2-The site of Olympia
Olympia was about 15 km from the Ionian Sea. Olympia was built on grassy plain, north of the Alpheios River and south of forested hills of kronos. The most prominent structures of Olympia were the gymnasium, the stadium and the hippodrome. The temple of Zeus was another great site at Olympia. It took 10 years to be built.
II – Ancient Olympic Sports in Athens:
1 – Sports Games in the Competition:
A nude foot race was the only athletic event until the fifteenth Olympiad. The race was the length of the stadium, approximately 200 yards. Other types of sports followed quickly: the pentathlon whose five events were discus, jumping, javelin, running, and wrestling in 708 B.C, boxing in 688, four-horsed chariot racing in 680, and the pankration, a combination of boxing and wrestling, in 748.
2 – Participants of the Ancient Olympic Games:
The word athlete is an ancient Greek word that means "one who competes for a prize" and was related to two other Greek words, athlos meaning "contest" and athlon meaning "prize." Athletes had to be born in Greece and to speak Greek. They came to Olympia and trained full-time for ten months. They had to undergo an examination by a ten-member panel, who assessed them on their parentage, character and physical endowments. Finally, contestants were competing naked or with an armour, and grouped according to their age.
Married women were not allowed to attend any competition since Olympia was dedicated to Zeus, and was therefore a sacred area for men. However, unmarried girls had their own athletic contests of the Hera festival in which to participate.
III – Modern Olympic Games in Athens:
1 – The Olympic Games During the 19th Century:
With the invasion of Romans, the Olympic Games have been replaced since 393 A.D by the traditional gladiators’ fighting. Therefore, the history of Modern Olympic Games began in 1892 during the International Athletic Congress in Paris. There, Baron Pierre de CUBERTIN proposed to revive the Ancient Olympic Games (Several decades before, the wealthy Greek businessmen ZAPPAS proposed to his government the same thing, but only 4 Zappian Olympiads were held in 1859, 1870, 1875, and 1889). Thus, in 1896 the First Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. 241 men athletes represented 14 nations. The largest delegations were from Greece, Germany and France. The winners were awarded a silver medal and a crown of olive branches. The American James CONNOLY (triple jump) will remain in history as the first Olympic champion. The First Olympiad had 9 sports similar to ancient ones. Boxing was omitted as it was considered dangerous. Another interesting fact is that the tennis event (a new sport) was won by a spectator – the Irishman John BOLAND. Marathon was also included for the first time and was won by a Greek shepherd Spyros LOUIS who thus became the national hero.
2 – The Coming Olympic Games:
Next year, Athens will host again the Summer Olympic Games. They will be held from 13-29 August 2004 and are expected to be as mediatized as the previous ones in Atlanta. Thirty-five venues in several Greek cities are equipped to welcome the participants of the 296 events (28 sports). These are men and women from more than 75 countries and four continents, as this is the requirement for a sport to become olympic. Olympic Games have become a tradition, nowadays, but since ancient days they display the concepts of nationalism, commerce and politics. The participants are judged by international judges and the best three are awarded a gold, a bronze and a silver medal respectively. Olympic records are awarded a money prize. Winners become national heroes and are also awarded by national organizations and sports associations.
For further information on the sports or the XXVIII Olympic Games themselves, you can refer to the following sites:
– The official website of XXVIII Summer Olympic Games in Athens
– The official website of the Olympic movement
- A website about the ancient Olympic Games
- Foundation of Hellenic World
