Olympics
Ancient Olympics:Olympics is an International sports festival with wide variety of events participated by thousands of athletes from all over the world. An ancient Olympics game was originated in the city of Olympia, an ancient city of Greece and conducted for every four years. The games were always held at Mount Olympia and it was Heracles who called the game “Olympic” and he built the Olympic stadium as an honor to Zeus, his father. The Olympic games conducted from 776 BC t0 393 AD. The Olympic were ended after the Roman Emperor, Theodosius gained the power in Greece and eliminated all the practices Greeks were held. After the fall of Olympics games they were not conducted again until the late 19th century.
Modern Olympics:
It was French nobleman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who revived Olympic games (almost 1500 years after the last ancient Olympics) in 1894. The modern series of the Olympic Games started in 1896 in Athens and since then are held every four years. Separate winter Olympic Games began in 1924. Women have been competing in the Olympics since 1912. India officially participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1920 when four athletes and two wrestlers were sent to participate in the sixth Olympic Games at Antwerp, Belgium.
The Olympic Flag is made up of white silk and contains fine intertwined rings as the Olympics Emblem. From right to left the rings are Blue (for Europe), Yellow (for Asia), Black (for Africa), Red (for America) and Green (for Australia). In 1897, Father Didon composed the games motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' in Latin, which means 'Swifter, Higher and Stronger'. However, it was introduced as Olympic motto only in 1920 games.
Olympics - Where and When
Olympiad | Year | Olympics | |
Venue | Country | ||
I | 1896 | Athens | Greece |
II | 1900 | Paris | France |
III | 1904 | St Louis | US |
IV | 1908 | London | Great Britain |
V | 1912 | Stockholm | Sweden |
VI* | 1916 | Berlin | Germany |
VII | 1920 | Antwerp | Belgium |
VIII | 1924 | Paris | France |
IX | 1928 | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
X | 1932 | Los Angeles | US |
XI | 1936 | Berlin | Germany |
XII** | 1940 | Tokyo (then Helsinki) | Japan (then Finland) |
XIII** | 1944 | London | Great Britain |
XIV | 1948 | London | Great Britain |
XV | 1952 | Helsinki | Finland |
XVI | 1956 | Melbourne | Australia |
XVII | 1960 | Rome | Italy |
XVIII | 1964 | Tokyo | Japan |
XIX | 1968 | Mexico City | Mexico |
XX | 1972 | Munich | W. Germany |
XXI | 1976 | Montreal | Canada |
XXII | 1980 | Moscow | USSR |
XXIII | 1984 | Los Angeles | US |
XXIV | 1988 | Seoul | S. Korea |
XXV | 1992 | Barcelona | Spain |
XXVI | 1996 | Atlanta | US |
XXVII | 2000 | Sydney | Australia |
XXVIII | 2004 | Athens | Greece |
XXIX | 2008 | Beijing | China (Scheduled) |
XXX | 2012 | England | UK |