to witness the Olympic Games. During that time, competitors from all over the Greek world competed in a number of athletic events and worshiped the gods at the sanctuary of Olympia. The athletes competed not for money or material goods, although they received them, but only for the honor of being an Olympic victor. An Olympian that had the honor of winning an event was held in high esteem the rest of his lives.

The Olympic Games were held every 4 years, and were never interrupted. The games were even held in 480 B.C. during the Persian Wars. In 146 B.C., the Romans gained control of Greece and, therefore, of the Olympic Games. In 85 B.C., the Roman general Sulla conquered the sanctuary to finance his campaign against Mithridates. Sulla also moved the 175th Olympiad to Rome. The games were held every four years from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. With the spread of Christianity, the games declined in popularity. They were finally abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I in 393 A.D. The ancient Olympic Games lasted for 1170 years.

Modern Olympics

The revival of the modem Olympics was on account of a French educator named Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He started this dream in 1894 when he founded the International Olympic Committee with the intention of restoring the Ancient Olympic Games which had been held between 776 B.C. and 393 A.D. He believed that international competitions between amateur athletes would help promote friendly relationships between people from different countries. Despite strong opposition Baron assembled 79 delegates from 12 countries to attend the international congress for the re-establishment of the Olympic Games. It was decided to hold the first modern Olympic

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