Olympics Essay -- essays research papers

The Olympics The Olympics are a huge sporting event that contains many different sports and consists of many different countries from around the world. Back in ancient Greece is where the ancient Olympics originated. It was primarily a part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus the father of Greek Gods and Goddesses. The Olympics where held at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, which is in Western Peloponnesos. From 776 BC, the games took place at Olympia every 4 years for almost 12 centuries. In 776 BC the only event was the Stadion Race that was a foot race 600 feet long, Koroibos, a cook from Elis, won it. Additional athletic events were gradually added until; by the 5th century BC it was a 5-day program that consisted of three foot races, the pentathlon, boxing, wrestling, pankration, and the hoplitodromos. The Greeks that came to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia shared the same religious beliefs and spoke the same language. There where no females in the Olympics at this time so all the athletes where males who came from every corner of the Greek world, as far as Iberia in the West and the Black Sea in the East. Although the ancient games where staged in Olympia, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return. The first modern Olympic games took place in Athens Greece in 1896. The man responsible for the rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre De Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. His original idea was to present the modern games in 1900 in his hometown Paris. But others were so enthusiastic with the idea that they convinced him to move it to 1896 and have Athens host it. There were many great athletes throughout the history of the Olympics, But where some of the athletes worthy of earning a prize worth a hefty amount of money. This question has came about a numerous amount of times. But the word Athlete is a Greek word that means â€Å"one who competes for a prize† and is also related to the Greek words athlos meaning â€Å"contest† and athlon meaning â€Å"prize†. According to the Roman author Plutarch, an Olympic victor who was a citizen of Athens could expect to receive in the year 600 BC a cash reward of 500 drachmai, a literal fortune. Later in Hellenistic periods, pensions for athletes became more formalized and could actually be bought and sold. But were the ancient Olympics just for men? Along with the athletic conte... .... Summer Winter 1896-Athens 1924-Chamonix 1900-Paris 1928-St.Moritz 1904-St.Louis 1932-Lake Placid 1908-London 1936-Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1912-Stockholm 1948-St.Moritz 1920-Antwerp 1952-Oslo 1924-Paris 1956-Cortina d’Ampezzo 1928-Amsterdam 1960-Squaw Valley 1932-Los Angeles 1964-Innsbruck 1936-Berlin 1968- Grenoble 1948-London 1972-Sapporo 1952-Helsinki 1976-Innsbruck 1956-Melbourne 1980-Lake Placid 1960-Rome 1984-Sarajevo 1964-Tokyo 1988-Calgary 1968-Mexico City 1992-Albertville 1972-Munich 1994-Lillehammer 1976-Montreal 1998-Nagano 1980-Moscow 2002-Salt Lake City 1984-Los Angeles 1988-Seoul 1992-Barcelona 1996-Atlanta 2000-Sydney 2004-Athens   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is also statues up that are there to commemorate those who had been caught cheating or Bribing at the Olympic games. These were set up on the walkway leading from the heart of the altis to the vault that leads to the stadion, not by accident the path that leads to the entrance of the athletic competition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Olympics are a great tradition and they will last a very long time just like its done in the past.