The Olympic Games, which date back to 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece, were resurrected in the late 19th century and have since become the world’s most prestigious sporting competition. The oldest documented accounts of the ancient Olympic Games originated from 776 B.C. when a chef named Coroebus won the only event, a 192-meter footrace. However, it is widely assumed that the Games had already been going on for several years at that point. It is thought that there have been many strange sports that used to be in the Olympics that have either come and gone or evolved into some of the events we see today.
The ancient Olympics were staged at a religious festival honoring Zeus every four years. The Games were named after Olympia, a sacred site at the western shore of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece, where they were held. Their effect was so tremendous that ancient historians began to count the years between Olympic Games in four-year increments.
All of the competitions took place on one day in the early centuries of Olympic competition; later, the Games were stretched over four days, with the fifth day devoted to the closing-ceremony presentation of prizes and a banquet for the champions. The majority of the competitors were professionals training full-time for the events. Although the only award at Olympia was a wreath or garland, an Olympic champion gained great acclaim and frequently great benefits from his home city.
In April 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, where the ancient Games were held in antiquity. In 1900, Paris hosted the second Olympic Games. For the first time, women competed in the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900. There were 22 women among the 997 participants who competed in only five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian activities, and golf. Charlotte Cooper, a British tennis player who won Wimbledon five times, was the first female Olympic champion.
Eighty years later, approximately 11,000 competitors from a record 201 countries competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, held in Athens for the first time in more than a century. Moreover, the shotput tournament that year was conducted near the site of the classical Games at Olympia, in a gesture that combined old and current Olympic traditions.
The responsibility of hosting the Olympic Games is given to a city rather than a country. The IOC makes the final decision on the city. With the cooperation of the national government, the city’s top authority applies to host the Games. According to the application, political meetings or demonstrations must not be staged in the stadium, other sports grounds or the Olympic Village. Applicants also guarantee that all competitors will be admitted free of charge, regardless of religion, race, or political affiliation; this includes a guarantee from the national government that no visas will be denied to any competitors.
Money has the most significant impact on the modern Olympic Games. Commercialism coexists with remarkable athleticism and a feeling of camaraderie that pervades participants from all over the world. It has been clear since the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles that a city hosting the Games can expect a financial windfall as fans and sponsors rush to the event. As a result, picking host towns has become politicized due to the enormous profit potential. As a result, there is a high risk of corruption. In fact, in late 1998, a controversy erupted when it was discovered that promoters involved in Salt Lake City’s campaign for the 2002 Winter Olympics had paid IOC members, forcing them to quit.
Every country that wants to compete in the Olympic Games must have a national Olympic committee certified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). There were more than 200 such committees in the early twenty-first century. At least five national sporting federations must be associated with an acceptable international federation to form a national Olympic committee (NOC).
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