The
ancient Olympic Games (named place in the city of Olympia) were religious
festivals, cultural and sports held in ancient Greece (776 a. C. - 392 AD.) In
honor of the Olympian gods. Athletes participating in them, they should be
citizens and men, and who trained for years in gyms.
There
are many legends about the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. One associates
the first Games with the concept of ancient Greece ἐκεχειρία
(ekecheiria) or Olympic truce or peace. One of the most popular myths
identifies Heracles
and Zeus, father of the progenitors of the Games. According to a legend
mentioned by Pindar, Heracles who was called "Olympics" to a series
of sporting events in honor of his father Zeus and the custom of celebrating
four years in addition to the idea persists that after completing his twelve
labors, built the Olympic stadium in honor of Zeus. After its completion, he
went straight 200 steps and called this "distance Stadion" (Greek: στάδιον,
Latin: stadium, "stage"), which later became a unit of distance. The date of
commencement of such calendar serves as a reference to Hellenic and is
considered in the year 776. C., although the views of some scholars place it
among the year 884 a. C. and 704 a. C.
Since
then, the Games quickly took a larger role in ancient Greece, reaching its
zenith in the sixth century and centuries to V century. C. The Olympics had a
fundamentally religious significance, when the Greek city-state went to war and
came the time of the Olympic Games, the war was suspended to make way for the
games by his deep religious and cultural value. With contests alternating with
sacrifices and ceremonies in honor of Zeus (whose statue stood majestically in
Olympia) and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his
legendary chariot race and in whose honor they were held. The number of events
increased to twenty, and the celebrations continued for several days. The first
competitions were based on foot races, and later were introduced the fight, the
pentathlon, testing of various events including javelin, discus and long jump,
the pankration, chariot races, and several artistic skills such as music,
poetry and dance.
The
Olympic flame was kept on the altar of Zeus during the ancient games. Today,
light a torch by the action of the sun's rays in Olympia, and then transported
to the headquarters of the Olympic Games. In Olympia came to celebrate 293
Olympic Games, until the Christian emperor Theodosius I abolished them consider
the year 393 by pagans.
The
ancient Olympic Games (named place in the city of
The
modern Olympic Games were established in the sporty look in 1896 by Pierre de
Coubertin and until today still practiced.
In 1829
the French government, and in 1875, the German government, made excavations to
unearth Olympia. In 1881 the ruins were completely bare.
Though
always spoken of the rebirth of the Olympic Games, the fact is attributed to
Pierre de Coubertin France and is called the father of the modern Olympic
Games, the truth is that the first attempt was made in Greece, thanks to the
enthusiasm of a Greek named Evangelos Zappas, long before it was thought in
France. So in Greece were made the first modern Olympic Games on November 15,
1859, the November 15, 1870, on May 18, 1875 and May 18, 1889. [Citation
needed]
The
attempt failed due to lack of enthusiasm and support from other countries.
Another important factor was that the sponsor did not have many ideas of
organization, unlike the Baron de Coubertin, who sought out the leaders of
college and amateur athletics school in the world, who received his help.
Lighting
the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake
City 2002
Thrilled
with the splendor of ancient Greece and the beauty of the Olympics, Evangelos
Zappas, who lived in Romania, first contributed to the project and, after the
first failure, at his death bequeathed his entire fortune for the rebirth of
the Olympic Games Greece.
Although
the games that were part of this first attempt did not achieve success - we
must remember that the first was in 1859, thirty-seven years before the first
modern Olympic Games officially - formed a bond between past and future .
Baron
Pierre de Coubertin wrote in the early twentieth century: "Olympia and the
Olympics are symbols of an entire civilization, superior to countries, cities,
military heroes and ancestral religions." As a cadet at the Military
Academy St. Cyr, the noble Frenchman gave up his studies in political science
and became interested in sociology and education. He traveled around the world
and was impressed by the interest of the Anglo-Saxons (British and American) in
sports. Attracted by the exploration work in Olympia, and the vain efforts to
revive the Olympic Games made in Greece by Zappas, and believed that athletic
competition could result in international understanding, is dedicated to the
task of reviving himself , the Olympics, with the participation of all
countries of the world. He had the courage and the help of a Dominican Catholic
priest Henri Didon, which would be the inspiration of the Olympic motto
"Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger).
Coubertin
presented his project to the Athletic Sports Union and Paris in late 1892,
after careful public relations work.
Coubertin
was a persistent man and soon had an opportunity to request support from other
countries, when the French Sports Union organized an international conference
on Amateurism. The congress was held in 1894, Coubertin was a surprisingly
strong support from such prominent men as the Duke of Sparta, Prince of Wales,
Crown Prince of Sweden, King of Belgium and Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom. Also present were delegates from Argentina, Greece, Russia, Italy and
Spain. There were also official statements from Germany and Austria-Hungary,
expressing interest in the project.
The
enthusiastic delegates decided not to wait until 1900, the year that was deemed
appropriate to begin computing the Olympics, but the event scheduled for the
year 1896, in Athens, near the site of the ancient Olympics. It was agreed that
the Games are held every four years, moving the headquarters to different cities
in the world and to be elected an International Olympic Committee with full
authority to govern the Games.
On June
23, 1894 created the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne
(Switzerland), composed of representatives of twelve countries:
·
Austria-Bohemia
(Jiri Guth-Jarkovsky)
·
Argentina
(Joseph Benjamin Zubiaur)
·
Belgium (Maxime Bousies)
·
United States (William Sloane)
·
France (Ernest and Pierre de Coubertin F.Callot)
·
Greece (Demetrius Vikelas)
·
Great Britain (C. Herbert and Charles Herbert Ampfhill)
·
Hungary (Ferenc Kemeny)
·
Italy
(Mario Luccesi Palli and Andria Carafa)
·
New Zealand (Leonard A. Cuff)
·
Russia (Alexei General Boutowsky)
·
Sweden (General Viktor Balck) .3
Vikelas
Demetrius, a Greek who had been on the organization of the first attempts to
revive the Olympic Games, was the first president of the International Olympic
Committee. The dream of Zappas and later de Coubertin, had come true.
At the
regular meeting of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee
in August 2002 approving the "Rule of Five Rings" for its entry into
force in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This rule promotes interdisciplinarity of
different National Olympic Committees. Therefore, it was agreed that the
country got to qualify for four of the five sports: football, basketball,
handball, field hockey and volleyball, get automatic qualification for the
fifth remaining sports without having to achieve any merit more.4
