The Olympic Games - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com The Olympic Games A+E Networks Introduction The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago, were revived in the late 19th century and have become the world’s preeminent sporting competition. From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus. The first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, and featured 280 participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events. Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately and have alternated every two years. Google The Olympics in Ancient Greece The first written records of the ancient Olympic Games date to 776 B.C., when a cook named Coroebus won the only event–a 192-meter footrace called the stade (the origin of the modern “stadium”)–to become the first Olympic champion. However, it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years by that time.

Legend has it that Heracles (the Roman Hercules ), son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, founded the Games, which by the end of the 6th century B.C had become the most famous of all Greek sporting festivals. The ancient Olympics were held every four years between August 6 and September 19 during a religious festival honoring Zeus. The Games were named for their location at Olympia, a sacred site located near the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece. Their influence was so great that ancient historians began to measure time by the four-year increments in between Olympic Games, which were known as Olympiads. Did You Know? The 1896 Games featured the first Olympic marathon, which followed the 25-mile route run by the Greek soldier who brought news of a victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. Fittingly, Greece's Spyridon Louis won the first gold medal in the event. In 1924, the distance would be standardized to 26 miles and 385 yards.

After 13 Olympiads, two more races joined the stade as Olympic events: the diaulos (roughly equal to today’s 400-meter race), and the dolichos (a longer-distance race, possibly comparable to the 1,500-meter or 5,000-meter event). The pentathlon (consisting of five events: a foot race, a long jump, discus and javelin throws and a wrestling match) was introduced in 708 B.C., boxing in 688 B.C. and chariot racing in 680 B.C. In 648 B.C., pankration, a combination of boxing and wrestling with virtually no rules, debuted as an Olympic event. Participation in the ancient Olympic Games was initially limited to freeborn male citizens of Greece; there were no women’s events, and married women were prohibited from attending the competition. Decline and Revival of the Olympic Tradition After the Roman Empire conquered Greece in the mid-2nd century B.C., the Games continued, but their standards and quality declined. In one notorious example from A.D.

67, the decadent Emperor Nero entered an Olympic chariot race, only to disgrace himself by declaring himself the winner even after he fell off his chariot during the event. In A.D. 393, Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, called for a ban on all “pagan” festivals, ending the ancient Olympic tradition after nearly 12 centuries. It would be another 1,500 years before the Games would rise again, largely thanks to the efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) of France. Dedicated to the promotion of physical education, the young baron became inspired by the idea of creating a modern Olympic Games after visiting the ancient Olympic site. In November 1892, at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris, Coubertin proposed the idea of reviving the Olympics as an international athletic competition held every four years. Two years later, he got the approval he needed to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which would become the governing body of the modern Olympic Games. The Olympics Through the Years The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896.

In the opening ceremony, King Georgios I and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed 280 participants from 13 nations (all male), who would compete in 43 events, including track and field, gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, cycling, tennis, weightlifting, shooting and fencing. All subsequent Olympiads have been numbered even when no Games take place (as in 1916, during World War I , and in 1940 and 1944, during World War II ). The official symbol of the modern Games is five interlocking colored rings, representing the continents of North and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. The Olympic flag, featuring this symbol on a white background, flew for the first time at the Antwerp Games in 1920. The Olympics truly took off as an international sporting event after 1924, when the VIII Games were held in Paris. Some 3,000 athletes (with more than 100 women among them) from 44 nations competed that year, and for the first time the Games featured a closing ceremony.

The Winter Olympics debuted that year, including such events as figure skating, ice hockey, bobsledding and the biathlon. Eighty years later, when the 2004 Summer Olympics returned to Athens for the first time in more than a century, nearly 11,000 athletes from a record 201 countries competed. In a gesture that joined both ancient and modern Olympic traditions, the shotput competition that year was held at the site of the classical Games in Olympia. Tags 1896 Olympic Games Official Report - Olympic-Legacy.com The Official Report of the Games of the First Olympiad Note on the Dual Dates You will notice that a second date appears in parentheses for the official report of each day of the Games (in the box at right). The reason for the dual dates is that during the time of 1896 Olympic Games, Greece recognized the Julian Calendar rather than the Gregorian Calendar used by most of the world then (and now used universally). In 1896 Greek terms, the Games were held from March 25 to April 3, 1896.

In today's terms, the Olympic Games lasted from April 6 to 15; a 12-day difference. Perfect Timing The date that Coubertin chose for the opening of the revived Olympics was significant for two reasons. First of all, March 25 was the 75th anniversary of Greek independence. In addition, the day before (March 24) was Easter Sunday. It was on this day that the Olympic festivities were opened with the unveiling of the marble statue of the primary benefactor, Georgios Averof, which had been erected in front of the Panhellenic Stadium. It is believed that Coubertin foresaw that in 1896 the Christian and Eastern Orthodox Easters would coincide, and thinking of the symbolism of the Resurrection, he scheduled the resurrected Olympic Games to open on Easter Monday. Participation Coubertin had difficulty getting interest in the Olympics among many of the nations of the world. Only 15 countries participated in the Athens 1896 Olympics. Many of the top athletes in the world did not compete, as the Games were not well advertised. The athletes who wished to compete had to pay their own way to Athens.

In addition, the qualifying trials were conducted only in Greece. Lack of Women Coubertin did not approve of the idea of female sports and resisted female competition throughout his life. In 1896, women's sports had little organization and there was no impetus to include events for women in the program of the first revived Olympics. They were officially excluded. The Visual Icon of the I Olympiad No official poster was made for the 1896 Olympic games, but the cover page of the official report (pictured above) is often used to represent the Athens 1986 Games. The cover is described in Athens 1896: "The inscription '776-1896' symbolizes the connection between the Games of antiquity and the first Games of modern times, and so do the other elements of the drawing: the newly erected Olympic stadium in the shape of a horseshoe, the Acropolis, and a young woman as the goddess Athena, who is holding the crown awaiting the winner." The Games 0f 1906 In an attempt to regain enthusiasm for the Olympic games, the IOC started Games that would be held in Greece every four years (between the regular Olympic games).

In 1906, these "interim" Games were held in Athens. Twenty countries were represented by 887 athletes. It was in here that the United States first had an official U.S. team and had official team uniforms. The enthusiasm for these Games was great and the Olympics seemed to regain their popularity. Unfortunately, because of political unrest in Greece around 1910, the "interim" Games were cancelled for that year and never continued. Though originally the 1906 Games were officially considered Olympic games, the IOC now considers them the "Unofficial Olympic Games" and they are not included in Olympic records. Above: The cover of the Official Report of the 1896 Summer Olympics 1896 Summer Olympics Games of the I Olympiad Host city Stadium Panathinaiko Stadium The 1896 Summer Olympics, formally called the Games of the I Olympiad, were the first modern Summer Olympic Games and the first Games since Roman emperor Theodosius I banned the Ancient Olympic Games in AD 393 as part of the Christian campaign against paganism. They were held between 6 April and 15 April 1896.

An 1894 congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin in Paris established the International Olympic Committee and appointed the Greek capital of Athens as the host city. The Greeks had little experience with organizing sports events, and initially had financial troubles as well, but managed to have everything ready in time. 1896 Olympic Games , Athens, 6th event in the 5th day. The winner of the Marathon race Spyridon Louis is entering the Panathenaic stadium joined by the Royal Princes Constantine and George of Greece Although the number of participating athletes was low by current standards, it had the largest international participation for any sports event to that date. In spite of the absence of many of the time's top athletes, the Games were a success with the Greek public. The athletic highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis . The most successful competitor in terms of victories was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann. After the Games, De Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by, among others, Greece's King George and some of the American competitors in Athens to hold all following Games in Athens.

However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, barring the so-called Intercalated Games of 1906 , the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics. Election as host city During the 19th century, several minor sports festivals named after the Ancient Olympic Games were held in a few European countries. Pierre de Coubertin also had the idea to revive the Olympics, but as an international and multi-sport event. He presented his ideas at a 1894 congress held in the Sorbonne, Paris, with delegates from sports societies of 11 countries present. After it had been decided to revive the Olympics, a host city for these first Olympics had to be selected. De Coubertin's idea was to hold these concurrently with the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris. Concerned that a six-year waiting period might lessen the interest in the Olympics, the congress decided to hold the first Olympics in 1896. Several congress members suggested London as the location, but after a brief talk with Greek delegate Demetrius Vikelas De Coubertin put Athens forward as a possibility.

Greece being the original home of the Olympics, the congress unanimously approved the proposal. Vikelas was elected as the first president of the newly established International Olympic Committee (IOC). The true origin of the modern Olympics was acknowledged by De Coubertin as being in Much Wenlock, a rural market town in the English county of Shropshire. It was here that in 1850 the local doctor, William Penny Brooks, founded the Much Wenlock Olympics. The first games were held in October 1850. It was a mixture of events, including athletics and games such as cricket, football, quoits, and others. Organization The restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium , originally built in the fourth century BC, was funded by Georgios Averoff. The stadium was used again for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The news that the Olympic Games would return to Greece was received favourably by the Greek public and media. However, the country was in financial troubles and was politically unstable, the job of prime minister alternating between Charilaos Trikoupis and Theodoros Deligiannis at a high frequency.

In late 1894 the organizing committee, headed by Etienne Skouloudis , presented a report that the cost of the Games would be three times higher than originally estimated by De Coubertin. They concluded the Games could not be held, and offered their resignation. Greek crown prince Constantine, a supporter of the Games, decided to set up a new committee, with himself as the president. His enthusiasm sparked a wave of contributions from the Greek public, raising 330,000 drachmas. A special set of postage stamps raised a further 400,000, and ticket sales added 200,000 drachmas. At the request of Constantine, wealthy businessman George Averoff agreed to pay for the restoration of the Panathinaiko Stadium , which would eventually cost 920,000 drachmas. As a tribute to his generosity, a statue of Averoff was constructed and unveiled on 5 April outside of the stadium, where it still stands. Organized sports were relatively new to Greece, and as such the organizing committee had little experience in staging sports events.

Their duties in this aspect were largely taken over by De Coubertin, who had to both elect the rules to follow and to invite athletes. Some of the athletes would take part in the Games because they happened to be in Athens at the time the Games were held, either on vacation or for work (e.g., some of the British competitors worked for the British embassy). There was no designated Olympic Village for the athletes like there is nowadays; the athletes stayed in hotels or with friends. Opening ceremony The opening ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium On 6 April, the Games of the First Olympiad were officially opened. It was Easter Monday for the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, and was also the anniversary of the outbreak of the war for Greek independence. The Panathenaic stadium was filled, with an estimated 80,000 spectators including King George I of Greece , his wife Olga, and their sons. Most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organizing committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games: "I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long live the Nation.

Long live the Greek people." Afterwards, 9 bands and 150 choir singers performed the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyros Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas . The hymn was well received, and the crowd desired an encore. Ceremony in Olympia The current Olympic opening ceremonies contain elements of this brief opening ceremony. The head of state of the organizing nation still officially opens the Games, and the Olympic Hymn (official since 1958) is still played. Other elements, such as the parade of nations, the lighting of the Olympic Flame and the Olympic Oath were initiated later. Some of the Athletes from the United States Greek Athletes 1896, Spiros Louis with a Greek outfit Sport by sport overview At the 1894 Sorbonne congress, a large roster of sports had been mentioned for the programme in Athens. The first edition of the official announcement featured sports such as football and cricket, but these plans were never carried out. Rowing was scheduled, but had to be cancelled due to strong winds on the planned day of competition.

Yachting was cancelled too, because "we had no proper boats for this, nor did any foreign ones appear for the contest" (Official Report). Athletics Main article: Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics The athletics events (commonly known today as "track and field" in the United States), which were held in the Panathenaic Stadium, had the most international field of any of the sports. The American team of 10, which featured only one national champion, was dominant, taking 9 of the 12 titles. The major highlight of the athletics programme, however, was the marathon held for the first time in international competition. Spiridon Louis, a previously unrenowned water carrier, won the event to become the only Greek athletics champion and a national hero. No world records were set, as few international top competitors had turned up. In addition, the curves of the track were very tight, making fast times in the running events virtually impossible. Cycling Main article: Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics Main article: Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics Schuhmann (left) and Georgios Tsitas shake hands before the final match of the wrestling competition.

No weight classes existed for the wrestling competition, held in the Panathenaic Stadium which meant that there would only be one winner among competitors of all sizes. The rules used were similar to modern Greco-Roman wrestling, although there was no time limit, and not all leg holds were forbidden (in contrast to current rules). Apart from the two Greek contestants, all competitors had previously been active in other sports. Weightlifting champion Launceston Elliot faced gymnastics champion Carl Schuhmann from Germany. The latter won easily and advanced into the final, where he met Georgios Tsitas. Their final match had to be abandoned after 40 minutes of wrestling when darkness fell in and was continued the following day, when the German finished the bout within a quarter of an hour. Closing ceremony On the morning of Sunday 12 April, King George organized a banquet for officials and athletes (even though some competitions were not to be held). During his speech, he made clear that, as far as he was concerned, the Olympic should be held in Athens permanently. The official closing ceremony was held the following Wednesday, being postponed from Tuesday due to rain.

Again the royal family attended the ceremony, which was opened by the national anthem of Greece and an ode composed and cited by George S. Robertson, a British athlete and scholar. Afterwards, the king awarded prizes to the winners. Unlike today, the winners received silver medals and the second-placed athletes bronze medals. Some winners also received additional prizes, such as Spyridon Louis, who received a cup from Michel Bréal, a friend of De Coubertin who had conceived the marathon event. Louis then led the medallists on a lap of honour through the stadium, while the Olympic Hymn was played again. The King then formally closed the Games, saying "I declare the First International Olympic Games terminated." Like the Greek king, many others supported the idea of holding the next Games in Athens as well; most of the American competitors signed a letter to the Crown Prince expressing this wish. De Coubertin, however, was heavily opposed to this idea, as he envisioned international rotation as one of the cornerstones of the modern Olympics. According to his wish, the next Games were held in Paris, although they would be subdued by the concurrently held Universal Exposition.

Nations The concept of national teams was not a major part of the Olympic movement until the Intercalated Games ten years later, though many sources list the nationality of competitors in 1896 and give medal counts. Most sources list 13 competing nations as follows: Australia - Despite Australia still being part of the United Kingdom, the results of Teddy Flack are typically given with him listed as Australian. Austria - Austria was part of Austria-Hungary at the time, though the results of Austrian athletes are typically reported separately. Denmark Egypt - Dionysios Kasdaglis, a resident of Alexandria, is typically considered to have represented Egypt. Some sources count him as Greek, however. France Germany Great Britain and Ireland - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has historically maintained separate athletic organizations for each of its constituent kingdoms. The major exception to this has been the Olympic Games, in which the country is considered as a single entity. However, it has conventionally used the name "Great Britain and Ireland" (and later "Great Britain and Northern Ireland") at the Olympics rather than the more common shortening of the name to "the United Kingdom". Greece - Greek results typically include the results of competitors from Cyprus and Smyrna.

Occasionally, Kasdaglis of Egypt is also included in the Greek count. Cyprus - Some sources give Cypriot results separately, though most count Anastasios Andreou, a Greek-Cypriot and the only athlete from Cyprus, as Greek. Cyprus was a protectorate of the United Kingdom at the time. Smyrna - The two athletes from Smyrna are nearly always included in the Greek listings, similarly to the Cypriot athlete. Hungary - Hungary is usually listed separately from Austria, despite the two being formally joined as Austria-Hungary at the time. However, Hungarian results are considered to include those of athletes from Vojvodina (now part of Serbia) and Slovakia. United States Entered nations that did not compete Three nations had entered the names of competitors, but all of the men from those nations withdrew before the competitions. Belgium Russia Medal count Currently, many media sources publish medal counts for the Olympic Games. This was not the case in 1896, but many sources have tallied the 1896 medals to be able to compare the 1896 edition with later Games. These statistics should be used with care, however.

It should be noted, first, that no gold medals were awarded at all, and the third place finishers did not receive any prize in Athens. Secondly, national teams as we know now hardly existed. Greece and Hungary had held selection matches, but most other athletes represented their clubs or themselves. Furthermore, not all of the countries listed below did actually exist as of 1896. For example, Australia was not yet independent of the UK, and Hungary and Austria were formally joined together as one nation. Nevertheless, most sources have the countries as listed below. (Host country in bold.) Numbers in parentheses indicate the results if nations are credited with medals won as part of mixed teams. 1896 Summer Olympics Champions Olympic Games 1896 , Notes This number is an indication. National teams hardly existed at the time, and most athletes represented themselves or their clubs. In addition, countries were not always as well-defined as they are today. The number of countries here reflects the number used by most modern sources. This number of competitors is an estimate, taken from Mallon & Widlund (see #References). Greece still used the Julian Calendar at the time.

According to that calendar, the Games were opened on 25 March and closed on 3 April. These medals were won by a team with members from two different nations. This was allowed in 1896, but this is no longer the case today. Female competitors In the first modern Olympics of 1896, women were not allowed to compete, but there was an unofficial competitor in the marathon, a poor Greek woman who became known as 'Melpomene'. Melpomene's real name was Stamati Revithi. She was not allowed to compete in the mens race, but ran by herself the next day. The final lap was completed outside the stadium as she was refused entry to the stadium. After her marathon run, athletics officials couldn't remember her name so they labelled her 'Melpomene', who is the Greek muse of Tragedy. Looking at Stamata Revithi, they could see only tragedy, not her extraordinary feat. [ 1 ] Gyzis, Olympia 1896 Diploma , References Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; & Anninos, C.

(1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. . (Digitally available at [ 2 ]) Mallon, Bill; & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at [ 3 ]) Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X. Further reading Greenberg, Stan (1996). The Guinness Book of Olympic Facts and Feats. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-639-1. Kluge, Volker (1997). Olympische Sommerspiele: die Chronik I. Berlin: Sportverlag. ISBN 3-328-00715-6.

Lennartz, Karl (ed.) (1996). Die olympischen Spiele 1896 in Athen: Erläuterungen zum Neudruck des Offiziellen Berichtes. Kassel: Agon. . Wallechinsky, David (2000). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics. Woodstock: Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-033-2. Links First modern Olympics is held - Apr 06, 1896 - HISTORY.com First modern Olympics is held Share this: First modern Olympics is held Author First modern Olympics is held URL Publisher A+E Networks On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens, Greece, with athletes from 14 countries participating. The International Olympic Committee met for the first time in Paris in June 1984 and chose Greece as the site of the inaugural modern Olympiad. The ancient games are believed to have originated in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece, where athletes competed in one event: a foot race. Over the years, other events were added, including chariot racing, boxing, wrestling and the pentathlon.

Participants, who were all young men from Greek city-states and colonies, often battled it out in the buff, as a way to celebrate the human body, and winners received olive branches. The last ancient Olympics are thought to have taken place in A.D. 393. At the first modern Olympics, 241 male athletes (and no women) representing 14 nations competed in 43 events. America’s James Connolly became the first modern Olympic champion when he won the triple jump on the opening day of the Games. For his achievement, he was awarded a silver medal and an olive branch. Connolly later finished second in the high-jump event and took third in the long jump. France, Great Britain, Germany and Greece had the largest number of athletes participating. Nevertheless, the U.S. took home the most first-place finishes (11) of any nation, followed by Greece (10) and Germany (6). All told, America placed first, second or third in 20 events while Greece scored in 46 events and Germany placed in 13 competitions. To the delight of the hometown crowd, Greek runner Spyridon Louis won the marathon.

The first Olympiad closed on April 15, 1896. The second Olympiad was held in Paris in 1900 with 997 athletes (22 of them women) from 24 countries competing in 95 events. The U.S. hosted the Olympics for the first time in 1904, in St. Louis. The third Olympiad marked the first time gold, silver and bronze medals were given out to first, second and third-place finishers. Starting in 1992, the summer and winter games, which had traditionally been held in the same year every four years, took place two years apart. The Summer Games returned to Athens in 2004, with 10,625 athletes (4,329 women and 6,296 men) from 201 nations participating in 301 events. Related Videos History of the Olympic Games: From Ancient to Modern Times The Ancient Games Originally, the Games were held every four years at the temple of Zeus in Olympia Greece. They were both a sporting and a religious event, featuring sacrifices and tributes to Zeus.

Representatives of various city-states and kingdoms within Greece competed in athletic, equestrian and combat sports. Legend states Heracles and his father Zeus were the founders of the games. After Heracles completed his Twelve Labors, he built the Olympic Stadium to honor his father. The first Olympic Games were most likely in 776 BC. Inscriptions at Olympia document the winners of a foot race held every year beginning in 776. The Ancient Games consisted of running, boxing, wrestling, horse racing, chariot racing, the mixed martial art pankration and a pentathlon. The five events in the pentathlon were jumping, running, discus, javelin and wrestling. The Games began to fade as the Romans grew in power over the Greeks. They may have come to a stop in 393 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I ordered the cessation of all pagan cults and rituals. Another final date could have been 426 AD, when Theodosius II decreed that all Greek temples be destroyed. slide 2 of 7 The Road to Rebirth Various athletic events from the 17th to the 19th century bore the “Olympic" name.

English lawyer Robert Dover organized the Cotswold Olimpick Games near Chipping Campden. Those games were held annually beginning in about 1612. The have occurred on and off until the present day. Each year from 1796 to 1798, L'Olympiade de la République was held in France, composed of various ancient Greek sports. In 1859, Dr. William Penny Brookes held the Wenlock Olympian Games at Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. The games are still being held. A Grand Olympic Festival was held in Liverpool every year from 1862 to 1867. These games were organized by John Hulley. Together with Dr. Brookes and EG Ravenstein (founder of the German Gymnastics Society in London), Hulley founded the National Olympian Association. The group's articles of foundation would be used as a framework for the International Olympic Charter. slide 3 of 7 The Revival During the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, Greeks dreamed of rebuilding their national pride with their traditional sporting contest.

Poet and journalist Panagiotis Soutsos proposed a renewal of the Ancient Games in 1833 with his poem “Dialogue of the Dead." Wealthy philanthropist Evangelos Zappas wrote to King Otto of Greece in 1856 and proposed to fund a permanent revival. He bankrolled the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium. He sponsored the first modern Olympic Games in 1859, featuring athletes from Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The stadium hosted the Games again in 1870 and 1875. After attending the 1890 Wenlock Games, French educator and historian Baron Pierre de Coubertin decided to found the International Olympic Committee. He expanded the ideas of Brookes and Zappas, aspiring to create an international competition occurring every four years at locations across the globe. At the first Olympic Congress in Paris, June, 1894, it was decided to hold the first new Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

slide 4 of 7 The Games, 1896 to 1906 The rebirth of the Games was held at Panathenaic Stadium, bringing together 241 athletes from 14 nations. They competed in 43 different events. A trust left by the Zappas family funded the event. Public response was very positive. Many athletes and spectators believed the games should always be held at Athens, although the IOC dictated that the host city should be rotated. The 1900 Games were held in Paris as part of the Paris Exposition. The Games were a sideshow to the rest of the fair. There was not even a stadium for competition. It did mark the first time women were allowed to take part. The 1904 Games were held in St. Louis at the World's Fair. Again, they took second stage. 580 of the 650 athletes were from the United States. Athens seized back their event by hosting the 1906 Intercalated Games. Although not recognized by the IOC, they attracted a world-wide field of athletes and achieved great public interest.

slide 5 of 7 The Winter Games Figure skating was included in the 1908 and 1920 games. Hockey was also part of the 1920 games. Naturally, it was almost impossible to host other winter sports side-by-side with sumer sports. The 1921 Olympic Congress decided to hold a winter version of the Games. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924 at Chamonix, France, as part of the Paris Games held three months later. Originally, the IOC intended to have the same country host both Summer and Winter Games in the same year. It proved to be an impossible dream. They chose to have separate hosts for both games held every four years. This took place until 1992. Starting with the 1994 Lillehammer Games in Norway, the Winter Olympics were held two years after the Summer Olympics. slide 6 of 7 The Paralympics Following World War II, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a competition between several hospitals to encourage the rehabilitation of soldiers. The Games were held in conjunction with the 1948 London Olympics.

Known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, they were held annually for the next twelve years. In 1960, Guttmann brought 400 athletes the Olympics in Rome for the “Parallel Olympics." The Paralympics have been held every Olympic year. Since the 1988 Seoul Games, the Olympic host city has also hosted the Paralympics. “We want to change public attitudes towards disability," said Lord Coe, Chairman of the London organizing committee for the 2012 games, “celebrate the excellence of Paralympic sport and to enshrine from the very outset that the two Games are an integrated whole." slide 7 of 7 The History of the Olympic Games | Scholastic The History of the Olympic Games Compare the ancient Olympics to the modern games. Plus, learn how money, politics, and performance-enhancing drugs have become major influences, often causing controversy. Grades 6–8, 9–12 The Olympic Games are an international sports festival that began in ancient Greece. The original Greek games were staged every fourth year for several hundred years, until they were abolished in the early Christian era.

The revival of the Olympic Games took place in 1896, and since then they have been staged every fourth year, except during World War I and World War II (1916, 1940, 1944). Perhaps the basic difference between the ancient and modern Olympics is that the former was the ancient Greeks' way of saluting their gods, whereas the modern Games are a manner of saluting the athletic talents of citizens of all nations. The original Olympics featured competition in music, oratory, and theater performances as well. The modern Games have a more expansive athletic agenda, and for 2 and a half weeks they are supposed to replace the rancor of international conflict with friendly competition. In recent times, however, that lofty ideal has not always been attained. The Ancient Olympics The earliest reliable date that recorded history gives for the first Olympics is 776 B.C., although virtually all historians presume that the Games began well before then. It is certain that during the midsummer of 776 B.C. a festival was held at Olympia on the highly civilized eastern coast of the Peloponnesian peninsula. That festival remained a regularly scheduled event, taking place during the pre-Christian golden age of Greece.

As a testimony to the religious nature of the Games (which were held in honor of Zeus, the most important god in the ancient Greek pantheon), all wars would cease during the contests. According to the earliest records, only one athletic event was held in the ancient Olympics — a footrace of about 183 m (200 yd), or the length of the stadium. A cook, Coroibus of Elis, was the first recorded winner. The first few Olympics had only local appeal and were limited to one race on one day; only men were allowed to compete or attend. A second race — twice the length of the stadium — was added in the 14th Olympics, and a still longer race was added to the next competition, four years later. When the powerful, warlike Spartans began to compete, they influenced the agenda. The 18th Olympiad included wrestling and a pentathlon consisting of running, jumping, spear throwing (the javelin), discus throwing, and wrestling. Boxing was added at the 23rd Olympiad, and the Games continued to expand, with the addition of chariot racing and other sports.

In the 37th Olympiad (632 B.C.) the format was extended to five days of competition. The growth of the Games fostered "professionalism" among the competitors, and the Olympic ideals waned as royalty began to compete for personal gain, particularly in the chariot events. Human beings were being glorified as well as the gods; many winners erected statues to deify themselves. In A.D. 394 the Games were officially ended by the Roman emperor Theodosius I, who felt that they had pagan connotations. The Modern Olympics The revival of the Olympic Games in 1896, unlike the original Games, has a clear, concise history. Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937), a young French nobleman, felt that he could institute an educational program in France that approximated the ancient Greek notion of a balanced development of mind and body. The Greeks themselves had tried to revive the Olympics by holding local athletic games in Athens during the 1800s, but without lasting success. It was Baron de Coubertin's determination and organizational genius, however, that gave impetus to the modern Olympic movement.

In 1892 he addressed a meeting of the Union des Sports AthlÃ©tiques in Paris. Despite meager response he persisted, and an international sports congress eventually convened on June 16, 1894. With delegates from Belgium, England, France, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States in attendance, he advocated the revival of the Olympic Games. He found ready and unanimous support from the nine countries. De Coubertin had initially planned to hold the Olympic Games in France, but the representatives convinced him that Greece was the appropriate country to host the first modern Olympics. The council did agree that the Olympics would move every four years to other great cities of the world. Thirteen countries competed at the Athens Games in 1896. Nine sports were on the agenda: cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weight lifting, and wrestling. The 14-man U.S. team dominated the track and field events, taking first place in 9 of the 12 events. The Games were a success, and a second Olympiad, to be held in France, was scheduled.

Olympic Games were held in 1900 and 1904, and by 1908 the number of competitors more than quadrupled the number at Athens — from 311 to 2,082. Beginning in 1924, a Winter Olympics was included — to be held at a separate cold-weather sports site in the same year as the Summer Games — the first held at Chamonix, France. In 1980 about 1,600 athletes from 38 nations competed at Lake Placid, N.Y., in a program that included Alpine and Nordic skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, figure skating and speed skating, bobsled, and luge. But the Summer Games, with its wide array of events, are still the focal point of the modern Olympics. Among the standard events are basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian arts, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman), and yachting.

New sports are added to the roster at every Olympic Games; among the more prominent are baseball, martial arts, and most recently triathlon, which was first contested at the 2000 Games. The Games are governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Summer and Winter Games were traditionally held in the same year, but because of the increasing size of both Olympics, the Winter Games were shifted to a different schedule after 1992. They were held in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994, in Nagano, Japan in 1998, in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002, in Turin, Italy in 2006, and in 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Politics and the Olympics The ideology of nationalism, which swept the world during the early 20th century, left its mark on the Olympics. Athletic nationalism was brought to a peak by Nazi Germany, which staged the 1936 Games in Berlin and used the Olympics to propagandize its cause. The Germans built a powerful team through nationalized training and scientific advances and dominated the Games in terms of medals won.

The political overtones of the Olympics did not lessen with the fall of Nazi Germany. In 1956, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted the Melbourne Games to protest the Anglo-French seizure of the Suez Canal, and the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted as well to protest the USSR's invasion of Hungary. In Mexico City in 1968, two African American runners used the victory pedestal to protest U.S. racial policies. In the Munich Olympics in 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were massacred by Palestinian terrorists. And in 1976 in Montreal, 33 African nations, to be represented by about 400 athletes, boycotted the Games to protest South Africa's apartheid policies. The most serious disruptions to the modern Olympics, however, occurred in 1980 and 1984. In 1980, under strong pressure from the Carter administration, the U.S. Olympic Committee voted to boycott the Summer Games in Moscow to protest the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

About 40 nations followed suit, including West Germany, China, and Japan, depriving the Soviets of their chief athletic competition and raising doubts about the future of the Olympic movement. Although the 1984 Winter Games, in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, proceeded without boycotts, the Summer Games, in Los Angeles, were undercut by an Eastern-bloc boycott led by the USSR. Fear of an openly hostile environment in Los Angeles was cited by the Soviet Olympic Committee as the reason for nonparticipation, but most commentators believed the reasons to be political: the poor state of recent U.S.-Soviet relations, revenge for the U.S. boycott in 1980, and possible embarrassment to the Soviets on worldwide television caused by planned anti-Soviet demonstrations and defections of Eastern-bloc athletes. The popularity and financial success of the 1984 Los Angeles Games were, however, greater than anticipated. In 1988 the Winter Games — in Calgary, Alberta, Canada — went on without incident.

At the Summer Games, in Seoul, South Korea, only six nations (including Cuba and North Korea) boycotted, and the focus returned to the athletes.The 1992 Winter and Summer Games (in Albertville, France, and Barcelona, Spain, respectively) were the first Olympics without the Eastern-bloc sports machine, were the last for the "Unified Teams" from the former USSR, and marked the return of South Africa to Olympic competition. The 1996 Summer Games, in Atlanta, Ga., were the largest ever; they were marred by a bombing that took the lives of two people. The 1994 and 1998 Winter Games transpired without incident. The 2000 Summer Games were held in Sydney, Australia, to great acclaim. In Sydney, politics took a back seat to the competition, although North and South Korea were temporarily reunited as their athletes marched as one country in the opening ceremonies. Athens, Greece — site of the first modern Olympics — was the site of the Summer Games in 2004. Though it has potential for political controversies due to its rapid modernization and its communist state-Beijing, China was selected for the 2008 Summer Games.

Money and the Olympics The biggest influence on the modern Olympic Games is money. Commercialism exists side by side with the outstanding athleticism and the spirit of friendship imbuing competitors from around the world. Since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, it has become clear that a city hosting the Games can anticipate a financial windfall, as spectators and sponsors converge for the event. Because of the tremendous potential for profit, the process of selecting host cities has become politicized, and there is a large potential for corruption. In fact, a scandal erupted in late 1998, when it was found that promoters involved with Salt Lake City's (winning) bid for the 2002 Winter Games had bribed IOC members, who were forced to resign; the Nagano and Sydney bids were also under suspicion of bribery. Athletes, too, especially in the "glamour sports" such as gymnastics, ice skating, or track and field, can reap tremendous financial gains for winning performances, through product endorsements and personal appearances. Originally, Olympic athletes were expected to remain strictly amateurs and not earn money even for endorsing products.

However, by the last decades of the 20th century, professionalism among competitors received official acceptance, as the IOC finally recognized that many world-class athletes were already functioning as professionals. At the elite level of competition in many Olympic sports, the athlete must devote him- or herself entirely to the sport, all but precluding the holding of a full-time job. The end of amateurism began in 1960s in the Communist countries, where top athletes were supported by the state, but were officially considered amateurs. To counter this, in the 1970s and 1980s athletes in non-Communist countries sought out corporate sponsors, in effect becoming "employees" of the sponsor. By the late 1980s, restrictions were eased on athletes earning prize money at their sports, and professional athletes were permitted to represent their countries at the Olympics. This now includes the star athletes who play in the American professional leagues, such as the U.S. basketball "Dream Team" of National Basketball Association superstars who dominated the 1992 Olympic competition. In addition, with IOC rules concerning amateurism vacated, many medal-winning contestants have cashed in on their Olympic fame with product endorsements or performance tours.

Performance-Enhancing Drugs Winning medals at the Olympic Games has always been considered the most prestigious mark of an athlete, and a source of glory for the athlete's country. This has led to the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes, intentionally or otherwise, despite the health risks to the athlete and IOC rules prohibiting the use of these substances. The types of drugs banned include stimulants (which can be found in common cold and cough medications; caffeine is also banned), narcotics, anabolic steroids, diuretics, certain hormones (such as human growth hormone), and in some sports, beta blockers. The testing of athletes for drug use began for the Olympics in 1968, at the Mexico City Games, but did not become widespread until the 1972 Games. Over the years, as drugs such as human growth hormone have been developed, tests have been added for newer drugs. With such great rewards at stake, there are athletes and even national sports programs willing to use performance-enhancing drugs despite the risks to future health and the disgrace of getting caught. The best-known example of drug use is the East German sports federation, which had a systematic program for giving its athletes steroids from 1974 to 1989.

During that time East German women suddenly dominated events such as swimming, winning medals in 11 of 13 events both in 1976 and 1980. Other swimmers suspected that the East German women were using steroids, because the drugs affected their physical appearance, but the team was never caught. After the reunification of Germany, the East German sports federation's records were opened and the program was exposed. In 2000 the former head of the federation and the doctor who developed and administered the drug plan were convicted of systematic and overall doping. The former athletes maintain that they never knew they were taking steroids, claiming that they were told that the various medications were vitamins. As drug testing procedures have improved, more athletes have been caught. In Seoul there was suspicion of widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs after Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive; he was stripped of his gold medal. In the mid-1990s, China's female swimmers and runners quickly rose to the top of elite competition, arousing suspicions of drug use; by the late 1990s many were caught through more diligent drug testing. The IOC publicly decries the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

However, it is commonly believed that even with out-of-competition testing, the drugs and masking agents available to athletes is far ahead of the tests used to detect these substances. A study released in September 2000 that was financed by the U.S. government accused the IOC of permitting drug use to persist in order to maintain the mystique of the Olympics and record-breaking performances. The IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in late 1999 to test athletes at the upcoming Olympics and to increase drug testing standards, but how effective WADA will be in the long run is not yet known. Jim Benagh Bibliography: Finding, John E., and Pelle, Kimberly D., Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement (1996); Greenberg, Stan, Guinness Book of Olympic Records (1992); Guttmann, Allen, The Olympics (1992); Henry, Bill, et al., An Approved History of the Olympic Games (1984); Hill, Christopher, Olympic Politics: Athens to Atlanta, 1896–1996, 2d ed.

(1997); Swaddling, Judith, The Ancient Olympic Games, 2d ed. (2000); Wallechinsky, David, The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (2000); Young, David C., The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival (1996). × When the Games Were Held at Olympia | EDSITEment When the Games Were Held at Olympia Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history. —Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics Every two years, a group of people dedicated to a common purpose will solemnly assemble, light a flame, chant a hymn, and swear an oath. If the spectacle just described sounds a little like a religious ritual, it might be because the event—the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games—is in fact intended to evoke an ancient Greek religious festival. And when the games opened in Summer 2004, the ancient roots of the modern Olympics were on full display because the Olympics had come home! Dora Bakoyiannis was the mayor of Athens when Greece hosted the games of the 28th Olympiad in 2004.

In a speech in Washington, D.C., she explained the historic and symbolic significance of the return of the Olympics to Greece: As you all know, Greece in general, and Athens in particular, has a number of unique historic and cultural advantages in staging the Olympics. After all, the games originated in Greece near[ly] 2,800 years ago, and were then revived again in Athens in 1896. As a result, visitors to Greece can still see the original ancient stadium of ancient Olympia, where the Olympics were first organized in 776 BCE. As the mayor’s remarks suggest, anybody who followed the 2004 Olympics could not help but become aware of ancient Greek civilization in the process. And the return of the Olympics to Greece to its native land continues to hold great promise for parents and educators looking for a way to interest contemporary students in the culture and history of ancient Greece. Simply tuning in to television coverage of the Olympic games brought students into contact with a wide range of historically significant images. EDSITEment resources can be used to explain these images and to place them within the larger narrative of ancient Greek history.

The 2004 games not only sparked curiosity in the specific history of ancient Greece, but also impressed students more generally with the relevance of history as a discipline. The Athens Olympics presented such a valuable educational moment because they showed students how historical analysis can help us critically re-examine the world we live in today. The juxtaposition of the modern games against an ancient backdrop, the Athens Olympics still encourages us to reflect on the ways in which Greek civilization continues to reverberate (or not) through our contemporary world. Thus, the activities and prompts described in this Feature all revolve around this core question: How and why does the study of the ancient Greeks have continuing relevance to our ability to better understand ourselves? Overview of EDSITEment Resources Students will find a library of textual and visual tools for the study of ancient Greece on the EDSITEment-reviewed Perseus Project website. The Perseus Project site includes a special exhibit designed to immerse students in the lives of ancient Olympic athletes. The exhibit provides details on the events, ethos, cultural context, and physical location of the ancient games. Highlights of the exhibit include a multimedia tour of ancient Olympia and a series of profiles of ancient Olympic athletes.

Also, through the EDSITEment resource ArchNet , students have access to Archaeology Online’s Ancient Olympics Guide . The articles on Winning at Olympia and Myths about the Olympic Games presents the latest research on the cultural backdrop of the ancient games. The EDSITEment lesson plan Live From Ancient Olympia (for grades 6–8) suggests one strategy for guiding students through the wealth of information available through the Perseus Project ancient Olympics exhibit . The lesson plan’s central activity asks students to write and perform a TV news-style “live interview” with the ancient Olympic heroes profiled in the exhibit. These interviews should clarify students’ understanding of the attitudes and ideals underpinning the significance of the Olympics to the ancient Greek culture. The activities and discussion questions presented below extend the themes of that lesson, while also helping to elucidate the significance of the Olympic games within our own modern context. — Back to Top — A Closer Look at the Perseus Project Exhibit The Olympic games remind us that the kinds of sporting events that a society institutionalizes tells us a great deal about the values and cultural assumptions of that particular society. But we must also carefully note the ways in which the worldview reflected in ancient Olympic practice might differ from our own.

Thus, the key question raised by the Perseus Project exhibit is this: Do the modern Olympics represent true continuity with an ancient tradition, or a mostly new phenomenon with an ancient name? In addressing this question, students can use EDSITEment resources to investigate the following contrasts between the ancient and modern games. But be careful: some contrasts may not be as sharp as they first seem! Perhaps the most striking difference between the ancient and modern Olympics is that the ancient Olympics were held as religious festivals. Students can click here for an explanation of the religious significance of the ancient games. Although no longer intended for the honor of a particular god, the modern Olympics do strive to retain the ritualistic bent of the ancient Olympics. There is an Olympic anthem, an Olympic hymn, and an Olympic oath. Every two years, the Olympic torch is ritually lit at an altar in Olympia by natural rays of the sun reflected off curved mirrors. Discuss: To what extent does the success of the modern Olympic movement depend upon particular symbols, rituals, and ceremonies? As much as the modern Olympics strives to create a sense of world unity, the modern games often serve as platforms for governments and individuals to make their own political statements.

During the opening ceremonies of the 1908 Olympics in London, the American flag-bearer refused to follow the custom of dipping the flag as he passed King Edward VII’s box. The flag-bearer reportedly said: “This flag dips to no earthly king.” In 1976, 26 African Nations boycotted the Montreal Olympics to protest the fact that New Zealand was allowed to compete after its national rugby team visited apartheid South Africa. The United States and 59 of its allies boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. When the Olympics came to Los Angeles in 1984, the Soviet Union retaliated with its own boycott. Did politics play a similar role at the ancient Olympics? Click here to find out , then discuss: To what extent can the ideal of a non-political Olympic games be taken seriously? Men and women both participate in the modern Olympics, competing in separate events. Click here to learn about the status of women at the ancient games in Olympia. Then discuss: To what extent has the participation of women in the Olympic games changed since ancient times? To what extent does our own modern culture encourage or discourage female participation in sports?

The modern Olympics brings together athletes of all races and nationalities. Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic movement, declared, “The Olympic Games are for the world, and all nations must be admitted to them.” But for most of their history, the ancient Olympics were only for athletes of Greek lineage. The ancient Olympics were “panhellenic,” meaning that they included people from all over the Greek-speaking world. Discuss: The participants in the ancient games all shared a common Hellenic culture. To what extent do the modern games presume a shared global culture? Today’s Olympic athletes compete as representatives of national teams, while ancient Olympians competed as individuals. And whereas today’s Olympics include team sports such as basketball, volleyball, and baseball, the ancient games included no team sports. The ancient Greek emphasis on the achievement of individual athletes is best captured in the Greek concept of arete, meaning competitive excellence. Click here to find out more about arete , and then discuss: To what extent does arete survive as a core ideal in contemporary society? In our culture, is individual competitiveness seen as more of a vice or a virtue?

One feature of the ancient Olympics that may be absent in the modern version is the idea of the ekecheiria, or “sacred truce.” Students can click here to investigate the concept of the sacred truce . Note that the truce did not establish peace among the Greek city-states, but only guaranteed safe passage for athletes and spectators traveling to and participating in the games. And while there are scattered examples of the truce being violated, the ancient Greeks mostly succeeded in ensuring that war would not interfere with the Olympic games. From 776 BCE until 393 CE—the entire period of the ancient games—293 consecutive Olympics were held without once being cancelled due to war. By contrast, since the modern Olympics began in 1896, the games have been cancelled three times because of wars—in 1916, 1940, and 1944. Discuss: Why and to what extent do we think that sport has the potential to promote peace among nations? The rules of modern Olympic sports are calculated to provide for the safety and protection of the athletes. This was not the case at ancient Olympia.

Click here to learn about the pankration a particularly brutal combat sport that could sometimes turn lethal. It is no coincidence that one of the most popular ancient Olympic sports was combat-oriented. Classics scholar Michael B. Poliakoff, author of a book on ancient athletics noted that violent sports "filled a crucial need as an outlet for highly competitive and individualistic impulses Greece developed during the period from the seventh to the fifth centuries BCE." Discuss: Do violent sports channel and moderate aggressive, hyper-competitive behavior, or do they only make us more violent and more competitive? The modern Olympics began as a contest for amateur athletes—competitors who have never taken money to play sports. In fact, the American Olympic hero Jim Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it later came to light that he had played semi-professional baseball. Click here to find out whether the distinction between amateur and professional athletes existed in ancient Greece. Then discuss: What do students think of the recent change in the Olympic rules permitting professional athletes to participate in some events (e.g., basketball)? The prize for ancient Olympic champions was a crown made by twisting a wild olive branch, called kotinos, into a circle.

Unlike the modern games, the ancient Olympics did not recognize second and third place finishers. The idea of an athlete being rewarded at Olympia for being second best would not have made sense to the ancient Greeks. Discuss: Do students think that medals should be awarded to the top three finishers in an Olympic event, or does it make more sense to follow the ancient Greek model and just recognize a single champion? — Back to Top — Olympic Tidbits Parents and educators can also lead much shorter interactive activities that use familiar Olympic images as “hooks” to introduce tidbits on ancient Greek history and culture. Examples of two such activities are provided below. 1. Mascot Mythology The official Athens 2004 mascots were a pair of brother and sister named Phevos and Athena. According to the International Olympic Committee website, “their creation was inspired by an ancient Greek doll and their names are linked to ancient Greece, yet the two siblings are children of modern times … Phevos and Athena represent the link between Greek history and the modern Olympic Games.” Athena and Phevos (known in ancient Greece as Phoebus Apollo) are both names of prominent gods in Greek mythology. But what sorts of gods were they and how were they represented?

To find out, direct your students to Odyssey Online’s At Home on Mount Olympos page. There, students will find an image of five Olympian gods, including Athena and Apollo. The two gods are pictured next to one another. They are the second and third gods from the left. Students can click on their individual pictures to learn more about them. Discuss: How do the pictorial representations of Athena and Apollo in the painting reflect their attributes? Discuss: What are some reasons why Athena and Phoebus Apollo may have been chosen as the names for the 2004 Olympic mascots? 2. The Marathon in Legend and History The marathon was never an ancient Olympic event, but the race was first run as the final event in the inaugural modern Olympics, as a tribute to the popular legend of a Greek soldier named Phidippides (also spelled Pheidippides) who fought at the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. Click here to learn about the origins of the marathon . Of course, the battle at Marathon remains significant not only in Olympic history, but in the history of warfare and military strategy. It is difficult for us to conceptualize how ancient wars were actually fought—what sort of tactical maneuvers won or lost campaigns.

But EDSITEment has created a schematic animation that portrays the design and success of the Athenians’ battle strategy at Marathon. After showing this animation to your students, have them read about the Athenian strategy in a summary of The Histories, a text by the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century BCE. If desired, you can explore Herodotus’ text using the following discussion questions: What does the text reveal about the relationship between religion and war in the ancient world? What was the source of the Persians’ advantage at Marathon? What advantages did the Athenians enjoy? What part does Phidippides play in the battle according to Herodotus? What does the commentary on the text say about the legend of the run from Marathon to Athens? What does Herodotus’ text say about the run? Standards Alignment The Olympics | EDSITEment The Olympics “Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history.” —Baron Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics.

As the world turns its eyes this July to London, England, the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics, it will be fun to take the longer view by examining the historical and philosophical significance of the Games in Ancient Greece. In doing so, we should ask: What was it like to compete in or attend the ancient Olympics? This EDSITEment feature transports us back to Classical civilization and the flourishing of small city-states in order to examine the values and cultural assumptions about human excellence and competition that dominated this distant but familiar culture. Poetry has always played a central role in the Olympic Games. Return to the present to see how, in 2012, the chosen host city for the Summer Olympics, London, is shining a special light on this connection. Also learn about London’s distinguished relationship with the Olympics. The Ancient Olympics The recurrence of the Olympic Games every four years reminds us that the kinds of events that a society honors tell us a great deal about the values and assumptions of that particular society.

The Ancient Olympics Special Exhibit , available from EDSITEment-reviewed and NEH-supported Perseus Digital Library Project , allows students to compare ancient and modern Olympic sports, tour Olympia as it looks today, explore the context of the Games and the Olympic spirit , and read Olympic athletes' stories . We must be careful, however, to remember that the ancient Olympics were different than the modern Games in many ways. The athletes were part of a major religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek god. There were fewer events, only free men who spoke Greek could compete, and ancient athletes competed as individuals, not on national teams, as in the modern Games. Like our Olympics, though, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map. In Live from Ancient Olympia! , students write and perform a TV news style “live interview” with ancient Olympic heroes. These interviews will clarify students’ understanding of the attitudes and ideals underpinning the significance of the Olympics in ancient Greek culture. Their ability to achieve legendary status through public competition was related to the Greek ideal of excellence, called arête. Aristocratic men who attained this ideal of arête, through their outstanding words or deeds, won permanent glory and fame.

Those who failed to measure up to this code feared public shame and disgrace. As is still true, not all ancient Olympic athletes lived up to this code of excellence. Through the concept of aretê, the ancient Greeks created a competitive athletic culture in which winning was valued not for its own sake but for the moral virtues that contribute to victory. The Victor's Virtue: A Cultural History of Sport explores the twofold meaning of aretê focusing on the ways in which the concept bridges the gap between philosophy and sport. For further discussion of the question: Do the modern Olympics represent true continuity with an ancient tradition, or a mostly new phenomenon with an ancient name? See the EDSITEment feature: When the Games Were Held at Olympia. Poetry at the Olympics In addition to athletics, the busy schedule of the early Olympics included religious ceremonies, speeches by well-known philosophers, parades, even poetry recitals. In fact, poetry with its deep connection to religion and the gods was considered a major component to the ancient Games. When we think about the Olympics, we don’t often pause to consider the role that poetry played, and continues to play, in the Olympic ceremonies.

In ancient times, Olympic poetry was performed for spectators; it offered audience members another lens through which to view the art of competition and new words through which to capture and describe arête. In modern times, a highly acclaimed poet is selected to write and recite a poem that captures the spirit of the Games before a large audience of spectators. In the EDSITEment lesson The Olympic Medal: It's All Greek to Us! students will see that the Athens 2004 Olympic medal uses an inscription from a victory ode by the ancient poet, Pindar. This elementary "text" will also help students practice reading ancient Greek and reinforce the link between ancient Greek culture and the modern Olympic Games. The poet chosen for the 2012 Summer Olympics is Carol Ann Duffy , Britain’s Poet Laureate. Duffy’s poem “Eton Manor” is a tribute to the Eaton Manor Sports Club, an elite sporting association that formed in the early 20th century. The pride, ambition, and camaraderie of early members reflect the code of excellence that guides Olympic athletes, both ancient and modern. It is expected that she will compose an original poem for this occasion.

Students can find biographical and contextual information on Carol Ann Duffy from EDSITEment-reviewed Poetry Foundation and read her poem “History” from the entry at EDSITEment-reviewed Academy of American Poets . In fact, London has positioned poetry front and center in the 2012 Games. The verse of an earlier British Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson has also been highlighted. His final line from "Ulysses" celebrates the human need "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” This memorable phrase from Tennyson’s much beloved poem was chosen by a nation-wide contest and has now been etched on the six-meter wall in the heart of the newly constructed Olympic Village! It is part of the BBC-featured Winning Words initiative, which seeks to incorporate poetry into the London Olympics and Paralympic Games and after they conclude “to carpet the nation in poetry!” Students can explore more vivid images conjured by this poet in Poems of Tennyson and Noyes: Pictures in Words. London as Site of Olympics, Past and Present Two thousand and twelve marks the third time the modern Games have been held in London since the Olympics were revived in 1896.

London first played host in 1908, before the upheaval of the “Great War,” and hosted for them the second time in 1948, after the devastation of the Second World War. The 1908 London Olympics were the third to be hosted outside of Athens. They were originally scheduled to take place in Rome, but with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on April 7, 1906, the Italian Government was forced to redirect funds away from the Olympics. London came to the rescue and provided the venue. Though smaller in stature than previous modern Games, the 1908 Games hosted 22 nations competing in 110 events. As one of the first venues of the modern Olympics, London in 1908 helped set standards, including organizing the Games around an opening ceremony and national teams and establishing the exact length of the Marathon (which is still 26.2 miles, based on the distance between Windsor Castle and White City Stadium ). The Summer Olympics of 1944 were to be held in London, having been awarded to that site in 1939.

However, they were canceled due to the war and that year a small celebration was held in Lausanne, the Olympic headquarters, instead. The Games were not restored until 1948. London was selected to host them, as many other cities were still recovering from the ravages of war. By that time, a total of 59 nations were participating. Germany and Japan were excluded for security reasons. Some important features of the Games originated in this second London Olympics known as " The Austerity Games. " In 1948 for the first time, starting blocks and photo-finishes were used. It was also the first time the Games were broadcast to home television viewers. One of the first female athletic stars, Fanny Blankers-Koen , "The Flying Housewife," brought the Netherlands four gold medals in track. She downplayed her achievement by saying, "All I've done is run fast. I don't see why people should make much fuss about that." NEH-funded Chronicling America contains additional historical context for students with newspaper articles, primary source images, and accounts of the Olympic experiences ranging from the Olympics’ 1896 revival in Athens through the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

For more on past Games, students may also peruse the NEH-funded 1968 Exhibit references to the Summer 1968 Olympics , which reflected some of the controversy inherent in the times, including the now infamous image of the Black Power Salute at the podium . Student may access official information on past Games from the Olympic Record Timeline in The National Archives of the United Kingdom along with a picture of their current sporting and cultural activities . Students may find more on the 2012 Games from the London 2012 Olympics and The International Olympic Committee: London 2012 Summer Olympics and BBC Online London 2012 . Finally, as this year’s Olympics coincide with the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, students may want to learn more about her and other British monarchs. The Art of Monarchy Web feature from the BBC News Service illuminates the long and fascinating history of the British Crown through the art that the monarchs have acquired over the centuries.

Question: When the Olympics was resurrected in modern times, with a Summer Olympics in 1896, where were the games held?
Answer: Athens, Greece