Olympic Games

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The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920.
The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920.

The Olympic Games[1] is an international multi-sport event subdivided into summer and winter sporting events. The summer and winter games are each held every four years. Until 1992, they were both held in the same year. Since then, they have been separated by a two year gap. The summer games are separated by an Olympiad.[2]

The original Olympic Games were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were celebrated until AD 393.[3] Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833.[4] Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in 1859. He paid for the refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium for Games held there in 1870 and 1875.[4] This was noted in newspapers and publications around the world including the London Review, which stated that "the Olympian Games, discontinued for centuries, have recently been revived! Here is strange news indeed ... the classical games of antiquity were revived near Athens".[5]

The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 on the initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The first of the IOC's Olympic Games were the 1896 Summer Olympics, held in Athens, Greece. Participation in the Olympic Games has increased to include athletes from nearly all nations worldwide. With the improvement of satellite communications and global telecasts of the events, the Olympics are consistently gaining supporters.[6] The most recent Summer Olympics were the 2004 Games in Athens and the most recent Winter Olympics were the 2006 Games in Turin. The upcoming games in Beijing are planned to comprise 302 events in 28 sports.[7] As of 2006, the Winter Olympics were competed in 84 events in 7 sports.[8]

Contents

[edit] Olympic sports

Currently, the Olympic program consists of 35 different sports, 53 disciplines and more than 400 events. The Summer Olympics includes 28 sports with 38 disciplines and the Winter Olympics includes 7 sports with 15 disciplines.[9] Nine sports were on the original Olympic programme in 1896: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling. If the 1896 rowing events had not been cancelled due to bad weather, they would have been included in this list as well.[10]At the most recent Winter Olympics, 15 disciplines in seven sports were featured. Of these, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been featured on the programme at all Winter Olympics. In addition, figure skating and ice hockey also have been contested as part of the Summer Games before the introduction of separate Winter Olympics.

In recent years, the IOC has added several new sports to the programme to attract attention from young spectators. Examples of such sports include snowboarding and beach volleyball. The growth of the Olympics also means that some less popular (modern pentathlon) or expensive (white water canoeing) sports may lose their place on the Olympic programme. The IOC decided to discontinue baseball and softball beginning in 2012. Cricket[citation needed] and Rugby union[citation needed] used to be in the Olympic Games but were discontinued; a revival[citation needed] is now seen as possible.

Rule 48.1 of the Olympic Charter requires that there be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports at each Summer Games. Following its 114th Session (Mexico 2002), the IOC also decided to limit the programme of the Summer Games to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes. The Olympic sports are defined as those governed by the International Federations listed in Rule 46 of the Olympic Charter. A two-thirds vote of the IOC is required to amend the Charter to promote a Recognised Federation to Olympic status and therefore make the sports it governs eligible for inclusion on the Olympic programme. Rule 47 of the Charter requires that only Olympic sports may be included in the programme.

The IOC reviews the Olympic programme at the first Session following each Olympiad. A simple majority is required for an Olympic sport to be included in the Olympic programme. Under the current rules, an Olympic sport not selected for inclusion in a particular Games remains an Olympic sport and may be included again later with a simple majority. At the 117th IOC Session, 26 sports were included in the programme for London 2012.

Until 1992, the Olympics also often featured demonstration sports. The objective was for these sports to reach a larger audience; the winners of these events are not official Olympic champions. These sports were sometimes sports popular only in the host nation, but internationally known sports have also been demonstrated. Some demonstration sports eventually were included as full-medal events.

[edit] Olympic Game Collectables

Olympic game collectables include posters, ephemera, stamps, and postcards.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Olympic Games. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
  2. ^ "Introduction - The Summer Games and Winter Games", The Modern Olympic Games (PDF), International Olympic Committee, p. 2. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  3. ^ "Ancient Olympic Games". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006. Microsoft Corporation (1997-2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
  4. ^ a b David C. Young, The Modern Olympics - A Struggle for Revival, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 1996, ISBN 0-8018-5374-5
  5. ^ London Review, September 15, 1860.
  6. ^ "Olympic Games - Recent Developments". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006. Microsoft Corporation (1997-2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
  7. ^ "Beijing 2008: Games Programme Finalised", International Olympic Committee (2006-04-27). Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
  8. ^ "Turin 2006". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
  9. ^ "Sports". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  10. ^ "The Olympic Games". AAFLA. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.

[edit] References

  • Buchanan, Ian (2001). Historical dictionary of the Olympic movement. Lanham: Scarecrow Presz. ISBN 978-0-8108-4054-6.
  • Kamper, Erich; Mallon, Bill (1992). The Golden Book of the Olympic Games. Milan: Vallardi & Associati. ISBN 978-88-85202-35-1.
  • Simson, Vyv; Jennings, Andrew (1992). Dishonored Games: Corruption, Money, and Greed at the Olympics. New Tork: S.P.I. Books. ISBN 978-1-56171-199-4.
  • Wallechinsky, David (2000). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Sydney 2000 Edition. Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1-58567-033-8.
  • Wallechinsky, David (2001). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City 2002 Edition. Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1-58567-195-3.
  • Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Athens 2004 Edition. SportClassic Books. ISBN 978-1-894963-32-9.
  • Wallechinsky, David (2005). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, Turin 2006 Edition. SportClassic Books. ISBN 978-1-894963-45-9.
  • Preuss, Holger; Marcia Semitiel García (2005). The Economics of Staging the Olympics: A Comparison of the Games 1972-2008. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84376-893-7.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official websites

[edit] Other links

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