essay on history of olympics

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The Olympic Games

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 23, 2023 | Original: January 6, 2010

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 12 nations, competing in 43 events. Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately and have alternated every two years. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held from February 4 to February 20, 2022 in Beijing, China and feature figure skating, ice hockey, curling and more.

The Olympics Begin 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 12 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.

HISTORY Vault: The First Olympics

Travel back to 776 B.C. to the world's first sports complex, Olympia--where every four years, Greek city-states set aside their differences and laid down arms to compete in peaceful games established to honor Zeus.

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Essay on History Of Olympics

Students are often asked to write an essay on History Of Olympics in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on History Of Olympics

The ancient beginnings.

Long ago in Greece, the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC. They were part of a festival to honor Zeus, a god the Greeks believed in. These games happened every four years in Olympia. Only men could compete, and they played sports like running, jumping, and throwing.

Olympics Revival

In 1896, the Olympics came back to life in Athens, Greece, thanks to a man named Pierre de Coubertin. He wanted to bring countries together through sports. The modern games had athletes from different countries and included more sports than the ancient ones.

Winter and Summer Games

In 1924, the Winter Olympics started for sports on snow and ice. Unlike the Summer Olympics, they included skiing and ice skating. The Winter and Summer Games were held in the same year until 1992. After that, they were spaced two years apart.

Olympics Today

Now, the Olympics are a big global event with many countries and athletes. The games include new sports like skateboarding and surfing. The Olympics are about bringing people together, celebrating sports, and sharing cultures.

250 Words Essay on History Of Olympics

Origins of the olympics.

Long ago in ancient Greece, the first Olympic Games were held. These games started around 776 BC in a place called Olympia. They were part of a religious festival to honor the Greek god Zeus. Athletes from different Greek cities came to compete in sports like running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, and horse and chariot racing. These games were very important and even stopped wars for a short time so everyone could join in.

Olympics in the Modern Era

The ancient Olympics ended around AD 393, but they were brought back to life in 1896. A French man named Pierre de Coubertin thought that sports could help bring peace to the world. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, with 14 countries and 241 athletes. Women were not allowed to compete until the next games in 1900.

Winter Olympics

In 1924, the Winter Olympics began. They included sports played on ice and snow, like skiing and ice skating. These games happen every four years, just like the Summer Olympics, but they are held in different years.

Today, the Olympics are a global event. Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries compete. The games include new sports, and everyone can watch them on TV or the internet. The Olympics still bring people together, and athletes work hard for years to have a chance to win a medal for their country.

500 Words Essay on History Of Olympics

Beginning of the olympics.

Long ago in ancient Greece, a sporting event started that would become known around the whole world. This was the very first Olympic Games, which began in 776 BC in a place called Olympia. It was a festival to honor the Greek god Zeus. At first, there was only one race, a short sprint. Over time, more sports like wrestling and chariot racing were added. The ancient Olympics were very important to the Greeks and they held the games every four years for over a thousand years.

Olympics Come to a Stop

In AD 393, a Roman Emperor named Theodosius I decided to stop the Olympic Games. He thought they were too much like the old Greek religion, which was different from the Christianity that had become the main religion of the Roman Empire. So, for a very long time, there were no Olympic Games.

The Olympics are Brought Back

In the late 1800s, a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin thought it would be a great idea to start the Olympics again. He saw it as a way to bring people from different countries together and help them get along through sports. In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. Only men competed, and they came from just a few countries. But it was the start of something big.

The Olympics Grow

As years went by, the modern Olympics grew and changed. Women were allowed to compete starting in 1900. More and more countries began to send athletes to the games. The sports also changed, with new ones being added and some old ones being dropped. The Olympics became a big event that happened every four years, just like in ancient times.

The Olympic Symbol and Motto

The Olympic symbol is five linked rings that represent the continents of the world coming together for the games. The colors – blue, yellow, black, green, and red – were chosen because at least one of them appears on every country’s flag. The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” which is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” It encourages athletes to do their best.

In 1924, a new kind of Olympics started: the Winter Games. These were for sports on snow and ice, like skiing and ice skating. They also happen every four years but are in a different year than the Summer Games.

Olympics in Modern Times

Today, the Olympics are a time when athletes from all over the world come together to compete in many different sports. The games are on TV so that everyone can watch. There are now also special Olympics for young people and for athletes with disabilities, showing that the Olympic spirit is for everyone.

The Olympic Games have a long and exciting history. They started in ancient Greece, stopped for a long time, and then came back to become one of the biggest sports events in the world. Every time the Olympics happen, they remind us that sports can bring people together and that trying hard and doing your best is what’s most important.

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Perspectives Sports

The ancient olympics and other athletic games.

Highlights from The Met collection illustrate the many athletic games held in ancient Greece, featuring celebrity athletes, grand prizes, and the mythical origins of the first Olympics.

Alexis Belis

Jul 23, 2021

The ancient Olympic Games, held every four years at Olympia in honor of the god Zeus, were celebrated for over a millennium and serve as the inspiration for the modern competition. Surviving inscriptions and literary sources list the names of about eight hundred ancient Olympic champions; the first recorded victor was Koroibos of Elis, who won the stadion (footrace) in 776 B.C. By the sixth century B.C., Panhellenic games—from pan (all) and hellenikos (Greek)—were also held at Delphi, Nemea, and Isthmia and attracted athletes from all over the Greek world. Many local festivals, including the Panathenaia in Athens, were modeled on these four games.

Each Panhellenic festival was marked by a truce, or ekecheiria , which literally means “holding of hands.” Inscribed on a bronze diskos displayed at Olympia, the truce not only allowed athletes and fans to travel safely, but also provided a common basis for peace among the Greeks. Today’s Olympics continue this spirit in the form of a resolution adopted by the United Nations entitled “ Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal .”

Mythical history of the games

Bronze balsamarium decorated with lion-skins and herms , late 1st–early 2nd century A.D. Roman, mid-Imperial. Bronze, 3 in. (7.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of John J. Medveckis in honor of Emily Rafferty and in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2021 (2021.19.2)

The decoration on this bronze balsamarium —an oil flask used by athletes to clean their skin—evokes the Olympic games’ mythical origins. Statues of Herakles (Hercules in Latin) and the god Hermes, depicted on the left and right respectively as herms  (pillars surmounted by busts) covered with lion skins, were traditionally set up in the gymnasium where athletes trained.

Evidently according to myth, many Greek gods and heroes competed in the first games at Olympia: Zeus wrestled his father, Kronos, for the throne; Apollo outran Hermes and beat Ares at boxing; and Herakles, often credited with founding the Olympic games, won victories in wrestling and the pankration , a no-holds-barred combat sport.

Greek athletes looked to their heroic predecessors for inspiration. Milo of Croton, a famed wrestler from antiquity, styled himself after Herakles, even wearing the hero’s trademark lion skin to complement his six Olympic wreaths. The Athenian boxing champion Dioxippos was renowned for defeating a fully equipped Macedonian soldier while “dressed” as a victorious athlete—in the nude, with his body oiled, crowned with a victory wreath—and armed as Herakles, carrying only a club. And the legendary boxer Diagoras of Rhodes was proclaimed the son of Hermes for his “super-human” athletic achievements.

Events and training

Terracotta skyphos (deep drinking cup) , ca. 500 B.C. Greek, Attic. Attributed to the Theseus painter. Terracotta, 6 ½ × 9 in. (16.2 × 22.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.1021.49)

The ancient games featured many competitions that still take place in the modern Olympics, such as foot races, jumping, discus throwing, javelin throwing, wrestling, the pentathlon (a combination of the previous five events), and boxing. As today, athletes specialized in certain events and worked intensively with professional trainers.

The ancient Greeks competed in a brutal full-contact combat sport similar to mixed martial arts called the pankration , a combination of wrestling, boxing, and kicking but with virtually no rules—only biting and eye-gouging were prohibited. This skyphos shows a trainer closely supervising this life-threatening competition. Some fighters boasted nicknames reflecting their signature combat technique. Sostratos, a fighter from the city of Sikyon, was known as “Fingertips” because he would break his opponent’s fingers at the start of a match. It’s no wonder the Greeks became experts in sports medicine!

Terracotta pelike (wine jar) , ca. 510 B.C. Greek, Attic. Attributed to the Acheloös painter. Terracotta, 13 ¼ in. (33.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1949 (49.11.1)

The ancient Greeks believed that music improved coordination and movement, whether for dancing or military drills or even manual labor. So, in addition to personal trainers, professional musicians also played an important role in athletic games. The man on this pelike  plays an aulos (a double pipe). He accompanies two boxers stepping lively and shadowboxing in synchronization.

One boxing champion named Melankomas of Caria went down in history for his unique fighting technique—he managed to defeat his opponents without ever dealing a blow, or ever being hit himself. Because of his exceptional condition and endurance, he was able to hold up his arms in defense until his opponent eventually became exhausted and submitted.

Ancient games at Athens

Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora (jar) , ca. 510 B.C. Greek, Attic. Attributed to the Leagros group. Terracotta, 25 in. (63.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.286.80)

Athens, the venue for the first modern Olympics in 1896, also held athletic games in antiquity. Every four years at the end of the month Hekatombaion (early August), the Athenians gathered to celebrate the Greater Panathenaia—an extended and more elaborate version of the city’s most important annual festival, held in honor of its patron deity, Athena. This event became one of the most important festivals of international competition outside the Panhellenic games.

The Greater Panathenaia involved traditional athletic, musical, and equestrian competitions, such as the horse race depicted on this prize amphora. However, it also entailed an eclectic program of more unusual events, including contests in male beauty, dancing in armor, a chariot-mounting and dismounting race (while the chariot was in motion!), and torch- and boat-races.

Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora (jar) , ca. 510 B.C. Greek, Attic. Terracotta, 24 ½ in. (62.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Fletcher Fund, 1956 (56.171.4)

Victors in the Panathenaic games were awarded olive oil harvested from the sacred groves of Athena. The oil was presented in an amphora that held nearly forty liters and was typically illustrated with the winner’s event. On the opposite side of each vase was the games’ official emblem: the goddess Athena, fully armed, striding between two columns. An inscription running along one of the columns identified each vessel as one “of the prizes from Athens.”

This amphora was the prize for a four-horse chariot race, the most prestigious event in the games and the grand finale of the program. According to tradition, Erechtheus, the legendary first king of Athens, introduced the contest and is even credited with the invention of the quadriga (four-horse chariot). As many as 140 amphorae, and the valuable oil they contained, were awarded to the winner of this race—more than for any other competition in the games.

Prizes for the games

Left: Bronze hydria (water jar) , mid-5th century B.C. Greek, Argive. Bronze, 20 ¼ in. (51.41 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1926 (26.50). Right: Bronze hydria (water jar) , early 4th century B.C. Greek. Bronze, 19 × 18 ¼ in. (48.3 × 46.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1957 (57.11.12)

There were no medals in the ancient games, but victory prizes were an important part of Greek athletic competitions; the word “athletics” is even derived from athlon , meaning “prize.” These awards varied depending on the host city, and often included monetary prizes and valuable objects, such as bronze vessels.

We know from the inscription on the hydria on the left that it was awarded at games held for the goddess Hera at her sanctuary in Argos. Before the mid-third century B.C., these games were called the Hekatomboia (a festival with the sacrifice of one hundred oxen), and attracted participants from all over Greece.

The hydria on the right has two inscriptions on the lip. One gives the name of the presiding official, Kalliar, and the other indicates that the contestants dedicated the prize to Herakles, for whom the games were held. This inscription implies that the hydria was given collectively to the hero because there was no individual winner.

Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes , 2nd century A.D. Roman. Marble, 12 ¾ × 26 ½ in. (32.5 × 67.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1959 (59.11.19)

This fragment  from a Roman relief represents the standard prizes awarded at four venues in Greece: an amphora of olive oil from the Panathenaic games at Athens, a pine wreath from Isthmia, a bronze shield from Argos, and a celery wreath from the games at Nemea. Symbolic wreaths made from sacred trees or plants, including the olive wreath from Olympia, were just as prestigious as more expensive awards.

The athletic games established in ancient Greece flourished under the Roman Empire. Many Greek cities continued to host them, and competitors—such as the winner from Rhamnous who commissioned this relief—gained fame and fortune from victories in games across Greece. Some athletes became astronomically wealthy. The career winnings of Gaius Appuleius Diocles, a Roman chariot racer in the second century A.D., were estimated at 36 million sesterces—enough to pay the salary of the entire Roman army for over two months.

From ancient to modern

Opening of the 1896 Olympics at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Public-domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In A.D. 393 the Roman emperor Theodosius I issued an edict banning the ancient games as pagan festivals. The last reported victor at the Olympic games was Zopyros, a boxer from Athens, in A.D. 385. Yet inscriptions and literary sources confirm that athletic games continued into the early fifth century at prestigious venues, including Olympia and Athens.

Nearly a millennium and a half later, the Olympics returned, reviving the ancient spirit of competition and community on a global scale. Appropriately, the opening ceremony for the first modern Olympics took place in Athens in the Panathenaic Stadium, originally constructed in the fourth century B.C., which had been restored for the occasion.

Marquee: Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora (detail), ca. 530 B.C. Greek, Attic. Attributed to the Euphiletos painter. Terracotta, 24 ½ in. (62.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.12)

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History: Ancient Greek Olympics Essay

The Olympic Games appeared centuries ago in ancient Greece. The Games were an outcome of the morals of Greek society. Local citizens idealized physical health and mental discipline, and they believed that superiority in those spheres honored their god Zeus (Kyle 15-56). Hence, the myth concerning the emergence of the Olympic Games involves Zeus (Wolff 4-17).

According to the myth, Zeus struggled with his father, Kronos, for power over the entire globe (Wolff 4-17). They fought on a mountain, which overlooked a valley, and after Zeus conquered his parent, a shrine and huge sculpture were created in the valley to honor him (Wolff 4-17). The valley was recognized as Olympia, and soon religious celebrations evolved there as people came to worship Zeus (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

These religious celebrations finally caused the appearance of the Olympic Games (Wolff 4-17). According to famous researcher Stephen Miller (220-221), the primary Games “can be traced back to the year 776 BC.” Olympia used to be a vital spot for religious practices since the tenth century BC (Wolff 4-17). The largest part of Olympia was controlled by the majestic shrine of Zeus (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

The Olympic Games originally lasted one day till 684 BC, when the Games were developed to three days (“Ancient Olympic Games”). In the 5th century BC, the competition lasted five days (“Ancient Olympic Games”). The Games embraced long jump, wrestling, boxing, running, a pentathlon, discus throw, pankration and equestrian events (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

• Pentathlon: it became an Olympic part with the evolvement of wrestling, and embraced running, discus throw and jumping (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Running: it embraced the stade race (200m foot race), the diaulos (two usual states), and dolichos (7-24 states) (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Discus throw: it was created of stone, iron, or bronze. The procedure reminded current discus throw (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Jumping: contestants applied weights recognized as halteres to expand a jump (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Wrestling: a highly valued form of military exercise with no weaponry. It stopped only when one contestant declared defeat (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Boxing: athletes used straps to strengthen wrists. Originally, the straps were soft, but later boxers began to use hard leather straps, frequently leading to scars (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Pankration: an ancient form of martial art embracing wrestling and boxing (“Ancient Olympic Games”);
• Equestrian events: they embraced horse and chariot races (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

During twelve centuries, many great sportsmen competed in Olympia, moving people with their remarkable accomplishments (“Ancient Olympic Games”). Their victories made them immortal. Of the finest competitors, who left their stamp on the sacred area of Olympia, some became legends. Astylos of Croton, Milon of Croton, Leonidas of Rhodes, Melankomas of Caria are a few of them (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

It should be mentioned that Kyniska of Sparta became the “primary female to be listed as an Olympic champion in Antiquity” (“Ancient Olympic Games”). However, in the Olympic Games, females were not allowed to be present at the Games. Thus, the competition was officially won by the owner, not the rider, of the horse (“Ancient Olympic Games”).

There used to be several requirements for taking part in the Olympic Games. An applicant had to be a Greek free male of over 18 years old (Kotynski 5-6). Consistent with Donald G. Kyle (56-101), the candidate was supposed to swear that he had been preparing for ten months before the Games (Kyle 56-101).

Those who were taking part in the Olympic Games had to send a notification that they would be participating and could be fined if they appeared too late (Kotynski 5-6). The excuses for unpunctuality were shipwreck, pirates, and illness (Kotynski 5-6). When the Games for young boys were established, only children under 18 could participate in those games (Kotynski 5-6).

It was impossible to prove someone’s date of birth; thus, “the judgment of the age was made based upon their appearance” (Kotynski 5-6). Professionals and amateurs used to compete against each other. Nevertheless, because training made better sportsmen, professional athletes started to dominate the Olympic Games (Kotynski 5-6).

As for the spectators, in spite of the fact that the Olympic festival was fundamentally religious, not all people had an opportunity to observe the athletics because the participants competed undressed (Kotynski 6). Married ladies and slaves were not allowed to attend the Olympic Games (Kotynski 6). The punishment was death.

There used to be punishments for cheating athletes as well. Dishonest competitors had to pay fines. The fines were used to construct bronze sculptures, which were placed along the path to the arenas for competition. Sculptures were supposed to discourage athletes from cheating (Kotynski 10).

They had writings claiming who paid the fine for the construction of the sculpture, and what was their misdemeanor (Kotynski 10). It is interesting that the cheating champions could preserve the victories.

Concerning the rewards, initially the trophies offered to the champions were worth the participation in the event, but finally, an only modest crown made of olive leaves was given to the victor (Kotynski 10). The winner obtained his primary prize right after the contest. After the declaration of the victor’s name, a judge would give him a palm branch, while the viewers cheered loudly.

Also, red ribbons were placed on the champion’s head and both arms. The most important award ceremony was held on the ultimate day of the event, at the shrine of Zeus. After the announcement of the champion, a judge put the wreath on his head.

In spite of the fact that the official prize was merely a wreath, the proud cities to which the contestants belonged, got prestige from their victory and so would give substantial monetary support to them (Kotynski 10). Hence, the cities in ancient Greece offered substantial rewards for the winners, which could be financial or honorary (Crowther 34-35). Victorious participants brought fame to their native cities.

To obtain additional political prestige, cities even often entered competitions at the Games in equestrian events, which required significant capital (Crowther 34-35). Some Greek cities even tried to recruit contestants from other places due to the future national prestige (Crowther 34-35).

On the whole, the Games were closely tied with the religious celebrations of Zeus. However, they were not an internal part of a ritual. The Games had a worldly character and were supposed to demonstrate the physical features and evolvement of the performances achieved by young humans, and supporting good associations among the cities of Greece (Kyle 15-56). The Olympic Games owed their integrity and significance to religion.

The athletic rivalry became so significant to the citizens that the Games turned out to be a peaceful pressure on the aggressive cities (Kyle 15-56). Sparta trained all its citizens severely. However, even Sparta would wait till the Olympic Games were over before sending soldiers into a fight (Kyle 15-56). Other Greek cities remained peaceful during the Games as well.

Works Cited

Ancient Olympic Games . n.d. Web.

Crowther, Nigel B. “Athlete and State: Qualifying for the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.” Journal of Sport History 23.1 (1996): 34-35. Print.

Kotynski, Edward J. 2006, The Athletics of the Ancient Olympics: A Summary and Research Tool . PDF file. Web.

Kyle, Donald G. Athletics in Ancient Athens , The Netherlands, Leiden: BRILL, 1993. Print.

Miller, Stephen. “The Date of Olympic Festivals.” Mitteilungen: Des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 90 (1975): 215-237. Print.

Woff, Richard. The Ancient Greek Olympics , USA, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.

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The Origin and History of Olympic Games

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Words: 682 |

Published: Dec 5, 2018

Words: 682 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited:

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• Schoeninger, B. (2004). Holes (Louis Sachar) and the form of the American fairy tale. The Lion and the Unicorn, 28(1), 118-139.
• Smith, R. (2003). The adventures of a reluctant hero: Disney's Holes. Cinefantastique, 35(6), 44-49.
• Van der Linden, C. (2005). From page to screen: A comparative analysis of the book and film versions of Holes. South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science, 71(2), 145-155.
• Yakel, E., & Sutton, S. (2004). Picturing Holes: Representations of an African American Vernacular Landscape. Geographical Review, 94(3), 295-318.
• Yellin, E. (2008). The cinematic experience of literature: Comparing film adaptations to their source novels. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
• Zipes, J. (2000). The Oxford companion to fairy tales. Oxford University Press.
• Zipes, J. (2002). Sticks and stones: The troublesome success of children's literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. Routledge.

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Olympic Games: Story of the modern games

Last updated on October 16, 2023 by ClearIAS Team

The Olympic Games, often referred to as the Olympics, is a global sports event that brings together athletes from around the world to compete in various sports and disciplines. The history of the Olympic Games is rich and spans thousands of years. Read here to learn about the story of the Olympics.

The proposal from the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) to include five new sports has been accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session held in Mumbai. Cricket (T20), Baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash  will be in the program at LA28.

The history of the Games goes back around 3,000 years, to the Peloponnese in Ancient Greece. Sports contests organized at Olympia took place every four years and acquired the name Olympic Games.

The exact reasons for the birth of the Games are still unknown, as history has become mixed up with mythology.

Table of Contents

Ancient Olympics (c. 776 BCE – 394 CE)

The origins of the Olympics can be traced back to ancient Greece, with the first recorded Olympic Games held in Olympia in 776 BCE.

These ancient games were held every four years in Olympia to honor the Greek god Zeus. They featured athletic competitions, including foot races, discus throwing, and combat sports like wrestling and boxing.

• In addition to the Olympics, there were other major Panhellenic Games held in ancient Greece, including the Pythian Games at Delphi and the Isthmian Games at Corinth.
• These games attracted athletes from various Greek city-states and helped foster a sense of unity among the Greek people.
• The four-year interval between the Ancient Games editions was named an “Olympiad”, and was used for dating purposes at the time: time was counted in Olympiads rather than years.

There were originally three main criteria for participating in the ancient Olympic Games.

• The athlete had to be male, of Greek origin, and freeborn. Women (exceptions were made for owners of horses), slaves, and foreigners were excluded.
• After the conquest of Greece by Rome in 146 BC, the Romans were able to join the Greek athletes.

The Olympic Games continued for several centuries but declined during the Roman period. The games were banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 394 CE, marking the end of the ancient Olympics.

Revival of the Modern Olympics (Late 19th Century)

The idea of reviving the Olympic Games was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator, in the late 19th century.

• He believed that the Olympics could promote international understanding and goodwill through athletic competition.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894, and the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896.

The modern Olympics quickly gained popularity and expanded to include various sports and events.

• Women competed for the first time at the 1900 Games in Paris. Of a total of 997 athletes, 22 women competed in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf.
• Since 1991, any new sport seeking to join the Olympic program must have women’s competitions.
• With the addition of women’s boxing to the Olympic program, the 2012 Games in London were the first in which women competed in all the sports on the program.
• In the early years, the Olympics were strictly for amateur athletes. However, this changed over time, and the Olympics gradually opened up to professional athletes, allowing them to participate.

The Olympics have often been influenced by global events and politics. They were canceled during World War I and World War II .

• The Games have also been the stage for political protests and boycotts, with notable incidents occurring during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics were introduced in 1924, and the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities began in the mid-20th century.

• The first Winter Games were held in Chamonix (France), in 1924. Initially called the “International Winter Sports Week”, this event was renamed the “1st Olympic Winter Games” only in 1926 at the IOC Session in Lisbon.

From 1924 to 1992, the Summer and Winter Games were each held in the same year, every four years.

• After 1992, the Summer and Winter Games are each still held every four years but the Summer Games are celebrated during the first year of an Olympiad, and the Winter Games are held in the third year.

In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition involving 16 World War II veterans with spinal cord-related injuries in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, competitors from Holland joined, and the international movement, now known as the Paralympic Movement, was born.

Modern Olympics

The Olympic Games have continued to evolve, introducing new sports and disciplines, such as basketball, snowboarding, and skateboarding.

The number of participating nations has also increased, reflecting the global nature of the event.

The Olympic Games are not just about sports but also promote values like friendship, respect, and excellence. The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (Faster, Higher, Stronger).

The next Olympics will be held in:

• In Paris, France, in 2024.
• In Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Italy, in 2026.
• In Los Angeles, USA, in 2028.
• In Brisbane, Australia, in 2032.

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee is the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.

• It acts as a catalyst for collaboration between all Olympic stakeholders, including the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the International Federations, the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, the Worldwide Olympic Partners and Olympic broadcast partners.
• It also collaborates with public and private authorities including the United Nations and other international organisations.

The modern Olympics face challenges related to issues like doping, commercialization, and the environmental impact of hosting the games. There is also ongoing debate about the choice of host cities and the cost of organizing the event.

• Hosting the Olympic Games is a massive financial undertaking for the host city and country. The costs of infrastructure development, security, and event organization can lead to substantial financial burdens and the risk of cost overruns.
• The environmental impact of hosting the Games is a growing concern. There is pressure to ensure sustainable practices in infrastructure development, transportation, and event management. Host cities are encouraged to consider long-term benefits beyond the Games.
• Security threats are a constant challenge for Olympic organizers. Protecting athletes, officials, and spectators from potential terrorist attacks or security breaches requires extensive planning and resources.
• Ensuring a level playing field and preventing doping scandals remains a challenge. Anti-doping measures are continually evolving to detect and deter cheating by athletes.
• The physical and mental well-being of athletes is increasingly in focus. Issues like athlete abuse, harassment, and the pressures of competition need to be addressed to create a healthy and safe environment for competitors.
• Developing extensive infrastructure for the Games often results in underutilized facilities post-event. Ensuring a productive and sustainable legacy for these structures is a challenge.
• Geopolitical tensions can impact the participation of certain countries or disrupt the diplomatic and peaceful spirit of the Games.
• Public support for hosting the Games can fluctuate, with some host cities experiencing significant opposition due to concerns about costs, displacement of residents, and other factors.
• Climate-related challenges, such as extreme weather conditions or environmental changes, can affect the scheduling and safety of outdoor events.
• Advances in technology impact the Games, from improving athletic performance to enhancing the viewing experience.
• Ensuring the ethical conduct of officials and administrators is a constant challenge. Concerns about corruption, transparency, and fair decision-making need to be addressed.

The Olympic Games have become one of the world’s most-watched and celebrated sporting events, bringing together athletes and nations in the spirit of competition and international cooperation. The Games continue to evolve, adapt to contemporary challenges, and uphold their historical values.

Related article:  Target Olympic Podium Scheme

-Article by Swathi Satish

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Essay on Olympic Games

Introduction

Olympics is not an unfamiliar term among children. But they might not know the significance of the Olympic Games and the reason for their popularity. The Olympics present the mesmerising world of sports and the extreme talents of athletes. This essay on Olympic Games will be ideal for teaching its history, importance and other relevant facts to children.

Here, in this short essay on Olympic Games, we will see its history. The Olympic Games have their origin in ancient Greece, and now, it is the most prominent sports competition that is held every four years. Many athletes from different countries of the world compete in different events to showcase their abilities. The winners are given the Olympic gold medal, which is a symbol of great pride for every nation. Through the essay on Olympic Games in English, we will learn about the Olympic rings and Olympic torch, which captures the true essence of the Olympic Games.

Importance of Olympic Symbols

The Olympic Games were held for the first time in Athens in Greece in 1896. It was initiated to bring out the athletic talents of people as well as to promote world peace and show that unity is strength by bringing together athletes from different countries. This event includes both individual and team sports and is conducted once every four years at different locations. The summer and winter Olympics happen alternately every two years. We will also understand the meaning of the Olympic flag in this essay on Olympic Games.

The Olympic flag has a logo of 5 interconnected rings of colours blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The colours of the ring were chosen so because every country had at least one of these colours on their flag. The 5 rings denote 5 major continents of the world, and their interconnectedness shows that the world can work together in the mission to bring peace through this international sports competition.

Further, we can teach the meaning of the Olympic torch to children with the help of this short essay on Olympic Games. The Olympic torch/flame is lit a few months before the start of the Olympic Games in Greece, and this flame is carried to the host city through a torch relay. The carrying of the flame by people spreads the message of friendship and peace. The Games begin with the final runner lighting the cauldron with the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony.

Olympic Games

In this part of the essay on Olympic Games in English, we will see how athletes participate in the games and are honoured with medals when they win. Many sports and games like athletics, basketball, archery, gymnastics, swimming, figure skating, fencing, football, skateboarding, tennis, wrestling, weightlifting etc., are conducted during the Olympic Games. The athletes and players must initially clear a qualifying round by showing their skills and hard work before participating in the Olympic Games.

People watch the Games on television and see how the representatives of each nation are performing. The winners receive the gold, silver and bronze medals depending on their positions in their respective games. Besides, the national anthem of that particular country will be played when they are given the medals.

This short essay on Olympic Games will be helpful for children to understand the relevance of the Olympic Games. You can present your kids with more beautiful essays from our website.

Frequently Asked Questions on

Why are the olympic games held.

The Olympic Games are a symbol of national pride and unity, and it is held every four years to uphold world peace and develop brotherhood between nations.

How are participants selected for the Olympic Games?

Athletes and players endure years of hard work and dedication to participate in the Olympic Games. They train rigorously and present their abilities during a qualifying round, after which they will be chosen for the Olympic Games.

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History Cooperative

The Olympic Torch: A Brief History of the Olympic Games Symbol

The Olympic torch is one of the most important symbols of the Olympic Games and is lit in Olympia, Greece, several months before the beginning of the games. This starts the Olympic torch relay and the flames are then ceremonially carried to the host city for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The torch is meant to be a symbol of hope, peace, and unity. The lighting of the Olympic torch has its roots in ancient Greece but is itself a quite recent phenomenon.

Table of Contents

What is the Olympic Torch and Why is It Lit?

The Olympic Torch is one of the most significant symbols of the Olympic Games and it has been around the world several times and has been carried by hundreds of the most renowned athletes in the world. It has traveled by every form of transport we can imagine, visited numerous countries, scaled the tallest mountains, and visited space. But has all of this happened? Why does the Olympic Torch exist and why is it lit before every Olympic Games?

The lighting of the Olympic Torch is meant to be the start of the Olympic Games. Interestingly enough, the Olympic Flame first appeared in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It was lit at the top of a tower that overlooked the Olympic stadium that year, presiding over the sports and athletics that took place in the stadium. It definitely harked back to the importance of fire in rituals in ancient Greece . However, the lighting of the torch is not really a tradition that has been carried over the centuries into the modern world. The Olympic torch is very much a modern construct.

The flame is lit in Olympia in Greece. The small town on the Peloponnese peninsula is named after and famous for the nearby archaeological ruins . The site was both a major religious sanctuary and the place where the ancient Olympic Games were held every four years during classical antiquity. Thus, the fact that the Olympic flame is always lit here is very symbolic.

Once the flames are lit, it is then carried to the host country of that year’s Olympics. Most of the time , extremely famous and respected athletes carry the torch in the Olympic torch relay. The Olympic flame is finally brought to the opening of the Games and used to light the Olympic cauldron. The Olympic cauldron burns for the duration of the Games, being extinguished at the closing ceremony and waiting to be lit again in another four years.

What Does the Torch Lighting Symbolize?

The Olympic flame and the torch that carries the flame are symbolic in every single way. Not only are they a signal for the beginning of the Olympic Games that year, but the fire itself also has very definite meanings.

The fact that the lighting ceremony takes place in Olympia is to link the modern games to the ancient ones. It is a connection between past and present. It is meant to show that the world may carry on and evolve but some things about humanity will never change. Games, athletics, and the sheer joy of that kind of recreation and competitiveness are universal human experiences. The ancient games may have featured different kinds of sports and equipment but the Olympics in their essence have not changed.

Fire is meant to symbolize knowledge and life in many different cultures. Without fire, there would not have been human evolution as we know it. The Olympic flame is no different. It symbolized the light of life and spirit and a search for knowledge. The fact that it is passed from one country to another and carried by athletes all over the world is meant to represent unity and harmony.

For these few days, most countries of the world come together to celebrate a global event. The games, and the flame that represents it, are meant to go beyond the boundaries of nations and cultures. They depict oneness and peace between all humankind.

Historic Origins of the Torch

As stated above, the lighting of the Olympic flame only goes back to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It was lit in a large bowl at the top of the Marathon Tower by an employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam. Thus, we can see, it was not quite the romanticized spectacle that it is today. It was meant to be an indication of where the Olympics were being held to everyone for miles around. The idea of this fire can be attributed to Jan Wils, the architect who designed the stadium for that particular Olympics.

Four years later, at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, the tradition was continued. It presided over the Los Angeles Olympic Stadium from the top of the gateway to the arena. The gateway had been made to look like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The entire idea of the Olympic flame, although it was not called that at the time, came from the ceremonies in ancient Greece. In the ancient games, a sacred fire was kept burning for the duration of the Olympics on the altar at the sanctuary of the goddess Hestia .

READ MORE: 41 Greek Gods and Goddesses: Family Tree and Fun Facts

The ancient Greeks believed that Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods and presented it to humans. Thus, the fire had divine and sacred connotations. Many Greek sanctuaries, including the one at Olympia, had sacred fires in several of the altars. The Olympics were performed every four years in honor of Zeus . Fires were lit at his altar and at the altar of his wife Hera . Even now, the modern Olympic flame is lit before the ruins of Hera’s temple.

The Olympic torch relay, however, did not begin until the next Olympics in 1936. And the beginnings of it are pretty dark and controversial. It raises the question of why we have continued to appropriate a ritual that was begun in Nazi Germany mainly as propaganda.

Modern Origins of the Torch Relay

The Olympic torch relay first took place at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was the brainchild of Carl Diem, who was the chief organizer of the Olympics that year. Sports historian Philip Barker, who wrote the book The Story of the Olympic Torch , stated that there is no evidence that there was any kind of torch relay during the ancient games. But there might have been a ceremonial fire burning at the altar.

The first Olympic flame was transported 3187 kilometers or 1980 miles between Olympia and Berlin. It traveled overland through cities like Athens, Sofia, Budapest, Belgrade, Prague, and Vienna. Carried by 3331 runners and passed from hand to hand, the flame’s journey took almost 12 whole days.

Onlookers in Greece are said to have stayed awake waiting for the torch to go by since it happened at night. There was great excitement and it really captured the imagination of the people. There were minor protests in Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia on the way, but local law enforcement quickly suppressed them.

The first torchbearer during that maiden event was the Greek Konstantinos Kondylis. The final torchbearer was the German runner Fritz Schilgen. The blonde-haired Schilgen was said to be chosen for his ‘Aryan’ appearance. He lit the Olympic cauldron from the torch for the very first time. The footage for the torch relay was restaged and reshot several times and turned into a propaganda film in 1938, called Olympia.

Supposedly, the torch relay was meant to be based on a similar ceremony from ancient Greece. There is very little evidence that this kind of ceremony ever existed. It was essentially propaganda, comparing Nazi Germany with the great ancient civilization of Greece. The Nazis thought of Greece as an Aryan predecessor of the German Reich. The 1936 Games were also dogged by racist Nazi newspapers filled with commentary about the Jewish and non-white athletes. Thus, as we can see, this modern symbol of international harmony actually has extremely nationalistic and rather unsettling origins.

There were no Olympics until after World War II since the 1940 Tokyo Olympics and 1944 London Olympics were canceled. The torch relay might have died out after its maiden voyage, due to the circumstances of the war. However, in the first post-World War II Olympics, held in London in 1948, the organizers decided to continue the torch relay. Perhaps they meant it as a sign of unity for the recovering world. Perhaps they thought it would make for good publicity. The torch was carried all the way, on foot and by boat, by 1416 torchbearers.

The Olympic torch relay of 1948 had people tuning in at 2 am and 3 am to watch. England was in a bad state at the time and still rationing. The fact that it was hosting the Olympics at all was remarkable. And a spectacle like the torch relay at the opening ceremony helped lift the spirits of the people. The tradition has continued since then.

The Main Ceremonies

From the lighting ceremony in Olympia to the moment that the Olympic cauldron is extinguished in the closing ceremony, there are several rituals involved. The flame’s journey can take anywhere from days to months to complete. Backup flames are kept in a miner’s lamp and carried alongside the Olympic torch, in case of emergencies.

The Olympic torch is used for both the Summer and Winter Olympics. It meant the torch eventually became airborne, as it traveled across various continents and around both hemispheres. There have been mishaps and stunts aplenty. For example, the 1994 Winter Olympics were to see the torch skied down a slope before lighting the Olympic cauldron. Unfortunately, the skier Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl broke his arm in a practice run and the job had to be entrusted to someone else. This is far from the only such tale.

The Lighting of the Flame

The lighting ceremony takes place sometime prior to the opening ceremony of that year’s Olympics. In the lighting ceremony, eleven women representing the Vestal Virgins light the fire with the help of a parabolic mirror at the Temple of Hera in Olympia. The flame is lit by the sun, concentrating its rays in the parabolic mirror. This is meant to represent the blessings of the sun god Apollo . A backup flame is usually also lit in advance, just in case the Olympic flame goes out.

READ MORE: Sun Gods: Ancient Solar Deities From Around the World

The woman acting as head priestess then hands the Olympic torch and an olive branch to the first torchbearer. This is usually a Greek athlete who is to participate in the Games that year. There is a recitation of a poem by Pindar and a dove is released as a symbol of peace. The Olympic hymn, the national anthem of Greece, and the national anthem of the host country are sung. This concludes the lighting ceremony.

After this, the Hellenic Olympic Committee transfers the Olympic flame to the National Olympic Committee of that year in Athens. This begins the Olympic torch relay.

The Torch Relay

During the Olympic torch relay, the Olympic flame usually travels the routes that best symbolize human achievement or the history of the host country. Depending on the location of the host country, the torch relay can take place on foot, in the air, or on boats. The torch relay has become something of a pageant in recent years, with every country attempting to outdo previous records.

In 1948, the torch traveled across the English Channel by boat, a tradition that was continued in 2012. Rowers also carried the torch in Canberra. In Hong Kong in 2008 the torch traveled by dragon boat. The first time it traveled by airplane was in 1952 when it went to Helsinki. And in 1956, the flame arrived for the equestrian events in Stockholm on horseback (since the main Games took place in Melbourne).

Things were taken up a notch in 1976. The flame was transferred from Europe to the Americas as a radio signal. Heat sensors in Athens detected the flame and sent it to Ottawa via satellite. When the signal arrived in Ottawa, it was used to trigger a laser beam to relight the flame. Astronauts even took the torch, if not the flame, to space in the years 1996, 2000, and 2004.

A diver carried the flame across the port of Marseilles in the 1968 Winter Olympics by holding it above the water. An underwater flare was used by a diver traveling over the Great Barrier Reef for the 2000 Sidney Olympics.

READ MORE: Who Invented Water? History of the Water Molecule

Whatever the means employed, the flame finally has to make it to the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony. This takes place in the central host stadium and ends with the torch being used to light the Olympic cauldron. It is usually one of the most famous athletes of the hosting country that is the final torchbearer, as has become the tradition over the years.

In the most recent Summer Olympics, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no opportunity for dramatics. The flame arrived in Tokyo via airplane for the opening ceremony. While there were several runners who passed the flame on from one to the other, the usual large crowd of spectators was missing. Past torches had traveled by parachute or camel but this last ceremony was mainly a series of isolated events within Japan.

The Igniting of the Cauldron

The Olympics opening ceremony is an extravaganza that is widely filmed and watched. It features different kinds of performances, a parade by all the participating nations, and the last leg of the relay. This finally culminates in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.

During the opening ceremony, the final torchbearer runs through the Olympic stadium towards the Olympic cauldron. This is often placed at the top of a grand staircase. The torch is used to start a flame in the cauldron. This symbolizes the official beginning of the games. The flames are meant to burn until the closing ceremony when they are formally extinguished.

The final torchbearer may not be the most famous athlete in the country every time. Sometimes, the person who lights the Olympic cauldron is meant to symbolize the values of the Olympic Games itself. For example, in 1964, Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai was chosen to light the cauldron. Born on the day of the Hiroshima bombing, he was chosen as a symbol of Japan’s healing and resurrection and a wish for global peace.

In 1968, Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman athlete to light the Olympic Cauldron at the Games in Mexico City. The first well-known champion to be entrusted with the honor was probably Paavo Nurmi of Helsinki in 1952. He was a ninefold Olympic winner.

There have been several jaw-dropping lighting ceremonies over the years. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a burning arrow over the cauldron to light it. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gymnast Li Ning ‘flew’ around the stadium on wires and lit the cauldron on the roof. At the 2012 London Olympics, rower Sir Steve Redgrave carried the torch to a group of young athletes. They each lit a single flame on the ground, igniting 204 copper petals that converged to form the Olympic cauldron.

How Does the Olympic Torch Stay Lit?

Since the very first lighting ceremony, the Olympic flame has traveled through air and water and over hundreds and thousands of kilometers. One might ask how it’s possible that the Olympic torch remains lit through all of it.

There are several answers. Firstly, the modern torches used during the Summer and Winter Olympics are built to resist the effects of rain and wind as much as possible as they carry the Olympic flame. Secondly, what is important to note is that it is not one torch that is used throughout the torch relay. Hundreds of torches are used and the relay runners can even buy their torch at the end of the race. Hence, symbolically, it is the flame that actually matters in the torch relay. It is the flame that is passed on from one torch to another and that needs to stay lit the entire time.

However, that does not mean that accidents do not take place. The flame can go out. When that happens, there is always a backup flame lit from the original flame in Olympia to replace it. As long as the flame was symbolically lit in Olympia with the help of the sun and a parabolic mirror, that is all that matters.

Still, torchbearers remain prepared for the circumstances they will face. There are specially designed containers that protect the flame and the backup flame when traveling by airplane. In 2000, when the Olympic torch traveled underwater to Australia, an underwater flare was utilized. It does not matter if the flame has to be relit once or twice during its journey. What matters most is that it keeps burning in the Olympic cauldron from the opening ceremony to the moment it is snuffed out in the closing ceremony.

Has the Olympic Torch Ever Gone Out?

The organizers try their utmost to keep the torch burning during the Olympic torch relay. But accidents do still happen on the road. As journalists tail the journey of the torch closely, these accidents also often come to light.

Natural disasters might have an effect on the torch relay. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a typhoon damage the airplane that was carrying the torch. A backup plane had to be called in and a second flame was quickly sent over to make up for lost time.

In 2014, during the Sochi Olympics in Russia, a journalist reported that the flame had gone out 44 times on its journey from Olympia to Sochi. The wind blew the torch out just moments after it was lit by Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

In 2016, there was a protest by government employees in Angra dos Reis in Brazil. They had not been paid their wages. Protestors stole the torch from an event and purposefully put it out just before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The same thing also happened in Paris during the worldwide torch relay prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A protest by a veterinary student called Barry Larkin at the 1956 Melbourne Games in Australia had the strangely opposite effect. Larkin tricked onlookers by carrying a fake torch. It was meant to be a protest against the relay. He set some undergarments on fire, placed them in a plum pudding can, and attached it to a chair leg. He even managed to successfully hand over the fake torch to the Mayor of Sidney and escaped without attracting notice.

How to Cite this Article

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The Olympics Essay – Essay Writing on Olympic Games for Students and Childrens

June 11, 2020 by Study Mentor 4 Comments

Table of Contents

The Olympic Essay – Essay 1

History of olympic games.

3000 years before, from now, the ancient games took place in honor of Lord Zeus. It was all started from a town named Olympia near the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. Olympics were first held in 776 BCE. These games were held every 4 years from 8th century B.C. to 4th century A.D. Coroebus was a cook from ancient Greece who first won the first Olympic game, becoming the first-ever Olympic champion by winning a 192-meter race. 

The name Olympic is being given due to the place Olympia in Greece from which it has been started. The ancient Olympic Games were put on a stop when the Romans conquered the Greek empire. When the Romans conquered Greece during the mid of the 2nd century B.C. slowly, the standards of the game started to diminish. Moreover, in A.D. 393, the ancient Olympic Games were stopped.

The rise of modern Olympic games

Then it took another 1500 years when in 1896, the first modern Olympic took place in Athens, Greece. It was possible due to the efforts of a Frenchman named Baron Pierre De Coubertin. He was a person who showed a keen interest in the physical enhancement of people and was dedicated to the work of physical education for people. When he first visited the site of the ancient Olympic Games, he came up with a new scheme to start these games again with a different plan. When he went back to France, he arranged a meeting with the sports authority of France in November of 1892. He then managed to create an Olympic community, which was the leading organization that made the Olympics possible again.

The history of modern Olympics

In 1924 it was the first time when the 8th Olympic Games took place in Paris. It was the first time when the Olympics were held anywhere outside Greece. With 100 women and a total of 3000 contestants from around the world took place in those games. The level of the Olympics started to rise. From them, it became a matter of prestige for every country. Every nation desired to be part of the Olympics. Initially, contestants from 14 nations competed in the first modern Olympics.

These 11 below mentioned nations won some sort of medal in the first modern Olympic games-

• Great Britain
• United States

The United States is becoming the nation to win the maximum number of gold medals (11), and Greece, the hosting nation won the maximum number of overall medals (46). The Olympics held in 1896 were considered the most successful games. It was the game that hosted the maximum number of nations. It became a sign of friendship among those nations. Since then, these games are being organized as a gesture of respect and great camaraderie between different nations around the world. 206 nations in 2016 took part in the Olympic Games that were held in Brazil. Till now, the USA has won the maximum number of medals (2520) in Olympic Games. Baron de Coubertin is known as the father of the modern Olympics.

It was until the year 1994 that summer and winter Olympics used to take place in the same year. Participants from around the world gathered inside the stadium on the day of the opening ceremony of games. These contestants march around the stadium. Greece, due to the original place of the games, is given priority, so the sportsmen from Greece are the first in the march, and the last are from the country in which games are being organized.

Significance of Olympic rings

You must have noticed that the symbol of Olympic has 5 rings with blue, yellow, black, green, and red are the color that comprises the Olympic symbol, which is being represented on a flag. These five rings constitute five continents. The blue ring represents Europe, the yellow ring represents Asia, the black ring represents Africa, the green ring represents Oceania, and the red ring represents America.

Hosting ceremony

On the opening ceremony of the games, several athletes are selected to raise the flag light the Olympic flame. This flame lights up until the last Olympic game. Every sports person who takes part in the game takes an oath, which is commonly known as the Olympic oath. This oath, a vow that every athlete takes that took part in the game, will play its honesty and will perform his best.

The winners are being honored with gold, silver, and bronze medals according to their positions in the game. The medals are being given at the end of every event of games. The athletes are being selected by the sports authority of the respected country to represent their nation, the Olympic Games. It is the duty of the sports authority of the country to select the finest athlete to represent their nation. Whosoever wins at the end of each event medals are given to them with the national anthem of their country being played at the sports arena. 

Selection of athletes

It is the duty of the international Olympic committee to make proper arrangements for the games and the arrangement of commute and proper living facilities for the athletes. The places where the contestants stay during the games is known as the Olympic Village. The primary duties of this committee are to look after the safety, living facility, training grounds, transport for the athletes. Management of stadium and living space is also the duty which this committee has to take care of.

These Olympics games are divided into two segments the summer games and the winter games. Summer games generally take place in the summer season, and winter games take place during mid of February. 

Black day for Olympics

The 5th of September 1972 is considered as a black day in the history of the Olympics. Many terrorists entered the arena and killed several athletes. These games were held in Munich, Germany.

Only with the efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, it was made possible for the Olympics to happen again. We should respect the athletes who sacrifice their comfort and luxury for the respect of their nation, for the peace of the world, and the sake of friendship.

The Olympic Essay – Essay 2

The first Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens in Greece . The aim of the Olympic was to bring together athletes from various countries in order to promote world peace. This aim remains the same even today. The Olympic Games include a variety of individual and team sports.

In 1920, the first Olympic flag was presented. The flag contains five interconnected rings upon a white background. Each of the rings stands for one of the five major continents; they are interconnected to symbolize that the world can work towards peace through this international competition.

The rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. These colours were chosen because at least one of them appears on the flag of every country in the world.

The Olympic Games are held once in every four years and at different location each time. Two locations are chosen each time-one to host the winter Olympics and the other for the summer Olympics. It’s a very special honour to participate in the Olympic Games.

Participants spend years training for this special event. Qualifying for a spot on the Olympic team varies for each sport. However, dedication, skill, motivation, hard work, and desire to win are a part of the right formula for anyone dreaming of participating in the Olympic Games.

For each event the first three prizes are the gold, silver and bronze medals. In 1896, first prizes were silver medals because gold was considered of lower value than silver. At the Olympic Games at st Louis in 1904, gold replaced silver as the first-place medal.

The gold medals presented today are actually made from sterling silver. They are then covered with a thin coat of pure gold.

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A Paris exhibit shows how the Olympics mirror society, from Nazi propaganda to fighting inequalities

PARIS — More than a sporting competition, the Olympics are also a powerful political stage widely used in the past by totalitarian regimes as a propaganda tool but also by athletes as a driver of change in the fight against racial inequalities.

Before this summer’s Paris Olympics , an exhibit in the French capital shows how the games have been a “mirror of society” since the beginning of the 20th century.

Historian Paul Dietschy, one of the curators, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “this exhibit tries to show ... this relationship between ideology, power and the Olympic Games.”

The exhibit at the Shoah Memorial, in central Paris, features photos, documents and Olympic items as well as film archives from the past century. It opens to the public on Friday and is scheduled to last until mid-November, organizers said.

It notably highlights the 1936 Berlin Olympics , which was used by Nazi Germany for propaganda purposes; the 1968 Mexico Olympics , where Black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to protest racial injustice in the U.S. and the 1972 Munich Olympics, which was the scene of a brutal attack on 11 Israeli team members who were killed by Palestinian militants.

Dietschy said the exhibit sought to show the historic and political significance of the Olympics “through the life of big stars or champions like Alfred Nakashe, who was a Jew from Algeria competing in swimming and who was deported to Auschwitz” concentration camp during World War II. Nakashe competed with the French team in Berlin in 1936 and in the first postwar Summer Olympics in London in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust.

The exhibit also tells the stories of athletes who embody Olympic values like Jesse Owens, the U.S. Black athlete who won four Olympic gold medals in Berlin.

Historian Caroline François, one of the curators, stressed that “the 1936 Games are emblematic with Jesse Owens’ story, because he is both an immense champion who left his mark on the history of sport ... but also because of his personality, his career, his close ties to German champion Luz Long.”

“Owens embodies this struggle to confront Hitler and the Nazi ideology ... But he himself was a victim of racism and segregation in the United States,” she said.

The exhibit also addresses the issue of how Olympic stadiums were turned into internment camps during World War II. Following the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, the country was ruled by a government commonly known as Vichy France, which collaborated with Nazi Germany.

The displays feature photos of the Vel d’Hiv stadium outside Paris, where French police herded about 13,000 people on July 16-17, 1942 before they were deported to Auschwitz. The stadium had been used for boxing, wrestling and weightlifting during the 1924 Paris Olympics.

International politics, again, are expected to be on the agenda of the Paris Olympics this year.

The International Olympic Committee said earlier this month that Russian and Belarusian athletes won’t be allowed to take part in the traditional parade at the opening ceremony in the French capital.

Russia and Belarus are barred from team sports at the Olympics because of Moscow’s war in Ukraine , and the IOC has laid out a two-step vetting procedure for individual athletes from those countries to be granted neutral status. Those athletes must first be approved by the governing body of their individual sport and then by an an IOC-appointed review panel.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war , IOC President Thomas Bach recently said that Israel faces no threat to its Olympic status and added: “Since the heinous attack on the Israeli team (during the 1972 Munich Olympics), there were always special measures being taken with Israeli athletes.”

In recent times, totalitarian and democratic powers have been competing, including through sports, Dietschy said.

“So the Olympic Games of Paris are a huge moment, because we will see if the peace values will be respected,” he said. “We’ll see if sports can be also a way of spreading universal democratic values.”

“The context (now) is more tense as a war is spreading in the world. Maybe the (Paris) Games will be a moment of peace,” Dietschy said hopefully.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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A French-Malian Singer Is Caught in an Olympic Storm

Aya Nakamura’s music is one of France’s top cultural exports. But reports that she might perform at the Paris Games have prompted fierce debates over identity and language.

Aya Nakamura is France’s most popular singer at home and abroad, with 25 top 10 singles in France and over 20 million followers on social media. Credit... Charlotte Hadden for The New York Times

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By Roger Cohen and Aurelien Breeden

Reporting from Paris

• March 26, 2024

In four months, France will host the Paris Olympics, but which France will show up? Torn between tradition and modernity, the country is in the midst of an identity crisis.

The possible choice for the opening ceremony of Aya Nakamura , a superstar French-Malian singer whose slang-spiced lyrics stand at some distance from academic French, has ignited a furor tinged with issues of race and linguistic propriety and the politics of immigration. Right-wing critics say Ms. Nakamura’s music does not represent France, and the prospect of her performing has led to a barrage of racist insults online against her. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.

The outcry has compounded a fight over an official poster unveiled this month: a pastel rendering of the city’s landmarks thronging with people in a busy style reminiscent of the “Where’s Waldo?” children’s books.

Right-wing critics have attacked the image as a deliberate dilution of the French nation and its history in a sea of sugary, irreproachable blandness most evident in the removal of the cross atop the golden dome of the Invalides, the former military hospital where Napoleon is buried. An opinion essay in the right-wing Journal du Dimanche said “the malaise of a nation in the throes of deconstruction” was in full view.

The rapid immersion of the Olympics in France’s culture wars has its roots in a meeting on Feb. 19 at the Élysée Palace between President Emmanuel Macron and Ms. Nakamura, 28. Mr. Macron, doubling as the artistic director of the Olympics, asked if she would perform.

Ms. Nakamura is by some distance France’s most popular singer at home and abroad, with 25 top 10 singles in France and over 20 million followers on social media. Born Aya Danioko in Bamako, Mali, she took her stage name from a character in “Heroes,” a science fiction series on NBC. Raised in a suburb of Paris, she mixes French lyrics with Arabic, English and West African languages like Bambara, the Malian language of her parents, in songs that interweave R&B, zouk and the rhythms of Afropop.

“This isn’t a beautiful symbol, it’s a new provocation by Emmanuel Macron, who must wake up every morning wondering how he can humiliate the French people,” Marine Le Pen, a leader of the far-right National Rally party, told France Inter radio , alluding to the possible choice of Ms. Nakamura. She insisted that Ms. Nakamura sang “who knows what” language — certainly not French — and was unfit to represent the country.

Ms. Nakamura, who declined a request for an interview, has not publicly addressed the furor beyond a few social media posts. On X, she responded to attacks by saying “you can be racist, but not deaf.” Naturalized in 2021, the singer has dual French and Malian citizenship. But in a country often ill at ease with its changing population — more diverse, less white, more questioning of the French model of identity-effacing assimilation in supposedly undifferentiated citizenship — she stands on a fault line.

“There is an identity panic,” said Rokhaya Diallo, a French author, filmmaker and activist. “I think France does not want to see itself the way it really is.” Citing the soccer star Kylian Mbappé and Ms. Nakamura, Ms. Diallo suggested that “a white France feels threatened in a way it did not 30 years ago.”

Ms. Nakamura is held to an unfair standard because of her background, Ms. Diallo added. “Her linguistic creativity is going to be seen as incompetence instead of artistic talent,” she said, because focusing solely on the artist’s lyrics ignored the inventive musicality of her songs.

The eldest of five siblings, Ms. Nakamura, who is a single mother of two children, was born into a family of griots, or traditional West African musicians and storytellers. “Everyone sings in my family,” she told Le Monde in 2017 . “But I’m the only one who dared to sing ‘for real.’”

Her music has little overt political messaging. She told The New York Times in 2019, “I’m happy if my songs speak for themselves.” But she has also said she recognizes her place as a feminist role model. Her lyrics are often an ode to emancipated women who are firmly in control of their lives and unabashed about their sexuality.

“At the start of my career, I was rather skeptical of this idea of a model,” Ms. Nakamura told CB News , a marketing and public relations trade publication, in December. “But it’s a reality: I have influence. If, through my work and my undertakings, I enable certain women to assert themselves, then that’s something to be proud of.”

The furor over her possible performance reflects a fractured France. Some see a reactionary nation intent on ignoring how large-scale immigration, particularly from North Africa, has enriched the country hosting the 33rd Summer Olympics of modern times. Celebrities, left-wing politicians and government officials support the idea of Ms. Nakamura taking a prominent role in the ceremony.

Others, especially on the right, see a multicultural France intent on concealing its Christian roots, even the nation itself, especially with the erasure of the cross from the Invalides dome and the absence of a single French flag in the official poster. Mild pink, purple and green are favored over the bold blue, white and red of France.

“Every time the world is watching us, we give the impression we don’t embrace who we are,” Marion Maréchal, Ms. Le Pen’s niece and a leader of the extreme-right Reconquête party, told French television last week.

Then there is the question of language in this land of the Académie Française , which was founded in 1634 to promote and protect the French language. It takes upon itself the task of shielding the country from “brainless Globish,” as one of the 40 members once put it, and it does so with ardor, if with diminishing success as France succumbs to a world of “les startuppers.”

“There is a sort of religion of language in France,” said Julien Barret, a linguist and writer who has written an online glossary of the language prevalent in the banlieues where Ms. Nakamura grew up. “French identity is conflated with the French language” he added, in what amounts to “a cult of purity.”

That so-called purity has long since ceased to exist. France’s former African colonies increasingly infuse the language with their own expressions. Singers and rappers, often raised in immigrant families, have coined new terms. “You can’t write a song like you write a school assignment,” Mr. Barret said.

Ms. Nakamura’s dance-floor hits use an eclectic mix of French argot like verlan , which reverses the order of syllables; West African dialect like Nouchi in the Ivory Coast; and innovative turns of phrase that are sometimes nonsensical but quickly catch on.

In “ Djadja ,” her breakout song from 2018 that has become an anthem of female empowerment, she calls out a man who lies about sleeping with her by singing “I’m not your catin, ” using a centuries-old French term for prostitute. It has been streamed about one billion times.

Another widely popular song is “ Pookie ” — a diminutive for poucave, slang that originates from Romani for a traitor or a rat.

During the meeting with Mr. Macron, first revealed by the magazine L’Express , the president asked Ms. Nakamura which French singer she liked. Her response was Édith Piaf, the legendary artist who died in 1963 and famously regretted nothing.

So, Mr. Macron suggested to Ms. Nakamura — in an account that the presidency has not disputed — why not sing Piaf to open the Olympics?

The idea is still under review.

For some, Ms. Nakamura channeling Piaf might be the perfect tribute to “La Vie en Rose,” Piaf’s immortal anthem of Parisian romantic love. Bruno Le Maire, the economy minister — and occasional author of erotic novels — said it would show “panache” and “audacity.” Supporters have noted that the two singers grew up in poverty and came from immigrant backgrounds.

But a recent poll found that 63 percent of French people did not approve of Mr. Macron’s idea, even though about half the respondents said they knew of Ms. Nakamura only by name.

Ms. Nakamura has encountered criticism of her music before in France, where expectations of assimilation are high. Some on the right complain she has become French but shown more interest in her African roots or her American role models.

She responded to her critics on French television in 2019 , saying of her music, “In the end, it speaks to everyone.”

“You don’t understand,” she added. “But you sing.”

The Olympics furor appears unlikely to subside soon. As a commentator on France Inter radio put it: “France has no oil, but we do have debates. In fact, we almost deserve a gold medal for that.”

Roger Cohen is the Paris Bureau chief for The Times, covering France and beyond. He has reported on wars in Lebanon, Bosnia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Gaza, in more than four decades as a journalist. At The Times, he has been a correspondent, foreign editor and columnist. More about Roger Cohen

Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France. More about Aurelien Breeden

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This week in Olympic sports history: April 1-7,  Athens 1896 - The First Modern Games 

Olympics.com takes a look at the week in Olympic sports history, highlighting Olympian birthdays and notable sporting events for the week of April 1-7.

Welcome to This Week in Olympic sports history , where Olympics.com remembers the most significant sports events of the past. This week, we'll cover 1 to 7 April.

On This Day - April 6 1896 - The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens

The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens on 6 April 1896 . To mark the occasion, the Greek capital was adorned with bunting, streamers, and green wreaths adorning house fronts.

This event was the culmination of a long-standing endeavor led by Pierre Baron de Coubertin , the visionary founder of the International Olympic Committee.

Despite prior unsuccessful attempts to revive the Olympic Games, the Frenchman's determination paid off when the International Congress of Paris for the Re-establishment of the Olympic Games approved his project in 1894.

Athens was then selected to host the inaugural Olympic Games of the modern era, paying hommage to the ancient Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC ato 393 AD.

James Connolly: The first modern Olympic Champion

Athletes from 14 different nations participated in the historic event, which opened with a ceremony at the beautifully restored Panathenaic Stadium . This marked one of the most significant international sporting events of its time, with almost 300 athletes participating. The largest delegations came from Greece, Germany, France, and Great Britain.

Amidst great excitement and anticipation, James Connolly from the United States etched his name in history by becoming the first Olympic champion in over a thousand years, clinching victory in the triple jump. He also secured third place in the long jump and second place in the high jump.

Notable Olympic birthdays: April 1-7

• Paul Anspach (Belgium, Fencing , two-time Olympic champion), born 1 April 1882
• Kristine Quance (USA, Swimming , Olympic champion), born 1 April 1975
• Ivano Balic (Croatia, Handball , Olympic champion), born 1 April 1979
• Ruth Beitia (Spain, Athletics , Olympic champion), born 1 April 1979
• Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway, Athletics, two-time Olympic champion), born 1 April 1982
• Paolo Bettini (Italy, Cycling Road , Olympic champion), born 1 April 1974
• Li Ting (China, Diving , Olympic champion), born 1 April 1987
• Ferenc Puskas (Hungary, Football , Olympic champion), born 2 April 1927

• Linford Christie (UK, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 2 April 1960
• Todd Woodbridge (Australia, Tennis , Olympic champion), born 2 April 1971
• Carlos Salcido (Mexico, Football, Olympic champion), born 2 April 1980
• Stanislawa Walasiewicz (Poland, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 3 April 1911
• Eva Szekely (Hungary, Swimming, Olympic champion), born 3 April 1927
• Picabo Street (USA, Alpine Skiing , Olympic champion), born 3 April 1971
• Stephanie Cox (USA, Football, Olympic champion), born 3 April 1986
• Rosemarie Ackermann (Germany, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 4 April 1952
• Lam Jones (USA, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 4 April 1958
• Clas Thunberg (Finland, Speed Skating , five-time Olympic champion), born 5 April 1893
• Anton Geesink (Netherlands, Judo , Olympic champion), born 6 April 1934
• Arnie Robinson Jr. (USA, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 7 April 1948
• Colette Besson (France, Athletics, Olympic champion), born 7 April 1946
• Teddy Riner (France, Judo, three-time Olympic champion), born 7 April 1989
• Edoardo Mangiarotti (Italy, Fencing, six-time Olympic champion), born 7 April 1919

Quote of the week - Teddy Riner

I think about the Olympic Games morning, noon and evening. I dream about it, I have nightmares about it.

Teddy Riner 's unwavering dedication to the Olympics has yielded remarkable results. The French athlete has achieved an extraordinary feat, winning three Olympic golds and two bronze medals across four Games , solidifying his status as the greatest judoka in history.

During his debut at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 , Riner secured a bronze medal, although he was defeated by Abdullo Tangriev of Uzbekistan. Four years later, at the Olympic Games London 2012 , aged just 23, he topped the podium in the men's over 100-kilogram category, beating Alexander Mikhaylin in the final.

At Rio 2016 , the Frenchman reaffirmed his dominance by successfully defending his men's over 100-kilogram title, triumphing over Japan's Hisayoshi Harasawa.

During the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, held in 2021 due to the pandemic, Riner and the French team seized gold in the inaugural mixed team event, overpowering hosts Japan 4-1 in the final. This victory added another accolade to the heavyweight legend's Olympic journey.

While this victory added another accolade to the heavyweight legend's Olympic journey, it also served as redemption for his unexpected quarter-final loss in the men's +100kg individual contest against Tamerlan Bashaev. Riner advanced through the repechage to claim bronze, matching his achievement from Beijing 2008.

Ten-year undefeated streak

In addition to his Olympic prowess, the French star has amassed an unprecedented 11 world titles.

Riner's dominance in the judo arena is unquestionable; he has suffered only five defeats during his senior career and won an astonishing 154 consecutive matches from 2010 to 2020.

His 10-year undefeated streak came to an end at the 2020 Paris Grand Slam, when Kageura Kokoro of Japan ended his run in the third round.

Don't forget to check back next week for another look into sports and Olympic history on Olympics.com.

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Some of Trump’s allies in Congress already support his 2025 ideas on deportations and Jan. 6 pardons

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As Donald Trump campaigns on promises of mass deportations and pardons for those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol , his ideas are being met with little pushback and some enthusiasm by a new era of Republicans in Congress.

It’s a shift from the first time around when Trump — the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — encountered early skepticism and, once in a while, the uproar of condemnation.

Rather than being dismissed as campaign bluster or a way to rouse his most devoted voters, his words are being adopted as party platforms, potentially able to move quickly from rhetoric to reality with a West Wing in waiting and crucial backing from key corners on Capitol Hill.

“We’re going to have to deport some people,” said Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, one of Trump’s biggest supporters, days after campaigning alongside Trump in his home state.

While Democratic President Biden and his allies are sounding alarms about Trump’s proposed agenda for a second term — and his promise that he would be a “dictator” but only on Day One — the Republican Party in Congress is undergoing a massive political realignment toward Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who clashed with Trump at times particularly over the Capitol riot while also pushing through dozens of his judicial picks, is preparing to step down from his leadership role at the end of the year. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces constant threats of his ouster.

Rising in the churn are MAGA-aligned newcomers such as Vance, who hadn’t yet been elected during Trump’s presidency, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who was elected as Trump lost to Biden in 2020. Both Vance and Greene are considered potential vice presidential picks by Trump.

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Greene, who recently filed a motion to potentially force Johnson from the speakership, said it’s too soon to be discussing a second-term policy agenda or who will fill West Wing positions.

As she campaigns for Trump, her priority is just winning the election, she said.

Other Republicans in the House and Senate often simply shrug when asked about Trump’s agenda, pointing to policies they like and others they might support.

Meanwhile, a cast of former Trump White House officials in Washington is pushing out policy papers, drafting executive actions and preparing legislation that would be needed to turn Trump’s ideas into reality. These efforts are separate from Trump’s campaign, whose senior leaders have repeatedly insisted that outside groups do not speak for them, though many group leaders would be in line to serve in a new Trump administration.

If Trump wins, “we are going to have a plan — and the personnel — ready to roll,” said Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official who heads the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which is collecting thousands of resumes and training staff for a potential second Trump administration.

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Trump has suggested having a “very tiny little desk” on the Capitol steps so he can sign documents on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025.

“On Day One of President Trump’s new administration, Americans will have a strong leader,” said Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary.

Congress pushed back at times during the first Trump administration, a stable of Republicans joining with Democrats to halt some of his proposals.

Republicans and Democrats resisted a White House effort to commandeer funds for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, leading to the longest government shutdown in history. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who died in 2018, famously gave a thumbs-down to Trump’s effort to repeal the health law known as the Affordable Care Act.

And after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to reverse his 2020 loss to Biden, 10 Republicans in the House voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection and seven Republican senators voted to convict him. Many of those lawmakers have since left Congress. One, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, is retiring at the end of his term. Had the Senate convicted Trump, it could have moved to bar him from holding federal office again.

As a result, there are fewer lawmakers now in Congress willing or able to stand up to Trump or publicly oppose his agenda as he has in effect commandeered the party apparatus, including the Republican National Committee, as his own.

“Those people are all kind of flushed out,” said Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP representative who is close to Trump allies on and off Capitol Hill.

Trump still falsely argues the 2020 election was stolen and is claiming he should be immune from a four-count federal indictment alleging he defrauded Americans with his effort to overturn the results. He has made Jan. 6 a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign and often refers to those imprisoned for the attack as “hostages.”

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a leader of the effort to challenge the certification of electors on Jan. 6, said he does not agree with the idea of a “blanket pardon” for those convicted in the riot — some 1,300 people have been charged.

But he said he is closely watching the upcoming Supreme Court case contesting that rioters obstructed an official proceeding, which could call into question hundreds of cases, including some of the charges against Trump.

“My view is, let’s see what the Supreme Court says on that,” Hawley said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), once a Trump critic after their fierce rivalry during the 2016 campaign, said anyone who engaged in violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be prosecuted. But Cruz, who also helped challenge the 2020 election that day, was open to pardons for others.

Perhaps Trump’s most enduring campaign promise in 2024 is his repeated pledge to launch the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” — reviving the immigration and border security debates that helped define his presidency.

He points to the Eisenhower-era roundup of immigrants as a model, one that goes far behind his 2017 travel ban on migrants from mostly Muslim countries or the family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has been a leader on immigration issues, particularly the 2013 bill that provided a 10-year path to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. without legal documentation, though it ultimately failed to become law.

But with migrant crossings hitting record highs during Biden’s term, Rubio said, “Whether they’re deported through the hearings that they’re waiting for, they’re deported through some effort to expedite it, something’s going to have to happen.”

“No one’s saying it would be easy, but something’s going to have to happen with all the people that have come here,” he said.

Added Vance: “I think you have to be open to deporting anyone who came to the country illegally.”

Vanessa Cardenas, a former Biden campaign official who now heads the advocacy organization America’s Voice, said she was worried that Trump allies in a second term would “actually know how to work the levers of government.”

“I worry that there’s a little bit of amnesia about how cruel his policies were,” she said, describing the fear in migrant communities. “Our tolerance level for his language and his ideas keeps increasing.”

Mascaro is an Associated Press congressional correspondent. AP writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

More to Read

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