the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
To stop Metis giving birth to her son, Zeus came up with a plan, he played a game with Metis, they shape shifted into different animals, Metis turned turned into a fly, Zeus saw his chance and he swallowed her whole.
Zeus was too late, as Metis was already pregnant.
While she was inside Zeus's head, Metis made a helmet, armor, and a robe for Athena.
The hammering noise caused Zeus to have a severe headache.
The headache became worse then Hephaestus split his head open and Athena came out full grown and with armor on.
Titles and patronages
Athena is the goddess of knowledge, purity, arts, crafts, learning, justice and wisdom.
She also plays a tough, clever and independent role.
Athenians thought she helped them win the Trojan war.
Athena often helped heroes, especially ones who were not just brave but clever, like Jason and Perseus.
People joined her cult, hoping she would give them victory.
She was also an the creator of the olive tree and flute.
Attributes and epithets
Athena was given many other titles.
She has the epithet Ergane as the patron of craftsmen and artisans.
With the epithet Parthenos she was especially worshipped in the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia where both militaristic and athletic displays took place.
With the epithet Promachos she led in battle.
With the epithet Polias, Athena was the protector of not only Athens but also of many other cities, including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa.
Menrva - Etruscan version of Athena.
Minerva - Roman version of Athena.
National personifications
Salt Lake City is a city in the United States of America.
It is the capital and largest city of the state of Utah.
It was founded by the Mormons and is the official headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is named after the Great Salt Lake, which it is near.
The city's population was estimated at 191,180 in 2013.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young and his Mormon followers.
They extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley.
Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City"–the word "great" was dropped from the official name in 1868.
Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper is Mormon today.
Immigration of international LDS members, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the "Crossroads of the West".
It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, and presently two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, intersect in the city.
Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing.
It was host to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
It is the industrial banking center of the United States.
In 1847 pioneer Jane Dillworth held the first classes in her tent for the children of the first LDS families.
In the last part of the 19th century, there was much controversy over how children in the area should be educated.
LDS and non-LDS parents could not agree on the level of religious influence in schools.
Today, many LDS youths in grades 9 through 12 attend some form of religious instruction, referred to as seminary.
Students are released from public schools at various times of the day to attend seminary.
LDS seminaries are usually located on church-owned property adjacent to the public school and within walking distance.
Because of high birth rates and large classrooms, Utah spends less per student than any other state.
At the same time, Utah spends more per capita than any state with the exception of Alaska.
Recently, money was approved for the reconstruction of more than half of the elementary schools and one of the middle schools in the Salt Lake City School District, which serves most of the area within the city limits.
There are twenty-three K-6 elementary schools, five 7-8 middle schools, three 9-12 high schools (Highland, East, and West, with the former South High being converted to the South City campus of the Salt Lake Community College), and an alternative high school (Horizonte) located within the school district.
In addition, Highland has recently been selected as the site for the charter school Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SPA).
Many Catholic schools are located in the city, including Judge Memorial High School.
Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School, established in 1867 by Episcopal Bishop Daniel Tuttle, is the area's premier independent school.
The Salt Lake City Public Library system consists of the main library downtown, and five branches in various neighborhoods.
The main library, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, opened in 2003.
In 2006, the Salt Lake City Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by the American Library Association.
Colleges in Salt Lake City include the University of Utah, Westminster College, Salt Lake Community College, Stevens-Henager College, Eagle Gate College, The Art Institute of Salt Lake City and LDS Business College.
Utah State University and BYU also operate education centers in the city.
There are also many trade and technical schools such as Healing Mountain Massage School and the Utah College of Massage Therapy.
The University of Utah has good research and medical programs.
It was one of the original four universities to be connected to ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, in 1969, and was also the site of the first artificial heart transplant in 1982.
1847 - The Mormon pioneers first arrive to settle Utah.
2002 - The Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City.
County seats in Utah
1847 establishments in the United States
19th-century establishments in Utah
Nagano () is a city in Japan.
It is the capital of Nagano Prefecture ().
Cities in Japan
Settlements in Nagano Prefecture
Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, which is a region of Spain.
Barcelona is the largest city on the Mediterranean coast.
The city is between the rivers of Llobregat and Besòs, and south of the Pyrenees mountains.
It has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification).
In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games.
Many new parks were opened and other significant changes to the city were made.
One example is opening the new beaches in the Poble Nou area.
In 2007, about 1.6 million people lived in Barcelona.
Around 3.1 million people live in the Metropolitan Area and 4.9 million people live in the Urban Region.
Barcelona is the second most populated city in Spain, and the tenth in the European Union.
The origin of Barcelona is unclear.
The ruins of an early settlement have been found dating to earlier than 5000 BC.
During the Roman Empire, Barcelona was  a colony of the  Western Roman Empire called  Barcino (full name was Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino).
A clear example of the Roman heritage in Barcelona is the preserved Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) in the center of city.
In the Middle Age (5th century), Barcelona was conquered by the Visigoths.
King Athaulf moved his capital here for a short time.
In 511, a battle between the Ostrogoths and Visigoths took place near the city in which the Ostrogoths won.
In 8 century, Barcelona was conquered by the Moors.
Until the 15th century, Barcelona was the leading slave trade centre.
Barcelona was a centre of Catalan separatism for a long time.
During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona was Republican city.
Barcelona's culture roots go back 2000 years.
The city is a very religious, so there are many cathedrals in it.
The most famous of them is Sagrada Familia.
Barcelona Cathedral is also popular among the tourists.
Barcelona  has a large number of theaters such as  Palau de la Música Catalana, Liceu etc.
Barcelona has an symphony orchestra.
There are also many museums.
For example, Museu Nacional d'Art,   Museu Picasso, Museu Marítim, Museu d Història de la Ciutat Barcelona, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Museu de la Xocolata.
The street called La Rambla is a place for street performances such as mime performances.
The Sonar Festival and  Primavera Sound Festival are two major pop music festivals that take place yearly there.
Barcelona has one of Europe's largest aquariums – Aquarium Barcelona.
El Periódico de Catalunya, La Vanguardia and Ara are three major newspapers of Barcelona.
Many popular films were also shot in Barcelona.
The examples are Todo sobre mi madre (1999) by Pedro Almodóvar, REC (2007),  Salvador (2006), Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008), Biutiful (2010), Tres metros sobre el cielo.
Tengo ganas de ti (2012).
Barcelona was for a long time an industrial city.
Currently, factories have been moved to the periphery, a fact that has allowed us to transform the former industrial neighbourhoods in the residential areas, from research to products with high added value and services.
The most representative industrial sectors of Barcelona are the textile industry, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics, medical Industry and printing.
Services Barcelona stands out for its logistics activities, publishing and computer.
Barcelona has a port, metro, airport, modern passengers trains by Renfe company and tram systems called Trambaix and Trambesos.
Barcelona is one of the main railway hubs in Spain.
The main railway station is Sants Estació.
Barcelona has also a metered taxi fleet.
Barcelona is a very sports city.
It hosted the highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics.
FC Barcelona is a sport club, one of the largest and the second richest in the world.
Barcelona is one of the most important tourist destinations in Europe, with millions of people visiting every year.
The city is famous for its 19th century modernist architecture.
The best known of those buildings was designed by Antoni Gaudi.
It is the unfinished church Sagrada Familia, which is the symbol of Barcelona.
Among the dishes, the also popular are paella, gazpacho, jamon, crema catalana  and sangria.
The popular stores  for shopping are Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bimba y Lola, Adolfo Dominguez.
1987 - Hipercor bombing
1992 - 1992 Summer Olympics
2004 - Universal Forum of Cultures
2017 - 2017 Barcelona attack
Barcelona has a very good higher education.
The most prominent university is the University of Barcelona which has a long history.
The main language of Barcelona is considered Catalan.
Spanish is the second popular language.
(write about the problems  of language)
Busan, South Korea
Monzón, Spain
Gaza, Palestinian territories
Gdańsk, Poland
Perpignan, France
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Official website of Barcelona
Barcelona.com The Guide to Barcelona
Hotel Arts, Barcelona best honeymoon hotel in the world
Denise Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British retired athlete from West Bromwich.
She won the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
In late 2004, she was a contestant in the second series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Black British sportspeople
British female athletes
British Olympic bronze medalists
British Olympic gold medalists
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Sports commentators
Sportspeople from West Midlands (county)
Strictly Come Dancing participants
Michael Duane Johnson (born in September 13, 1967), Dallas, Texas is an American retired sprinter.
He is widely considered the greatest long sprinter of all time.
During his time on the track, he established world records for the 400 m (43.18 Seville, Spain), indoor 400 m, indoor 300 m, 200 m, and 4 × 400 m relay.
Due to these achievements, and due to the vast difference between the 200 m and 400 m, Johnson left little doubt that he is the greatest sprinter of all time.
He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals.
Johnson had a unique upright posture when he ran so that he looked like a duck walk, which gave him the nickname The Duck.
His running gait did not make sense for running fast, but somehow worked.
He won almost every race that he ever ran.
He retired in 2001, and is a sports commentator on TV.
He was a contestant in the 2010 season of The Celebrity Apprentice.
African-American track and field athletes
American male athletes
American Olympic gold medalists
American track and field athletes
Sportspeople from Dallas, Texas
Sprinters
Anything related to Iceland
The Bronze Age is the time period when people made tools from an alloy (a mixture of metals) called bronze.
Bronze is a mixture of mainly copper and tin: usually nine parts copper to one part tin.
Materials like wood and stone were also used for tools, but bronze was better for cutting and chopping, and was easy to shape.
The Bronze Age was not at the same time everywhere, because different groups of people began to use bronze at different times.
In Western Europe, the Bronze Age lasted from about 2000 BC until 800 BC.
In the Middle East, it started about a thousand years earlier.
For example, bronze was first used in Mesopotamia around 3300 BC.
Archaeologists think that people became more organised in the Bronze Age, because the making of metal tools was difficult and needed certain skills.
The people who had these new skills would have been important.
The new metal tools were bought, sold, or traded across larger distances.
Later, when iron tools spread, the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age started.
A reason for iron replacing bronze is that tin ore, a rock in which tin may be found, is much more rare than iron ore.
Copper tools were less useful because they were too soft.
By the Bronze Age, wild food was no longer a main part of the diet.
The title "inventors of agriculture" might go to the Sumerians, starting c. 5500 BC.
Farming allows more people in an area than can be supported by hunting and gathering.
Crops can be stored for off-season use, or to sell or barter.
Farmers could feed people to do other things than agriculture.
This was a crucial factor in the rise of full-time armies.
Sumerian agriculture allowed them to win battles and land.
This made them early empire builders.
Not long after, the Egyptians, farming in the fertile Nile valley, increased their population.
There were now enough warriors to conquer more land, tripling the Sumerian empire in area.
In Sumer, barley was the primary crop; wheat, flax, dates, apples, plums, vegetables and grapes were grown as well.
Mesopotamian agriculture was both supported and limited by flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Floods came in late spring or early summer from snow melting from the Anatolian mountains.
Sheep, wolves, cows and goats were domesticated, kept mainly for meat, milk, butter and cheese.
Ur, a large town that covered about 50 acres (20 hectares), kept 10,000 animals; 3,000 were slaughtered every year.
The city's population of 6,000 included a labour force of 2,500, cultivated 3,000 acres (12 km²) of land.
The labor force included storehouse recorders, work foremen, overseers, and harvest supervisors as well as laborers.
The land was plowed by teams of oxen pulling light unwheeled plows and grain was harvested with sickle.
Wagons had solid wheels covered by leather tires kept in position by copper nails and were drawn by oxen.
As many as four animals could pull a wagon at one time.
The horse was domesticated in Ukraine around 4000 BC, and was in use by the Sumerians around 2000 BC.
Periods and ages in history
Louis XIV, also popularly known as the Sun King (5 September 1638–1 September 1715) was the King of France and King of Navarre from 14 May 1643 until his death.
He was a king for 72 years.
This was the longest recorded rule of any European monarch.
He is often seen as the typical example of absolutism.
He was the older of two brothers the other being Philippe.
The two were very close and Philippe was later created the Duke of Orléans.
Early life and reign
Louis' parents were Louis XIII and Anne of Austria.
He was the unexpected child of King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, who had not had children in their 22-year marriage.
He was christened Louis Dieudonné (literally, “gift of God”).
In 1643, before his fifth birthday, his father died, and Louis inherited the throne of France.
Because Louis XIV was too young to rule, his mother ruled France with Cardinal Mazarin, the Italian financier who had been the principal minister of Louis XIII.
Mazarin had guided the nation through the later stages of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
In this war France struggled against the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Spain for military supremacy in Europe.
Absolute monarch
After Mazarin died in 1661, Louis declared that he would rule France without a chief minister, something no French king had done in living memory.
He intended to rule as an absolute monarch, believing that his power as king was derived from God and that he was responsible to God alone.
He was obliged to rule for the benefit of his people.
While Louis assumed responsibility for decision making, he understood that he must rule within the constraints of the laws and customs of his kingdom.
Louis consulted widely with his nobles and ministers, and he met weekly with members of his high council.
He created an informal cabinet, which was eventually led by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, chief minister of finance.
Nevertheless, the system of absolute monarchy emphasized the role of the king, and no monarch was more successful in creating the image of monarchy than Louis XIV.
He took the sun as his emblem and connected himself to its radiant image.
Construction of Versailles
Starting in 1661, King Louis XIV transformed a humble hunting lodge into a glittering palace.
Over 30,000 men worked on constructing the Palace of Versailles, a project that drained the royal treasury for decades.
Expenses included not only building but also diverting rivers, piping in fresh water, and planting thousands of orange trees to mask the smell of sewage that could not be properly drained away.
In May 1682, Louis moved the capital of France to Versailles, 12 miles away of Paris.
It was Louis XIV's motive to remove himself and his  nobles from the political intrigues of Paris.
It became a symbol of his Absolute Monarchy.
Expansion of French power in Europe
Although Louis dreamed of a Spanish inheritance for his heirs, his military policy was not to expand French territory.
He fought his early wars for defensive purposes—to secure France’s northern border and to dislodge the Spanish from strategic towns.
Louis fought the War of the Devolution (1667-1668) to assert his claims to a portion of Spain’s possessions after his wife’s father, Philip IV, died.
Louis claimed the Spanish Netherlands in place of the wedding gift that Philip IV had never paid.
The French aggression in the Spanish Netherlands caused relations between France and Holland to deteriorate.
The Dutch had already fought the Spanish for generations to protect against an invasion of their country.
They had no intention of allowing the French to pose the same threat by occupying the territories on their border.
The result was war in the Netherlands from 1672 to 1678, during which Louis again demonstrated the effectiveness of French might.
In a sweeping campaign, Louis almost succeeded in conquering Holland.
To protect themselves, the Dutch opened their dikes, flooded the countryside, and turned Amsterdam into a virtual island.
Louis’s armies could not advance farther, and they began negotiating a truce.
War resumed, however, when Spain and Austria allied themselves with Holland, and Louis signed a treaty with England in 1670 to keep the English navy neutral.
Neither side could win a decisive victory, and both suffered from financial exhaustion, which ultimately led to a treaty to end the war.
Later reign
Louis revoked, or ended, the Treaty of Nantes.
This Treaty said that there would be freedom of religion in France.
This means that everybody in France could worship the way they wanted to.
When Louis revoked the Treaty of Nantes, he said that all people in France must be Catholic.
Because of this, 50 thousand Protestant workers left France and went to America, England, and Germany.
While Louis ruled, France became the most powerful country in all of Europe, and many other countries copied the French people's way of dressing and thinking.
He also encouraged people to explore Canada, and tried very hard to make France larger.
Louis spent a lot of money on wars, and France went into deep debt because of him.
By the middle of the 1680s the Sun King was losing much of his shine.
Mazarin had taught him to work rigorously, and Louis maintained a punishing schedule throughout his life, shrugging off a series of minor illnesses and not listening to the advice of his physicians.
Eventually a broken arm put an end to his vigorous horseback riding, and gout ended his long walks around Versailles.
He was wheeled to the throne room or carried to his carriage.
In 1683 his first wife died, and Louis secretly married his longtime mistress, Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon.
In 1711 he went through the tragedy of the death of his oldest son and the following year that of his oldest grandson.
Therefore, the kings successor was his little five year old great grandson Louis Duke of Anjou, who became King Louis XV of France after the death of his great-grandfather in 1715.
French kings after Louis XIV taxed a lot of money from the poor people to try and pay off the debt.
This is part of what led to the French Revolution.
In a world that regarded territory, power, and wealth as paramount, Louis XIV was recognized as a great king.
He transformed France into the dominant nation in Europe, expanded its boundaries, and left his heirs secure in their possessions.
Louis reached the height of his power in the 1670s, and he protected what he had achieved for the next four decades in the face of a Europe united against him.
Moreover, he eventually realized his dream of seeing a Bourbon on the Spanish throne.
During Louis’s reign, France also consolidated the administration of its colonial possessions and commerce, becoming a world power.
On the domestic front, Louis strengthened the central government’s control over the diverse regions of France, incorporating his territorial gains into a united state.
On the other hand, he provoked controversy when he restored Catholic religious unity by revoking the Edict of Nantes and repressing Protestantism.
Unfortunately many of Louis’s policies, both domestic and foreign, caused great hardship to ordinary people, many of whom suffered starvation, fled their homeland, or lived in terror of persecution.
Ultimately, Louis XIV wished to bring glory to France and to his dynasty, and he died believing that he had.
Children with Maria Theresa of Spain
Louis of France, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711) Dauphin of France married Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria and had issue.
Later married Marie Émilie de Joly in secret.
Anne Élisabeth of France (18 November 1662 – 30 December 1662) died in infancy.
Marie Anne of France (16 November 1664 – 26 December 1664) died in infancy or the Black Nun of Moret
Marie Thérèse of France (2 January 1667 – 1 March 1672) known as "Madame Royale" but died in infancy.
Philippe Charles of France (5 August 1668 – 10 July 1671) Duke of Anjou, died in infancy.
Louis François of France (14 June 1672 – 4 November 1672) Duke of Anjou, died in infancy.
Children with Madame de Montespan
Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1669-1672) died young.
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Maine (31 March 1670 - 14 May 173) married Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon and had children.
Louis César de Bourbon, Count of Vexin (20 June 1672 – 10 January 1683) died in infancy.
Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Nantes (1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) married Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé and had children.
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Tours 18 November 1674 – 15 September 1681) died young.
Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois (4 May 1677 – 1 February 1749) married Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France and had children.
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737) married Marie Victoire de Noailles and had children.
1638 births
1715 deaths
Deaths from gangrene
Kings and Queens of France
Dauphins and Dauphines of France
Princes of Andorra
The Olympic Games () is an important international event featuring summer and winter sports.
Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are held every four years.
Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece at Olympia.
The first games were in 776 BC.
They were held every four years until the 6th century AC.
The first "modern" Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
Athletes participate in the Olympics Games to represent their countries.
Over time the Olympics have become bigger.
In old times, women were not allowed, but now there are women's events.
The Winter Games were created for ice and snow sports.
The Paralympic Games were created for athletes with physical disabilities.
As well, the Olympics became bigger with the addition of the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes.
World War I and World War II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games.
As the decision-making body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for choosing the host city for each Olympic Games.
The IOC is also responsible for choosing what sports are in the games.
The creator of modern Olympics is Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
The celebration of the Games includes many rituals and symbols, such as Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.
The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive, respectively, gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Ancient Olympics
The Olympics of Ancient Greece featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events.
During the Olympic Games all struggles among the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished.
The origin of these Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years.
The most widely accepted date for the beginning of the Ancient Olympics is 776BC; based on inscriptions of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting then.
The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events.
There is no agreement on when the Games officially ended, but many historians think it is 393AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all Pagan religious practices should end.
Another date might be 426AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples.
After the Olympics stopped, they were not held again until the late 19th century.
The Growth of the Olympics
An attempt to copy the ancient Olympic Games was the L'Olympiade de la République annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France.
The competition had several sports from the ancient Greek Olympics.
Greek interest in bringing back the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833.
Evangelis Zappas, a wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece, in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games.
Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859, which was held in Athens.
Athletes from Greece and the Ottoman Empire participated.
Zappas funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic stadium so that it could host all future Olympic Games.
Between 1862 and 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival.
It was created by John Hulley and Charles Melly, with support from Dr. Brookes.
These games were unfair in nature since only Men could compete.
Ingomar Weiler (2004).
The predecessors of the Olympic movement, and Pierre de Coubertin European Review, Vol.
3, Cambridge University Press In 1865 Hulley, Dr. Brookes and E.G. Ravenstein founded the National Olympian Association in Liverpool, a forerunner of the British Olympic Association.
Its articles of foundation provided the framework for the International Olympic Charter.
Dr. Brookes copied the sports which were in the Olympics held in Athens in 1859 in future Wenlock Olympian Games (Brookes created this first as a class in 1850 and then as an event in 1856.).
In 1866, a national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organized by Dr. Brookes at London's Crystal Palace.
The Panathinaiko Stadium hosted Olympics in 1870 and 1875.
Thirty thousand spectators attended that Games in 1870, although no official attendance records are available for the 1875 Games.
In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society, Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee.
Coubertin built on the ideas and work of Brookes and Zappas with the aim of creating an Olympic Games that would occur every four years in a different country.
He presented these ideas during the first meeting of the newly created International Olympic Committee (IOC).
This meeting was held from June 16 to June 23, 1894, at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
On the last day of the meeting, it was decided that the first Olympic Games, to be controlled by the IOC, would take place two years later in Athens.
The IOC elected the Greek writer Demetrius Vikelas as its first president.
1896 Games
The first Games held under the IOC was hosted in the Panathenaic stadium in Athens in 1896.
These Games brought 14 nations and 241 athletes who competed in 43 events.
Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas had left the Greek government money to fund future Olympic Games.
This money was used to pay for the 1896 Games.
L'affaire Zappa – Paris 1894, by G. Streit George Averoff paid for the refurbishment of the stadium in preparation for the Games.
The Greek government also provided money, which was paid back through the sale of tickets.
Money was also paid back through the sale of the first Olympic commemorative stamp set.
The Greek officials and public were excited about hosting these Games.
This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the host of the Olympic Games on a permanent basis.
The IOC did not approve this request.
The IOC stated that each games would be held in a different country.
Changes and adaptations
Following the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation that threatened their survival.
The Olympic Games held at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904 were side-shows.
The Games at Paris did not have a stadium, however this was the first time women took part in the games.
The St. Louis Games hosted 650 athletes, but 580 were from the United States.
The homogeneous nature of these celebrations was a low point for the Olympic Movement.
The Games rebounded when the Intercalated Games (so-called because they were the second Games held within an Olympiad, a period of time lasting four years) were held in Athens.
These Games are not officially recognized by the IOC and no Intercalated Games have been held since.
These Games were hosted at the Panathenaic stadium in Athens.
The games attracted an international field of participants and generated great public interest.
Between 1912 and 1948 art competitions were a part of the Olympics.
Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.
The juried art competitions were abandoned in 1954 because artists were considered to be professionals, while Olympic athletes were required to be amateurs.
The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement.
The Winter Olympics were created for snow and ice sports that were not part of the Summer Games.
Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice hockey (in 1920) were Olympic events at the Summer Olympics.
At the 1921 Olympic Congress, in Lausanne, it was decided to hold a winter version of the Olympic Games.
A winter sports week (actually 11 days) was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France.
The IOC ruled that the Winter Olympic Games be celebrated every four years on the same year as the summer games.
This pattern continued until the 1992 Games in Albertville, France.
After this, beginning with the 1994 Games, the Winter Olympics were held on the third year of each Olympiad.
Youth Games
Starting in 2010, Youth Games help to develop young athletes for the Olympic Games.
Athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 compete.
The Youth Olympic Games were created by IOC president Jacques Rogge in 2001 and approved during the 119th meeting of the IOC.
The first Summer Youth Games were held in Singapore from 14–26 August 2010.
The first Winter Games was hosted in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012.
These Games are shorter than the Olympic Games.
The summer version will last twelve days and the winter version will last nine days.
The IOC will allow 3,500 athletes and 875 officials to take part at the Summer Youth Games.
970 athletes and 580 officials will take part at the Winter Youth Games.
The sports to be played will be the same as at the Olympic Games.
Olympic Movement
The Olympic Movement includes a large number of national and international sporting organizations and federations.
As the group in charge of the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for selecting the host city.
Overseeing the planning of the Olympic Games.
Changing the sports involved.
Agreeing sponsorship and broadcasting rights.
International Federations (IFs) are the governing bodies that supervise a sport at an international level.
For example, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is the IF for football (soccer), and the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is the international governing body for volleyball.
There are 35 IFs in the Olympic Movement, representing each Olympic sport.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represent and regulate the Olympic Movement within each country.
For example, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the NOC of the United States.
There are currently 205 NOCs recognized by the IOC.
Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs) are the temporary groups responsible for the organization of a specific Olympic Games.
Each group is dissolved (taken apart) after each Games, once the final report is delivered to the IOC.
French and English are the official languages of the Olympic Movement.
The other language used at each Olympic Games is the language of the host country.
In 1998, it was uncovered that several IOC members had taken bribes from members of the Salt Lake City bid committee for the hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
This was done to make sure that Salt Lake City won.
The IOC investigated and four members resigned and six people were sacked.
A BBC documentary entitled Panorama: Buying the Games, aired in August 2004, investigated the taking of bribes in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The documentary claimed it was possible to bribe IOC members into voting for a particular candidate city.
After being narrowly defeated in their bid for the 2012 Summer Games, Parisian Mayor Bertrand Delanoë accused the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the London Bid Committee of breaking the bid rules.
The Turin bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics was also shrouded in controversy.
A prominent IOC member, Marc Hodler, strongly connected with the rival bid of Sion, Switzerland, alleged bribery of IOC officials by members of the Turin Organizing Committee.
The allegations also served to sour many IOC members against Sion's bid and potentially helped Turin to capture the host city nomination.
The Olympic logo also known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe).
The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic flag.
The flag was adopted in 1914 but flown for the first time at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
The flag has since been flown during every Games.
The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius'', a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger".
Before each Games, the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals.
A female performer, acting as a priestess, lights a torch with the use of the sun.
The woman then lights the torch of the first relay bearer.
Starting the Olympic torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium.
The flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928 and the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer Games.
The Olympic mascot was introduced in 1968.
The mascot is either an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country.
As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Most of these rituals were established at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
The ceremony typically starts with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem.
The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture.
After the artistic portion of the ceremony, the athletes parade into the stadium grouped by nation.
Greece is traditionally the first nation to enter in order to honor the origins of the Olympics.
Nations then enter the stadium alphabetically according to the host country's chosen language.
The host country's athletes are always the last to enter.
During the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was hosted in Athens, Greece.
The Greek flag entered the stadium first and last.
When it came in to the stadium for the second time it was followed by the athletes.
Speeches are then given formally opening the Games.
Finally the athletes oath said.
Following this the Olympic torch is brought into the stadium and passed on until it reaches the final torch carrier who lights the cauldron.
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games takes place after all sporting events have concluded.
Flag-bearers from each participating country enter the stadium.
They are followed by the athletes who enter together without any national distinction.
Three national flags are hoisted while the corresponding national anthems are played.
The flag of Greece to honor the birthplace of the Olympic Games.
The flag of the current host country.
The flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games is also flown.
The president of the organizing committee and the IOC president make their closing speeches.
The Games are officially closed and the Olympic flame is put out.
In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony (as this tradition was started in Antwerp), the mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers a special Olympic flag to the president of the IOC.
The president then passes it on to the mayor of the city hosting the next Olympic Games.
Medal presentation
A medal ceremony is held after each Olympic event is concluded.
The winner, second and third-place competitors or teams stand on top of a three-tiered rostrum to be awarded their respective medals.
After the medals are given out by an IOC member, the national flags of the three medalists are raised while the national anthem of the gold medalist's country plays.
The Olympic Games program consists of 26 sports, 30 disciplines and nearly 300 events.
For example, wrestling is a Summer Olympic sport, comprising two disciplines: Greco-Roman and Freestyle.
It is broken down into fourteen events for men and four events for women.
Each event represents a different weight class.
The Summer Olympics program includes 26 sports, while the Winter Olympics program features 15 sports.
Olympic sports are governed by international sports federations (IFs) recognized by the IOC as the global supervisors of those sports.
There are 35 federations represented at the IOC.
Changes can happen to the list of sports in the Olympics.
Sports can be added or removed from the list on the basis of a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the IOC.
The 114th IOC meeting, in 2002, limited the Summer Games program to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes.
Three years later, at the 117th IOC Session, the first major change to the list was performed.
This resulted in the removal of baseball and softball from the list of sports for the 2012 London Games.
Since there was no agreement in the promotion of two other sports, the 2012 program will feature just 26 sports.
The 2016 and 2020 Games will return to the maximum of 28 sports given the addition of rugby and golf.
Amateurism and professionalism
The 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion Jim Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics.
His medals were restored by the IOC in 1983 on compassionate grounds.
As class structure evolved through the 20th century, the definition of the amateur athlete as an aristocratic gentleman became outdated.
The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage.
Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.
Beginning in the 1970s, amateurism requirements were gradually phased out of the Olympic Charter.
After the 1988 Games, the IOC decided to make all professional athletes eligible for the Olympics, subject to the approval of the IFs.
As of 2004, the only sport in which no professionals compete is boxing, although even this requires a definition of amateurism based on fight rules rather than on payment, as some boxers receive cash prizes from their National Olympic Committees.
In men's football (soccer), only three professional players over the age of 23 are eligible to participate per team in the Olympic tournament.
Boycotts
There have been many countries deliberately missing the Olympics in order to make political statements.
The most famous examples of countries missing the Olympics happened in 1980 and 1984.
The Cold War opponents missed each other's Games.
65 nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners (except Romania) countered by missing the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984.
The countries stated that they could not guarantee the safety of their athletes.
Soviet officials defended their decision to withdraw from the Games by saying that "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States".
The Olympic Games have been used as a platform to promote political ideologies almost from its inception.
Nazi Germany wished to portray the Nationalist Socialist Party as benevolent and peace-loving when they hosted the 1936 Games.
The Games were also intended to show the superiority of the Aryan (white) race.
This goal was not met due in part to the achievements of athletes such as Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at this Olympics.
Individual athletes have also used the Olympic stage to promote their own political agenda.
At the 1968 Summer Olympics, in Mexico City, two American track and field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who finished first and third in the 200meter sprint race, performed the Black Power salute on the podium.
The runner up Peter Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in support of Smith and Carlos.
IOC President Avery Brundage then told the United States, to either send the two athletes home or withdraw the track and field team.
The United States chose to send the pair home.
Use of performance enhancing drugs
In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to improve their athletic abilities.
For example, the winner of the marathon at the 1904 Games, Thomas J. Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy by his coach.
The only Olympic death linked to doping happened at the Rome Games of 1960.
During the cycling road race, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died.
A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines.
By the mid-1960s, sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The IOC did likewise in 1967.
The IOC created the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999.
The IOC-established drug testing regimen (now known as the Olympic Standard) has set the worldwide benchmark that other sporting federations around the world attempt to emulate.
The first Olympic athlete to test positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use.
The Olympics have not brought lasting peace to the world, even during the Games.
Three Olympic Games were not held due to war.
The 1916 Games were cancelled because of World War I, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II.
Terrorism has also threatened the Olympic Games.
In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the terrorist group Black September.
This event is now known as the Munich massacre.
The terrorists killed two of the athletes soon after they had taken them hostage and killed the other nine during a failed rescue attempt.
A German police officer and 5 terrorists also died.
During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bomb was detonated at the Centennial Olympic Park, which killed 2 and injured 111 others.
Eric Robert Rudolph is currently serving a life sentence for the bombing.
Host nations and cities
The host city for an Olympic Games is chosen seven years ahead of the event.
The process of selection is carried out in two phases that span a two-year period.
The process starts when a city wanting to host the games applies to its country's Olympic group.
If more than one city from the same country gives a proposal to its NOC, the national group chooses which city will run for host.
The first step once the deadline passes (To tell the IOC that you want to hold the Games), is to ask the cities to complete a questionnaire which covers many key points in the organization of the Olympic Games.
The evaluation of the filled questionnaires by a group provides the IOC with an idea of each cities project and their potential to host the Games.
On the basis of this evaluation, the IOC chooses the applicants that will proceed to the candidature stage.
Once the candidate cities are chosen, they must give to the IOC a bigger presentation of their project as part of a candidature file.
Each city is analyzed by an evaluation group.
This group will also visit the cities.
The group give a report on its findings one month prior to the IOC's final decision.
During the interview process the candidate city must also guarantee that it can fund the Games.
The IOC members gathered in the meeting have the final vote on the host city.
By 2016, the Olympic Games will have been hosted by 44 cities in 23 countries.
The United States has hosted four Summer and four Winter Olympics, more than any other nation.
Among Summer Olympics host nations, the United Kingdom has been the host of three Games, and hosted its third Olympics in 2012 in London.
Germany, Australia, France, and Greece are the other nations to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice.
Among host cities, only Los Angeles, Paris, Athens and London have played host to the Olympic Games more than once, with each holding that honor twice.
With the 2012 Games that took place in London, the British capital holds the distinction of hosting the modern Olympics Games three times, more than any other city.
Paris will be the second city to host the modern Olympics Games three times in 2024, while Los Angeles will be the third city in 2028.
In the Winter Olympics, France has hosted three Games, while Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Japan, and Italy have hosted twice.
The most recent Games were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea's first Winter Olympics and second overall.
The next Winter Games will be in Beijing, China in 2022, which will be the first time this nation has hosted.