Olympic Games information. Olympic Games lecture
Olympic Games- the largest sport's 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 their 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 even before whole year before the start of the competition. Moreover, before the actual start of the competition, potential candidates were required to provide proof that they had been working hard on their skills since registration. physical training, performing various kinds exercise, training for long-distance running and staying in athletic shape.
Ancient games concept
Starting from the fourteenth, various sports began to be actively introduced into the games program.
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 to the famous writer and public figure, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the creator of the modern concept of the 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 carried out 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 overall winner, collecting the largest number of medals, namely forty-six, of which ten were gold, was Greece.
- 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 the venues where they were held hosted world exhibitions, 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 was done 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. France became the host of the first Winter Games. 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 became more and more popular with the fans, and they soon gained the same popularity as the summer ones.
Interesting Facts from the history
The history of the Olympic Games goes back more than 2 thousand years. They originated in Ancient Greece. At first, the games were part of festivals in honor of the god Zeus. The first Olympics took place in ancient Greece. Once every four years, athletes gathered in the city of Olympia in the Peloponnese, a peninsula in the south of the country. Only running competitions were held over a distance of one stadium (from the Greek stade = 192 m). Gradually the number of sports increased, and games turned into an important event for the entire Greek world. It was a religious and sports holiday, during which obligatory “sacred peace” was declared and any military actions were prohibited.
History of the first Olympics
The period of truce lasted a month and was called ekeheiriya. It is believed that the first Olympics took place in 776 BC. e. But in 393 AD. e. Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games. By that time, Greece lived under the rule of Rome, and the Romans, having converted to Christianity, believed that the Olympic Games, with their worship of pagan gods and the cult of beauty, were incompatible with the Christian faith.
The Olympic Games were remembered in late XIX c., after they began to carry out excavations in ancient Olympia and discovered the ruins of sports and temple buildings. In 1894, at the International Sports Congress in Paris, the French public figure Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) proposed organizing the Olympic Games on the model of the ancient ones. He also came up with the Olympians’ motto: “The main thing is not victory, but participation.” De Coubertin wanted only male athletes to compete in these competitions, as in Ancient Greece, but already in the second Games women also participated. The emblem of the Games was five multi-colored rings; We chose the colors that are most often found on the flags of various countries around the world.
The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens. In the 20th century The number of countries and athletes participating in these competitions grew steadily, and the number of Olympic sports also increased. Today it is difficult to find a country that does not send at least one or two athletes to the Games. Since 1924, in addition to the Olympic Games, which take place in the summer, winter Games began to be organized so that skiers, skaters and other athletes who engage in winter sports can compete. And since 1994, the Winter Olympic Games are held not in the same year as the Summer Olympics, but two years later.
Sometimes the Olympic Games are called the Olympics, which is incorrect: the Olympics is a four-year period between successive Olympic Games. When, for example, they say that the 2008 Games are the 29th Olympics, they mean that from 1896 to 2008, 29 periods of four years each passed. But there were only 26 Games: in 1916, 1940 and 1944. There were no Olympic Games - world wars interfered.
The Greek city of Olympia today attracts crowds of tourists who want to look at the ruins of the ancient city excavated by archaeologists with the remains of the temples of Zeus and Hera and visit the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.
“There is nothing nobler than the sun,
giving so much light and warmth. So
and people glorify those competitions,
There is nothing more majestic than the Olympic Games.”
Pindar
These words of the ancient Greek poet Pindar, written two thousand years ago, have not been forgotten to this day. They are not forgotten because the Olympic competitions, held at the dawn of civilization, continue to live in the memory of mankind.
There are no number of myths - one is more beautiful than the other! - about the emergence of the Olympic Games. Their most honorable ancestors are gods, kings, rulers and heroes. One thing has been established with obvious indisputability: the first Olympics known to us since ancient times took place in 776 BC.
Each Olympic Games turned into a holiday for the people, a kind of congress for rulers and philosophers, a competition for sculptors and poets.
The days of Olympic celebrations are days of universal peace. For the ancient Hellenes, games were a tool of peace, facilitating negotiations between cities, promoting mutual understanding and communication between states.
The Olympics exalted man, because the Olympics reflected a worldview, the cornerstone of which was the cult of perfection of spirit and body, idealization of harmonious developed person- thinker and athlete. The Olympionist, the winner of the games, was given the honors bestowed upon the gods by his compatriots; monuments were created in their honor during his lifetime, odes of praise were composed, and feasts were held. The Olympic hero entered his hometown in a chariot, dressed in purple, crowned with a wreath, and entered not through the usual gates, but through a gap in the wall, which was sealed that same day so that the Olympic victory would enter the city and never leave it.
The center of the Olympic world of antiquity was the sacred district of Zeus in Olympia - a grove along the Alpheus River at the confluence of the Kladei stream. In this beautiful town of Hellas, traditional pan-Greek competitions in honor of the Thunder God were held almost three hundred times. The winds of the Ionian Sea disturbed the mighty pines and oaks on the top of Kronos Hill. At its foot lies a protected area, the silence of which was broken once every four years by the Olympic celebrations.
This is Olympia, the cradle of the games. It is not the silent ruins that now remind us of its former greatness. Evidence from ancient authors, statues and images on vases and coins recreate the picture of the Olympic spectacles.
Near Holy Olympia, a town of the same name subsequently grew up, surrounded by orange and olive groves.
Nowadays Olympia is a typical provincial town, inhabited by tourists who flock to the Olympic ruins from all over the world. Everything about it is absolutely Olympic: from the names of streets and hotels to dishes in taverns and souvenirs in countless shops. It is noteworthy for its museums - archaeological and Olympic.
Olympia owes its surviving glory entirely to the Olympic Games, although they were held there only once every four years and lasted only a few days. During the breaks between games, a huge stadium located nearby, in a hollow near Kronos Hill, was empty. Overgrown with grass treadmill stadium and the slopes of the hill and embankments bordering the arena, which served as a grandstand for spectators. There was no sound of hooves or the roar of horse-drawn chariots at the nearby hippodrome. There were no athletes training in the spacious gymnasium square surrounded by standing rooms and in the monumental building of the palaestra. No voices were heard in the Leonidayon, the hotel for honored guests.
But during the Olympic Games, life was seething here. Tens of thousands of arriving athletes and guests filled to capacity what was, at that time, a grandiose athletic facilities. Their ensemble, in its composition, differed little from modern sports complexes. In those distant times, only the winner was revealed at the Olympics certain types competitions - Olympic. Speaking modern language, no one recorded the absolute achievements of athletes. Therefore, few people were interested in the perfection of the competition venues. Everyone was most interested in the ritual side of the holiday dedicated to Zeus.
As you know, ancient Greek history is reflected in mythology with some degree of accuracy. One of the poetic myths of ancient Greece tells how the Olympic stadium came into being. If you listen to this legend, then its founder was Hercules from Crete. Around the 17th century. BC e. He and his four brothers landed on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. There, near the hill with the grave of the titan Kronos, according to the legend of the son of Zeus, defeated in the fight, Hercules, in honor of his father’s victory over his grandfather, organized a running competition with his brothers. To do this, on a site at the foot of the hill, he measured a distance of 11 stages, which corresponded to 600 of his feet. an improvised running track 192 m 27 cm long and served as the basis for the future Olympic stadium. For three centuries, it was in this primitive arena that the games, later called the Olympic Games, were held on an irregular basis.
Gradually, the Olympics won the recognition of all states located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and by 776 BC. e. acquired a pan-Greek character. It was from this date that the tradition of perpetuating the names of the winners began.
On the eve of the grand opening of the Games, an ancient tent city was located near the stadium on the banks of the Alpheus River. In addition to many sports fans, traders of various goods and owners of entertainment establishments also flocked here. Thus, even in ancient times, the concern for preparing for the games involved the most diverse social strata of the Greek population in organizational affairs. The Greek festival officially lasted five days, dedicated to the glorification of physical strength and the unity of a nation that worships the deified beauty of man. The Olympic Games, as their popularity grew, influenced the center of Olympia - Altis. For more than 11 centuries, pan-Greek games were held in Olympia. Similar games were held in other centers of the country, but none of them could be equal to the Olympic ones.
One of the most beautiful legends of the past tells about the god-fighter and protector of people Prometheus, who stole fire from Olympus and brought it in reeds and taught mortals to use it. As the myths say, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to the Caucasus rock, pierced his chest with a spear, and a huge eagle flew every morning to peck the titan’s liver; he was saved by Hercules. And not a legend, but history testifies that in other cities of Hellas there was a cult of Prometheus, and in his honor Prometheans were held - competitions of runners with burning torches.
The figure of this titan remains today one of the most bright images in Greek mythology. The expression “Promethean fire” means the desire for high goals in the fight against evil. Wasn’t that the same meaning that the ancients intended when they lit the Olympic flame in the Altis Grove about three thousand years ago?
During the summer solstice, competitors and organizers, pilgrims and fans paid homage to the gods by lighting fire on the altars of Olympia. The winner of the running competition was given the honor of lighting the fire for the sacrifice. In the glow of this fire, rivalries between athletes, a competition of artists took place, and a peace agreement was concluded by envoys from cities and peoples.
That is why the tradition of lighting a fire and later delivering it to the competition site was resumed.
Among the Olympic rituals, the ceremony of lighting the fire in Olympia and delivering it to the main arena of the games is especially emotional. This is one of the traditions of the modern Olympic movement. Millions of people can watch the exciting journey of fire through countries, and even sometimes continents, with the help of television.
The Olympic flame first broke out at the Amsterdam Stadium on the first day of the 1928 Games. This indisputable fact. However, until recently, most researchers in the field Olympic history they find no confirmation that this flame was delivered, as tradition dictates, by a relay race from Olympia.
The torch relay races, which carried the flame from Olympia to the city of the Summer Olympics, began in 1936. Since then, the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games have been enriched by the exciting spectacle of the lighting of the torch carried by the relay in the main Olympic stadium. The Torchbearers' Run has been the ceremonial prologue to the Games for more than four decades. On June 20, 1936, a fire was lit in Olympia, which then traveled a 3,075-kilometer journey along the route of Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Germany. And in 1948, the torch made its first sea voyage.
In 394 AD e. The Roman Emperor Theodosius 1 issued a decree banning the further holding of the Olympic Games. The emperor converted to Christianity and decided to eradicate anti-Christian games glorifying pagan gods. And for one and a half thousand years the games were not held. In subsequent centuries, sport lost the democratic significance that was given to it in Ancient Greece. For a long time it became the privilege of the “selected” fraud; it ceased to play the role of the most available means communication between peoples.
Ancient Greek athletes competed naked. The word “gymnastics” comes from the word “naked” (“gymnos”). A naked body was not considered something shameful - on the contrary, it showed how hard the athlete trained. It was shameful to have an unathletic, untrained body. Women were prohibited not only from participating, but also from observing the Games. If any woman was found in the stadium, by law she had to be thrown into the abyss. Only once was this rule broken - when a woman, whose father, brother and husband were Olympic champions, trained her son herself and, driven by the desire to see him become a champion, went with him to the Games. The coaches stood separately on the field, watching their players. Our heroine changed into men's clothes and stood next to them, looking at her son with excitement. And so... he is declared champion! The mother could not stand it and ran across the entire field to be the first to congratulate him. On the way, her clothes fell off, and everyone saw that there was a woman in the stadium. The judges were in a difficult position. According to the law, the offender must be killed, but she is a daughter, sister and wife, and now also the mother of Olympic champions! She was spared, but from that day on a new rule was introduced - now not only athletes, but also coaches must stand on the field completely naked to prevent such situations.
One of the types of competitions was chariot racing - unusually dangerous look sports, horses often got scared, chariots collided, jockeys fell under the wheels... Sometimes only two chariots out of ten reached the start. But all the same, no matter how much strength and dexterity the jockey showed, it was not he who received the winner’s wreath, but the owner of the horses!
Women had their own Games - they were dedicated to the goddess Hera. They took place a month before the men's race or, conversely, a month after them, at the same stadium where the women competed in running.
With the advent of the Renaissance, which restored interest in the art of Ancient Greece, people remembered the Olympic Games. At the beginning of the 19th century. The sport gained universal recognition in Europe and a desire arose to organize something similar to the Olympic Games. Local games organized in Greece in 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1879 left some traces in history. Although they did not produce tangible practical results in the development of the international Olympic movement, they served as an impetus for the formation of the Olympic Games of our time, which owe their revival to the French public figure, teacher, and historian Pierre De Coubertin. The growth of economic and cultural communication between states, which arose at the end of the 18th century, the emergence modern species transport, paved the way for the revival of the Olympic Games on an international scale. That is why the call of Pierre De Coubertin: “We need to make sport international, we need to revive the Olympic Games!” found a proper response in many countries.
On June 23, 1894, a commission to revive the Olympic Games met in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne in Paris. Her general secretary became Pierre De Coubertin. Then the International Olympic Committee - the IOC - was formed, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.
By decision of the IOC, the games of the first Olympics were held in April 1896 in the capital of Greece at the Panathenaic Stadium. Coubertin's energy and the enthusiasm of the Greeks overcame many obstacles and made it possible to fulfill the planned program of the first games of our time. Spectators enthusiastically received the colorful opening and closing ceremonies of the revived sports festival and the awarding of competition winners. The interest in the competition was so great that the marble stands of the Panathenaic Stadium, designed for 70 thousand seats, accommodated 80 thousand spectators. The success of the revival of the Olympic Games was confirmed by the public and press of many countries, which greeted the initiative with approval.
Legends associated with the origin of the Olympic Games:
* One of the oldest is the legend of Pelops, which is mentioned by the ancient Roman poet Ovid in his “Metamorphoses” and the ancient Greek poet Pindar. Pelops, the son of Tantalus, is told in this legend, after King Ilus of Troy conquered his hometown of Sipylus, left his homeland, and went to the shores of Greece. In the very south of Greece, he found a peninsula and settled on it. Since then, this peninsula began to be called the Peloponnese. One day Pelops saw the beautiful Hypodamia, the daughter of Oenomaus. Oenomaus was the king of Pisa, a city located in the northwestern Peloponnese, in the valley of the Alpheus River. Pelops fell in love with the beautiful daughter of Oenomaus and decided to ask the king for her hand in marriage.
But this turned out to be not so easy. The fact is that the oracle predicted Oenomaus' death at the hands of his daughter's husband. To prevent such a fate, Oenomai decided not to marry his daughter at all. But how to do that? How to refuse all applicants for the hand of Hypodamia? Many worthy suitors wooed the beautiful princess. Oenomaus could not refuse everyone without a reason and came up with a cruel condition: he would give Hypodamia as a wife only to the one who defeats him in a chariot race, but if he turns out to be the winner, then the defeated one must pay with his life. In all of Greece, Oenomaus had no equal in the art of driving a chariot, and his horses were faster than the wind.
One after another, young people came to the palace of Oenomaus, not afraid to lose their lives just to get the beautiful Hypodamia as a wife. And Oenomaus killed them all, and to discourage others from coming to woo, he nailed the heads of the dead to the doors of the palace. But this did not stop Pelops. He decided to outwit the cruel ruler of Pisa. Pelops secretly agreed with Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus not to insert the pin holding the wheel on the axle.
Before the start of the competition, Oenomaus, confident, as always, of success, invited Pelops to start the race alone. The groom's chariot takes off, and Oenomaus slowly makes a sacrifice to the great thunderer Zeus and only after that rushes after him.
Now the chariot of Oenomaus has reached Pelops, the son of Tantalus already feels the hot breath of the horses of King Pisa, he turns around and sees the king swinging his spear with a triumphant laugh. But at this moment the wheels jump off the axles of Oenomaus’s chariot, the chariot overturns, and the cruel king falls to the ground dead.
Pelops returned triumphantly to Pisa, took the beautiful Hippodamia as his wife, took possession of the entire kingdom of Oenomaus and, in honor of his victory, organized a sports festival in Olympia, which he decided to repeat every four years.
* Other legends claim that a running competition took place in Olympia near the tomb of Cronos, the father of Zeus. And as if they were organized by Zeus himself, who thus celebrated the victory over his father, which made him the ruler of the world.
* But perhaps the most popular legend in ancient times was one that Pindar mentioned in his songs in honor of the winners of the Olympic Games. According to this legend, the Games were founded by Hercules after completing his sixth labor - cleansing the barnyard of Augeas, king of Elis. Augeas possessed innumerable wealth. His herds were especially numerous. Hercules invited Augeas to cleanse his entire huge courtyard in one day if he agreed to give him a tenth of his herds. Augeas agreed, believing that it was simply impossible to complete such work in one day. Hercules broke the wall surrounding the barnyard on two opposite sides and diverted the water of the Alpheus River into it. One day the water carried away all the manure from the barnyard, and Hercules built the walls again. When Hercules came to Augeas to demand a reward, the king did not give him anything, and even kicked him out.
Hercules took terrible revenge on the king of Elis. With a large army he invaded Elis, defeated Augeas in a bloody battle and killed him with a deadly arrow. After the victory, Hercules gathered troops and all the booty from the city of Pisa, made sacrifices to the Olympian gods and established the Olympic Games, which were held from then on every four years on the sacred plain, planted by Hercules himself with olive trees dedicated to the goddess Pallas Athena.
There are many other versions of the appearance and creation of the Olympic Games, but all these versions, most often of mythological origin, remain versions.
* According to indisputable signs, the appearance of the Olympic Games dates back to the 9th century BC. e. In those days, heavy wars ravaged the Greek states. Iphitus, the king of Elis, a small Greek state on whose territory Olympia is located, goes to Delphi to consult with the oracle on how he, the king of a small country, can save his people from war and robbery. The Delphic oracle, whose predictions and advice were considered infallible, advised Iphitus:
"We need you to found Games pleasing to the gods!"
Iphit immediately sets off to meet with his powerful neighbor, the king of Sparta, Lycurgus. Apparently Iphitus was a good diplomat, since Lycurgus decides that Elis should henceforth be recognized as a neutral state. And all the small fragmented states, endlessly at war with each other, agree with this decision. Immediately, Iphit, in order to prove his peace-loving aspirations and thank the gods, establishes “athletic Games that will be held at Olympia every four years.” Hence their name - the Olympic Games. This happened in 884 BC. e.
Thus, a custom was established in Greece, according to which, once every four years, at the height of internecine wars, everyone put their weapons aside and went to Olympia to admire harmoniously developed athletes and praise the gods.
The Olympic Games became a national event that united all of Greece, while before and after them Greece was a multitude of disparate states warring among themselves.
* After some time, the Greeks came up with the idea of establishing a single calendar for the Olympic Games. It was decided to hold the Games regularly every four goals “between the harvest and the grape harvest.” Olympic holiday, which consisted of numerous religious ceremonies and sports competitions, was held first for one day, then for five days, and later the duration of the holiday reached a whole month.
When the festival lasted only one day, it was usually held on the eighteenth day of the "holy month", beginning with the first full moon after the summer solstice. The holiday was repeated every four years, which constituted the “Olympiad” - the Greek Olympic year.
In Paris, a commission to revive the Olympic Games met in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne. Baron Pierre de Coubertin became its general secretary. 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 Greek capital, 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 modern Games, like the parade of participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the recitation of the Olympic oath, there was no; they were introduced later. Did not have Olympic Village, the 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. Largest quantity species - 9 - won by representatives of the USA.
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 an 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.
Eight sets of awards were competed for in the artistic gymnastics competitions. The competition took place on 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 not yet a 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 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 Greek postman Spyridon Louis finished first with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds, 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, given a silver medal, an olive branch cut from 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 beginning of the Olympic Games was laid back in 1896. From the very beginning, games were played in both summer and winter of the same year. We will look at how the modern Olympic Games are held in this article.
Already in the twentieth century, the gap between winter and summer games was two years. used to take place in Olympia and had great value for local residents. Previously, the games had only one competition - sprinting. A little later they began to hold competitions for horses and running in full uniform. Only local residents and Mediterranean guests could take part in the games. We all know very well how the modern Olympic Games are held today: athletes from all over the world take part in the competitions.
The Olympic Games are held each time in a new place. A certain country and city are selected and all athletes go there to compete. There are cases when competitions are held again in certain countries, for example in Greece. Since it was in Greece that such competitions originated, after a certain period the Olympiad is held there again. Athens is a fabulous city, which is why the locals have been hosting the Olympic Games with pride and dignity since 1896 (the first competitions were held here).
How the modern Olympic Games are conducted is known to all spectators, but they should know one thing - the current version is very different from the past. Today the Olympic Games are the most exciting and largest in the world. The programs are constantly changing, improving and generally consist of twenty or more various types sports As a rule, personal records and achievements are set at competitions. The potential of a certain team is very rarely assessed; basically, it’s every man for himself. Games are judged by three medals: gold, silver and bronze.
Concerning comparative characteristics games, previously only Greeks and Mediterranean guests took part, but now all well-established athletes from all over the world took part. Today women compete equally with men and have the right to fight for it, but in Greece this was simply impossible. At the Olympic Games, athletes compete for awards, the honor of their country, showing their physical abilities, and in ancient times they were even awarded for spiritual abilities. Nowadays it is considered a competition, but in the past this was not the case. When the games were held at Olympia, all hostilities ceased and all time was devoted to competitions. As before, the games are held every four years, but there is a break between summer and winter games is two years.
Everyone has the opportunity to watch the modern Olympic Games on TV and read about the results in the newspaper. Visiting the country that hosts them is the dream of every sports fan. We were luckier, since almost everyone in Greece knew about the games, but only a few could get there, but now the doors of the Olympic Games are open to all interested spectators!