Olympic Games essay

Olympic Games bring together thousands of the world’s finest athletes. No other sports event attracts so much attention.

The history of the Olympic Games is very interesting. Athletics played an important part in the religions festivals of the ancient Greeks. The people believed such competition pleased the spirits of the dead. The religious festivals honored the gods, and many Greek tribes and cities held one every four years. The Olympic Games, which ranked as the most important, honored Zeus, whom the Greeks considered king of the gods. The first recorded Olympic contest look place in the stadium of Olympia in 776 B.C. For many years, the Olympics were for male contestants and male spectators only.

The Olympics were held every four years for more than 1,500 years. Competition included running races, wrestling, discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, a sprint, boxing, and four – horse chariot race. A savage and sometimes deadly sport called pancratium, which combined boxing and wrestling, was also included in the Olympics.

The Roman Empire conquered Greece during the 100’s B.C., and the games soon lost their religions meaning. The contestants became interested only in winning money. In A.D. 394, Emperor Theodosius ordered the Olympic Games ended. No Olympics were held for more than 1,500 years.

A group of German archaeologists discovered the ruins of the Stadium of Olympia in 1875. The discovery gave Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator, the idea of organizing a modern, international Olympics. De Coubertin believed that athletics played an important part in forming a person’s character. He also thought that international sports competition would promote world peace. In 1894, de Coubertin presented his idea to an international meeting on amateur sports. The group voted to organize the games, and it formed the International Olympic Committee.

The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Women first competed in the modern games in 1900. The Winter Games began in 1924. No games were held in 1916, 1940, or 1944 because of World Wars I and II.

The Summer Games are held in various months and last 16 days. Thousands of male and female athletes now take part in the Summer Games. The athletes represent more than 160 nations. The track and field, gymnastics, and swimming events and soccer games usually attract the largest crowds. Competitions also include archery, badminton, basketball, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, fencing, field hockey, judo, rowing, shooting, diving, water polo for men and synchronized swimming for women, table tennis, team handball, tennis, and volleyball. Men and women may compete on the same team in equestrian (horseback riding) sports and some yachting events. Only men compete in baseball, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling, and the modern pentathlon, which consists of fencing, horseback riding, pistol shooting, running, and swimming.

The Winter Games are held in January or February. There are seven sports for the Winter Games: the biathlon (a combination of cross – country skiing and shooting), bobsledding, figure skating, ice hockey, luge (a form of tobogganing), skiing, and speed skating. More than 1,200 athletes take part in the Winter Games. They represent about 60 nations.

The International Olympic Committee is the governing body of the Olympic Games. The committee approves the sports to be included in the Olympics. It also selects the host cities six years in advance.

Colorful ceremonies combine with thrilling athletic competition to create the special feeling of excitement that surrounds the Olympics. The opening ceremony of the games is particularly impressive. The most dramatic moment of it is the lighting of the Olympic Flame. A lighted torch is brought from the valley of Olympia, Greece, where the ancient Olympics were held. Thousands of runners take part in the journey. The flame is kept burning until the end of the games.

For many years, Finland, Norway, and Sweden had the best athletes at the Winter Games. From 1956, Soviet athletes won more medals at the Winter Games than contestants of any other nation. From 1956, the Soviet Union and the United States won most of the medals in the Summer Games. In the 1976 Summer Games, East Germany joined the Soviet Union and the United States as a major medal – winning nation.

The Olympics have been the scene of many exciting individual achievements. Irina Rodnina of Russia won the figure-skating contest in 1972,1976, and 1980 Winter Olympics. In 1984, Carl Lewis of the United States won four gold medals in track and field. In the 1988 games, Kristin Otto, an East German swimmer, became the first woman to win six gold medals in one Olympics.

The modern Olympics were organized to encourage world peace and friendship and to promote amateur athletics. Despite the high ideals behind the Olympics, the games have of­ten been a center of political conflicts which led to a number of boycotts of Olympic competition in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, about 30 nations withdrew their teams just before the games began because of political disputes. The United States, Canada, and some other nations boycotted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. The Soviet Union and 14 other nations boycotted the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Cuba and North Korea boycotted competition at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea.

The problem of illegal drug usage among athletes clouded the competition in the 1988 Summer Games. Ten athletes were disqualified from competition for using banned drugs to increase their performance