Have you ever wondered how the Olympic Games began? You will be surprised to know that in the very beginning it was just a series of athletic competitions for people from the city states of Ancient Greece. The games were held in honour of Zeus. However, there are a lot of myth and legend regarding the exact origin of the games. But according to the records they began in 776 BC in Olympia in Greece. It was held every four years (Olympiad – as the unit came to be known). When the Games were on, an Olympic Truce was called so that athletes could travel from their countries to the Games in safety. The winners of the various events were crowned with laurel leaves. That was their prize!
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world – a great statue of Zeus, was erected at Olympia to preside over the Games.
There were fewer events and one criterion was that you should be “free”and speak Greek. As long as the main criteria was met any one from any country could participate.
The Olympic Games were then stopped either by Theodosius I in 393 AD or his grandson Theodosius II in 435 AD. But the site of the Games remained until it was destroyed by an earthquake in sixth century AD.
It may come as a surprise to know that a major part of the Games was about artistic expression. There was an artistic competition and sculptors, poets and other artisans would come to the Games to display their work.
In the beginning
The first Games was held in 1896, held under the auspices of the IOC and was hosted in the Panathanaika stadium in Athens. It saw the coming together of 14 nations and 241 athletes and they competed in 43 events. In Greece, the officials and the public were enthusiastic about having hosted the Games. The athletes too were happy with the event and expressed a wish that for all subsequent Games Athens continues to be the venue. But the IOC was not too happy about this and decided that the modern Olympics would rotate internationally. The second Olympics was held in Paris.
Modern Olympics
Almost 1500 years later, a young Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin was inspired to revive these Games. In 1890 he organised and founded a sports organisation — Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two years later, at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris he pitched his idea of reviving the Games. His idea was not received with enthusiasm. However, he persisted. In 1894 he organised a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. Once again he spoke about his idea of reviving the Games. This time his idea was received with interest.
The delegates agreed and also decided to have Coubertin bring together an international committee to organise the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee (IOC - Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrios Vikelas from Greece was elected as its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games.
In London
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London from July 27 to August 12. This is followed by the 2012 Paralympic Games from August 29 to September 9.
The Games have been hosted in London twice before. The first time in 1908 and the second in 1948. This year the Games will witness the participation of 205 nations in the 300 events that have been organised. In the Paralympic Games 147 nations are expected to participate.
The mascots for the Games are Wenlock and Mandeville. They have a metallic finish, a single large eye made of a camera lens, a London taxi light on their heads and the Olympic rings representing friendship bracelets on their wrists. The pair are based on a short story by children's author Michael Morpurgo that tells how they were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium. Wenlock, named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock that helped inspire Pierre de Coubertin to launch the modern Olympics, and Mandeville, inspired by the Buckinghamshire town of Stoke Mandeville, where the Paralympics were founded, will become very familiar in the next two years.
There have been two London 2012 logos: one for the bidding process and a second as the brand for the Games themselves. The former is a ribbon with blue, yellow, black, green, and red stripes winding through the text “LONDON 2012”, making the shape of the Thames in East London. The latter is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero.
This will be the first time that the same essential logo is to be used for both the Olympic and Paralympic games.
For art
Pierre de Coubertin wanted to imitate the ancient Olympics in every way. In his vision he saw an event that featured artistic competition modelled on the Ancient Olympics. His desire came to fruition at the Olympics held in Athens in 1896.
Published - July 23, 2012 04:21 pm IST
