The Olympic Games, no doubt, has had its share of controversies. But ever since its revival in Athens in 1896, the quadrennial event has gone from strength to strength. S. R. Suryanarayan on how the Games began.
Legend has it that the Olympic Games was conceived by Heracles (Hercules), one of the sons of Zeus, who is regarded as an important Olympic God apart from Athena and Apollo. The Olympic Games was linked to religion, encompassing religious festivals of the cult of Zeus and promotion of secular spirit, energy and accomplishments of the youth. It also contributed to the good relations between the cities of Greece.
However, the first recorded Olympics was in 776 BC though it is believed that the Games had been on for several years before that. According to records, Coroebus, who ran naked in a 192-metre race (210 yards) and won, was the first Olympic champion.
The ancient Olympics used to be a one-day affair till 684 BC. Initially the only Olympic event was a 200-yard dash, called a stadium. After 724 BC a two-stadia race was added. Two years later the 24-stadia event began and in 708 BC the pentathlon and wrestling were added to the Games.
The pentathlon, a five-event match, consisted of running, wrestling, leaping, discus and e javelin. In the course of time boxing, a chariot race, and other events were included. The victors then were crowned with wreaths from a sacred olive tree that grew behind the temple of Zeus. For about 1200 years, the ancient Olympics were held every four years until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned them in 393 AD.
In the early 17th century, an “Olympic Games” sports festival was run for several years at Chipping Campden in England. Less than 1500 years later, a young man named Pierre de Coubertin began the revival exercise. Coubertin, a French aristocrat, as a seven-year old was witness to his nation being overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. According to some, Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to Germany’s military skills but rather to the French soldiers’ lack of vigour. Coubertin attempted to get the French interested in sports but met with little success. But he persisted.
In 1890, Coubertin founded a sports organisation, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). In 1894 he organised a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. The delegates voted unanimously for the Olympic Games.
They also wanted Coubertin to institute an international committee to organise the Games and that in time became the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Demetrious Vikelas of Greece was selected as the IOC’s first president. Athens was chosen the venue for the revival of the Olympic Games. On April 6, 1896, King George I of Greece inaugurated the Games at the Panathenean Stadium, and thus started what they call the Summer Games. Although 13 nations participated in the Games, most of the athletes were Greek.
Now, over a century later, the Olympics, having completed 28 editions, attracts competitors from countries all over the world. It has come to symbolise the ideals of a “sound mind in a sound body” and to promote friendship among nations.
Coubertin himself designed the Olympic flag in 1913-14 and its first use was in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red) in the white flag represent the five continents of the world that joined together in the Olympic Movement: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. While the Olympic flag was a later addition, the Olympic Flame dates back to the ancient times in Greece. The Flame then symbolised the death and rebirth of Greek heroes. The torch relay that attracts such fanfare and perhaps even tension (as it happened in the run-up to the Beijing Games) first took place at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
The Olympic Games have produced dramatic feats from time to time. The triumph of the United States track and field team in the 1896 Olympics was one such instance. Though having trouble in reaching Athens, the venue of the Games, the 10-man squad won nine out of the 12 events.
In 1912 Jim Thorpe, a native American, became the only man to win both the decathlon and the pentathlon in the same year. However, since he had played professional baseball, the officials struck down Thorpe’s record and took back his medals. Seventy years later, in 1982, they were restored to him posthumously.
In track and field, Jesse Owens, a black American, won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The first woman to win three individual gold medals was Fanny Blankers-Koen of The Netherlands. The first athletes to win the decathlon twice were Bob Mathias of the United States, in 1948 and 1952, and Daley Thompson of Great Britain, in 1980 and 1984. The first perfect 10.0 in Olympic gymnastics was scored by Nadia Comaneci of Romania, who posted seven perfect scores and won three gold medals in 1976.
At the 1972 Munich Olympics, the United States swimmer Mark Spitz won a record seven gold medals. Swimmers John Naber of the United States and Kornelia Ender of East Germany won four gold medals each at the 1976 Games in Montreal.
The all-time individual gold medal winner was the American track athlete Ray C. Ewry, who won eight events in the 1900, 1904, and 1908 Games.
One of the darkest moments of the Olympics was at the 1972 Munich Games when Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 members of the Israeli Olympic contingent. Four years later, in protest against a New Zealand rugby tour of South Africa about 30 African nations boycotted the Montreal Games. Again to protest the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan more than 60 countries, led by the United States, withdrew from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Soviet Union retaliated and withdrew from the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
Scandals rocked the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. Ten athletes were disqualified for steroid use. Charges of bias by officials and, in some cases, incompetent officiating marred the boxing events. Consequently, officials, several judges and referees apart from two South Korean boxers were suspended.
In terms of participation and organisation too, the Olympics evolved and rose to gigantic levels as the years went by. In the 1896 Olympic Games there were fewer than 500 athletes representing 13 nations. In 1988 the Seoul Olympics drew entries from 160 countries. Though the number of athletes who competed in Los Angeles did not surpass the high of 10,000 set at Munich in 1972, the 1984 Games recorded the largest total attendance — almost 5.8 million people — and the most gold medals for one country — 83 for the United States.
The Centennial Olympic Games opened in Atlanta in 1996, with more than 10,000 athletes from 197 nations in attendance. The opening ceremonies grew in size and glitz. Atlanta featured a tribute to the ancient Greek games and the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. However, the Atlanta Games is best remembered for a record 79 nations winning medals, 53 of them gold. Carl Lewis became only the third person to win the same individual event —long jump — four times and the fourth person to earn a ninth gold medal. Naim Suleymanoglu became the first weightlifter to win a third gold medal. Michael Johnson smashed the 200m world record to complete a 200m and 400m double.
The Sydney 2000 Games attracted over 10,650 athletes for 300 events. Birgit Fischer earned two gold medals in Kayak to become the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart. Judoka Ryoko Tamura lost in the final in both Barcelona and Atlanta, but came back to win the gold in Sydney. Steven Redgrave became the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympics.
In 2004 the Games returned to Greece and the number of countries that participated crossed the 200-mark. Overall, there were 301 events (one more than in Sydney). Popularity soared. As many as 3.9 billion people had access to television coverage compared to 3.6 billion in 2000. Swimmer Michael Phelps won six gold medals and set a single-Games record with 8 medals. The Games continues to grow.
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