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Olympic History

August 8-24th, 2008 - Beijing, China

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Olympic history began with the revival of the ancient Olympics which involved athletes from 14 nations. The country with the largest delegation came from Greece, France, Germany, and Great Britain. The history of the Olympics originally contained one event: the “stadion” race which also was known as the Stade race. The Stade race was between 180 and 240 meters in length. The history of the Olympics also held to be the place where the Greek tradition of athletic nudity was first introduced, some claiming the honor for the Spartans. In 720 BC, the only competition held then was the stadium race, a race over about 190 meters, measured after the feet of Hercules. The history of the Olympics also featured various traditional elements which framed the opening ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games.

 At the first Olympics in 1896, there were 241 participants from 14 nations. The history of the Olympics continued with ceremonies that typically started with the hoisting of the host country's flag and the performing of its national anthem. The history of the Olympics evolved into traditional parts of the current ceremonies that start off with the "parade of nations" or athletes, during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, country by country. One honored athlete, typically a top competitor, from each country carries the flag of his or her nation, leading the entourage of other athletes from that country. In Olympic history, during the chariot racing event, it was not the rider but the owner of the chariot and team who was considered to be the competitor, so one man could win more than one of the top spots. The addition of events meant the festival grew from one day to five days, three of which were used for competition. The other two days were dedicated to religious rituals.

On the final day of the historic Olympics there was a banquet for all of the participants, consisting of 100 oxen that had been sacrificed to Zeus on the first day. In Olympic history, participation in the games was limited to male athletes; the only way women were allowed to take part was to enter horses in the equestrian events. The ancient history of the Olympics was rather different from the modern games of today. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Also, the games were always held at Olympia instead of moving around to different sites every time.

Like these Olympics, its history has always been that the winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map. One young Athenian nobleman defended his political reputation by mentioning how he entered seven chariots in the Olympic chariot-race. This high number of entries made both the aristocrat and Athens look very wealthy and powerful. Although the history of the Olympics has changed through the years the core idea of the Olympics has not which is what is embodied through its emblem. The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. These five intertwined rings represent the unity of five continents with the Americas portrayed as one continent. They appear in five colors on a white field on the Olympic Flag. These colors, white (for the field), red, blue, green, yellow, and black were chosen such that each nation had at least one of these colors in its national flag. It is hoisted at each celebration of the Games.