The Olympic Symbol

The Olympic symbol and flag was created in 1913 and consists of five interlocking coloured (blue, yellow, black, green, red) rings, which represent the 5 continents of Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas.

The Olympic motto is citius, altius, fortius, which translated means swifter, higher, stronger.

The IOC

The International Olympic Committee or ‘IOC’ as they are more commonly known are the controlling organisation behind the Olympics.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland this, sometimes controversial, committee are all powerful in selection of cities to host the Summer and Winter Olympics up to 7 years in advance. In addition they also decide on the sports and events to be included in the games.

The decision as to which city will host the Olympics is decided on a number of important criteria: -

· Stadiums / sites to host all the events and sports

· Adequate facilities for the games, athletes, coaching staff, officials and visiting spectators

· Transportation, accommodation, food service

All these factors are scrutinised before a final decision is made

The Games

The Olympics can really be split into 2 distinct era’s the Ancient Games and the Modern Games

The Ancient Games

The Ancient Games developed in Greece from the religious ceremonies, which included at the time many athletic events.

Over time, four major festivals Isthmian, Nemean, Pythian and Olympic developed, bringing together people throughout ancient Greece. The Olympic games were recognised as the most important and honoured, Zeus king of the gods.

The first record of the Olympics dates back to 776 BC at Olympia in Greece when a cook from Elis, Koroibus, was declared the winner. The games were held every 4 years with the interval between each games know as Olympiads. The only event at the time was the stadion a race run over 192 metres.

Over the years the games developed as longer races were added and more sports introduced like wrestling and the pentathalon in 708 BC.

Once the Romans conquered Greece around 140BC the games began to lose their religious significance and finally in 393 AD Emperor Theodosius I banned the games.

The Modern Games

The discovery of the ancient stadium and temples of Olympia back in 1875 by German archaeologists prompted a French Baron, Pierre de Coubertin, to organise a modern Olympics in 1892. In 1894 the first IOC was formed.

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896 and athletes competed in 9 sports :-

· Cycling

· Fencing

· Gymnastics

· Lawn tennis

· Shooting

· Swimming

· Track and field

· Weightlifting

· Wrestling

During the early years there was little interest in the games with poor crowds. It wasn’t until 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden that the first organised Olympic Games were held.

The 1916 games were cancelled due to WWI. 1920 saw Paavo Nurmi the great Finnish distance runner win the first of his nine gold medals.

In 1924 in Paris an American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller competed and he went on to star as Tarzan in many films. British sprinters, Harold Abrahams and Arthur Liddell also competed and their story was later portrayed in the Oscar winning film Chariots of Fire.

The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics saw the introduction of automatic timing and photo finish for races introduced.

Berlin was the host for the 1936 Olympics despite the opposition to Hitler and his policies. The now famous African American Jesse Owens became the undisputed hero of the games winning four gold medals in track and field, much to the embarrassment of Hitler and his Nazi party.

WWII saw the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 games and London hosted the 1948 Olympics.

1952 saw athletes from the Soviet Union compete for the first time in Helsinki which also saw the great Czech runner Emile Zatopek become the only runner to win the 5,000 meters, 10,00 meters and marathon at the same Olympics.

The first games held in the southern hemisphere took place in Melbourne in 1956 and in 1964 the games were held for the first time by an Asian city in Tokyo.

Mexico city hosted the games in 1968 and the high altitude proved difficult for many athletes particularly in the long distance and endurance events. These games also saw the American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos expelled for protesting against racism in the United States by raising clenched fists and bowing their heads as the national anthem was played at the medal ceremony.

In 1972 the games were held in Munich. On September 5^th eight Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli teams dormitory killing 2 Israelis and taking 9 hostages. During a gun battle with the West German police all Israeli hostages were killed along with the 5 terrorists and 1 policeman.

From the competition perspective though the highlight was the 7 gold medal haul of American swimmer Mark Spitz.

1976, 1980 and 1984 games saw many countries boycott the Olympics for various reasons.

Montreal in 1976 saw many African countries refuse to compete in protest at the New Zealand rugby team touring South Africa, which was barred due to its apartheid policies.

The United States boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow following the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 in all a total of 55 nations stayed away.

At Los Angeles in 1984 the Soviet Union and 12 other countries boycotted the Olympics in retaliation for the 1980 boycott. Carl Lewis became the hero of these games though winning 4 gold medals matching Jesse Owens feat in 1936.

Seoul in South Korea was picked to host the 1988 games, which were boycotted by North Korea and Cuba. These games again attracted controversy with the disqualification of Canada’s Ben Johnson for taking anabolic steroids used to boost strength and weight.

1992 saw Barcelona host the games, which saw new countries compete following the break up of the Soviet Union and also South Africa compete for the first time since 1960 after the abolition of apartheid.

The largest games in history took place in Sydney in 2000 with athletes competing in over 300 events.

And now we prepare for the 2004 games in Athens, Greece.

One Day in September: The Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre

Qualification for the Olympics

Each country (approx. 200 nations) who competes in the Olympics will have it’s own national Olympic Committee who have responsibility for selecting its team of athletes, uniforms, equipment, transportation etc.

A large number of countries now receive Government funding to help pay their Olympic costs as does the IOC.

Each country usually holds trials to determine which athletes will represent their country at the Olympic Games, the athletes must be a citizen of that country. For many years the Olympics only allowed amateur athletes to compete but nowadays they do allow professional athletes to compete although there are some exceptions, for example baseball and boxing.

Usually a nation may enter a maximum of 3 athletes in most events providing they meet a minimum standard set by that sports governing body. Team sports are limited to between 8 to 16 teams depending on the sport and the teams may need to win qualifying tournaments before they can compete in the Olympics.

Medals

The Olympic medals are the ultimate prize for many athletes and are the reward for many years of dedication and hard work training in their particular sport.

The top 3 in each sport receive a medal and a diploma. The next 5 finishers just receive a diploma.

Gold medals (actually silver coated with gold) are awarded for first place, silver for second and bronze for third place. Each Olympics has its own design created for the medals.

The medals are awarded at medal ceremonies after the events where the winners stand on a raised platform (gold medal winners in the middle), receive their medals and stand whilst their countries flags are raised and the winner’s national anthem is played.

Sites of the Olympic Games

Year	Summer	Winter
1896	Athens, Greece	Not held
1900	Paris, France	Not held
1904	St. Louis, USA	Not held
1908	London, England	Not held
1912	Stockholm, Sweden	Not held
1916	Not held	Not held
1920	Antwerp, Belgium	Not held
1924	Paris, France	Chamonix, France
1928	Amsterdam, Netherlands	St. Moritz, Switzerland
1932	Los Angeles, USA	Lake Placis, USA
1936	Berlin, Germany	Garmisch, Germany
1940	Not held	Not held
1944	Not held	Not held
1948	London, England	St. Moritz, Switzerland
1952	Helsinki, Finland	Oslo, Norway
1956	Melbourne, Australia	Cortina, Italy
1960	Rome, Italy	Squaw Valley, USA
1964	Tokyo, Japan	Innsbruck, Austria
1968	Mexico City, Mexico	Grenoble, France
1972	Munich, West Germany	Sapporo, Japan
1976	Montreal, Canada	Innsbruck, Austria
1980	Moscow, USSR	Lake Placid, USA
1984	Los Angeles, USA	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1988	Seoul, South Korea	Calgary, Canada
1992	Barcelona, Spain	Albertville, France
1994		Lillehammer, Norway
1996	Atlanta, USA
1998		Nagano, Japan
2000	Sydney, Australia
2002		Salt Lake City, USA
2004	Athens, Greece
2006		Turin, Italy
2008	Beijing, China