What are the Olympic Games?
The Olympic Games are the most significant international sporting event in the world, competing athletes, representatives of virtually every existing country (about 200 in total), over several days of an event multidisciplinary organized every four years. It is one of the most televised and celebrated sporting events of contemporary times.
The Olympic Games take place in two different ways, including two years away: the Winter Olympic Games and the Summer Olympic Games, which are different in their Sports, Of course. The two events are produced and coordinated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), an institution in operation since 1894.
At these Olympic Games, athletes from around the world are measured to set world records and reward the most talented of the 28 disciplines practiced in the Summer Edition and the 15 winter disciplines. In each competition, athletes of each sex are involved separately, and a first, second and third place are awarded: gold, silver, and bronze medals.
This sporting event enjoys worldwide acceptance and recognition as an icon of peace among nations. Has been interrupted on a few occasions since the start of its modern tradition in the late 19th century, due to the great World Wars of the 20th century. Its origin, however, dates back to the ancient times of Ancient Greece.
History of the Olympic Games
The celebration of the Olympics dates back to Greek antiquity (around the 8th century BC) when they were held to honor the Gods of the Olympic Pantheon to which the ancient Greeks worshipped (hence their name: Olympiads).
They were great sports parties that brought together all the Warriors and fighters of the Greek nations in a series of competitions to choose the best and give them prizes that would make them eternally recognized and remembered. Also, during the celebration of these competitions, the “Olympic peace” was decreed in which all nations had to lay down their arms and armies.
These ancient Olympic Games were held until 393 AD, almost 1,200 years before being retaken by contemporary humanity. The interruption was due to the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, a religion that always saw with evil eyes all kinds of legacies and pagan feasts.
The tradition of the Olympics was resumed at the end of the 19th century, when a French nobleman, Baron de Coubertin, decided to create an Olympic Committee to coordinate a new Olympics, honoring those of ancient times and recovering his message of peaceful competition among the different peoples of humanity.
The celebration of the Olympics in the XX and XXI centuries, amended as held in the tradition, incorporating new disciplines, creating the Winter Olympics and also the Paralympic Games for athletes with some form of disability, or the Youth Olympic Games, for athlete’s adolescents.
Types of Olympic Games
There are currently three types of Olympic Games: Summer Olympics are held every four years, the Winter Olympics, which are performed with an interval of two years and the Youth Olympic Games, which were approved by the International Olympic Committee, and the first edition was held in 2010 in Singapore.
In the 20th Century, the Olympic Games were interrupted by two World Wars, affected the dating of Berlin in 1916, Tokyo 1940 and London en1944, but the Olympics had come to stay, and from Great Britain to the held in 1948, has not been interrupted the cycle.