History of Olympics

History of Olympics

Every 4 years, athletes from around the world gather at one place to compete in an international sporting event called the Olympics, featuring various summer and winter games. They come in with a hope to achieve glory for themselves and their country plus a shiny gold medal. Winners didn’t always get a gold medal, though. Instead, victors in the earliest Olympics used to be honored with a crown of olive leaves.

And just like that, a lot changed since the first known Olympics that took place in the summer of 776 B.C. at Olympia, a place of worshipping ‘The Greek God Zeus’. In fact, the Olympics were created in honor of Zeus, who was believed to be the king of the gods by all ancient Greeks despite their internal wars. Ancient Greece was divided into different city-states, they often locked horns with each other. But even in times of conflict, battling regions declared peace for their players could participate in the Olympics. But, unlike modern games, only men were allowed to compete in the event that too naked. And apparently, there was only one game called “the stade”, a footrace about 192 meters long, a distance the hero Hercules was believed could run on a single breath.

But as time passed, by the year 708 B.C.E., other events were added to the sporting list, such as 400 meters race, wrestling, the long jump, the javelin throw and the discus throw. One popular event was a sport called the Pankration, which was ultimately fighting sport there were no weight classes, no time limits, and only 2 rules, no biting and no eye-gouging. No wonder they took it out of the list.

The ancient Olympics continued to gain popularity until the Romans eventually banned it in A.D. 393, after conquering Greece in the second century B.C. But fortunately, this glorious event was revived in 1896 in Athens, Greece. And since then, we celebrate this tournament every four years as various new sports have been added to its sport list. And most importantly, the modern version also gave women a platform to showcase their power. And today, thousands of athletes from 206 countries participate in around 33 sports. They compete for the medals and glory for their nation.

But most importantly, the great Olympics is a fantastic opportunity to bring people from diverse races and cultures together and promote peace and friendship among different countries. And, it inspires many young and brilliant people to dream big, become a mega-sports star, and be a part of history.

Did you know, the five rings of the Olympics symbol represents the five inhabited continents of the world? Also, the six colors, namely, blue, yellow, black, green red and white background were chosen because every nation’s flag contains at least one of them.