Olympic Games

Every four years the finest athletes in the world gather in one location to compete against each other. This gathering, known as the Olympic Games, is the most celebrated sporting festival in the world. The Games attract both amateur and professional athletes from more than 200 countries. They aim to promote international understanding and human development through sport.

Did You Know?

The original Olympic motto—Citius, Altius, Fortius—is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” In 2021 the International Olympic Committee revised the motto to Citius, Altius, Fortius—Communiter, or “Faster, Higher, Stronger—Together.” The change was intended to emphasize the unifying power of sport.

The modern Olympic Games are named for the athletic contests held at the ancient Greek site of Olympia for almost 12 centuries. The ancient Games ended in ad 393. Many centuries would pass before the athletic contests of the Olympic Games were revived in 1896. The modern Games have been held every four years since 1896 with the exceptions of 1916, 1940, and 1944, which were canceled because of World Wars I and II. The 2020 Games were postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women first began competing in the Olympics in 1900. The Games were traditionally held only in the summer, but in 1924 the Winter Games were added. After 1992 the Winter and Summer Games were no longer held in the same calendar year. The Winter Games were scheduled for 1994 and held every four years thereafter. The Summer Games remained on their same four-year schedule.

Find out in this section:

• When did the Olympic Games begin?
• Where did the ancient Games take place?
• What events did the ancient Olympics include?
• Who competed in the ancient Games?

The Olympic Games are considered to have begun in 776 bc. That was the first year the winners’ names were recorded. The popularity of the Games was so great that the four-year period between Games, known as an Olympiad, became a means of recording time.

Did You Know?

The first Olympic champion listed in the records is Coroebus of Elis, a cook who won the sprint race in 776 bc.

Like almost all other ancient Greek sporting festivals, the Olympic Games were part of a religious festival. The Olympics were held in honor of the god Zeus. They were staged in the wooded valley of Olympia. The site was renowned as a spiritual gathering place. It was occupied by great temples dedicated to Zeus and the goddess Hera. There are several myths surrounding the origin of the Games. Both Zeus and the legendary Hercules have been credited for starting the event. According to a poem by Pindar written in the 5th century bc, Pelops created the Games in order to celebrate the victory that made him a king.

At first the only Olympic event was the stade, a footrace of about 210 yards (192 meters). Eventually a race twice as long as the stade was added. By 708 bc more racing events had been added as well as wrestling and the pentathlon. The ancient pentathlon was a five-part event that included running, wrestling, jumping, and throwing the discus and javelin. (Modern pentathlon is based on the traditional military skills of shooting, fencing, horseback riding, swimming, and running.) In time, boxing, chariot racing, and other events were included.

The Olympic Games were technically restricted to freeborn Greeks. Many Greek competitors came from the Greek colonies on the Italian peninsula and in Africa and Asia Minor (the Asian part of modern Turkey). Most of the participants were professionals who trained full-time for the events. The winners of the Olympics were crowned with wreaths of wild olive branches. Although the wreaths were the only prize given at Olympia, the athletes earned substantial prizes for winning at many other preliminary festivals. In addition, an Olympic champion also received widespread praise and often lavish benefits from his home city.

Only men were originally allowed to compete in the Games. However, several women appear in the official lists of winners as owners of the stables of some victorious chariot entries. In Sparta, girls and young women did practice sports and compete locally. But, apart from Sparta, contests for young Greek women were very rare and were probably limited to an annual local footrace. At Olympia, however, a separate festival known as the Heraea, held every four years in honor of Hera, included a race for young women.

The original Olympic stadium could seat more than 40,000 spectators. The Games were so popular in the ancient world that an ekecheiria (truce) was announced before the start of the Games. This truce required that warfare cease in order to allow athletes and spectators safe passage to Olympia. Under Roman rule, the Olympic Games continued to be held for many years. Emperor Theodosius I, however, abolished the Games in ad 393.

Keep reading to learn:

• Who played the key role in the revival of the Olympic Games?
• When were the first modern Olympics held?
• What organization oversees the modern Games?
• What sports are played today in the Summer and Winter Games?
• How are sports chosen for the Olympics?

The driving force behind the revival of the Olympic Games was the French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He inspired many people with his strong beliefs about sport’s power to bring out the best in individuals and to serve as a bridge between different cultures. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894. The first modern Olympic Games were held in the Greek city of Athens in 1896. The IOC remains the international body responsible for organizing and overseeing the modern Games.

Amateurism was a central principle of the Olympic movement during its first 80 years. (Amateur athletes are not paid, unlike professional athletes.) It was long argued that professional sports damaged the integrity of sport because they lacked a purity of spirit. But over the decades, defining amateurism became increasingly difficult as countries developed sophisticated sports programs. Some athletes, wanting to compete but also needing to earn a living, found ways to skirt the rules. In the late 20th century the IOC removed the word amateur from the Olympic charter. By the 21st century the presence of professional athletes at the Olympic Games was common.

As the debate over amateurism finally settled, a new concern arose over athletes using performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids. The 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, were marred by the disqualification of several medal winners who tested positive for banned substances. To more effectively combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. There is now a long list of banned substances and a thorough testing process.

The IOC is charged with promoting and expanding the ideals of the Olympic movement. It maintains control over the selection process for host cities. Each country has its own National Olympic Committee that is charged with promoting Olympic ideals and developing Olympic sports in its respective homeland. An organizing committee runs each Olympic Games.

Did You Know?

The 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany (now in Germany), produced the first official Olympic mascot, a dachshund named Waldi. Since then each edition of the Olympic Games has had its own distinctive mascot, sometimes more than one.

Among the most popular sports at the Summer Games are gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field, basketball, volleyball, and soccer (association football). Other competitions include archery, badminton, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian events (horseback riding), and fencing. Judo, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, table tennis, tennis, water polo, weight lifting, and wrestling are also part of the Olympic program.

The number of events in the Summer Games has greatly expanded. Such sports as beach volleyball, mountain biking, tae kwon do, triathlon, and windsurfing were added at the end of the 20th century. Karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, and 3x3 basketball were added for the 2020 Games (postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic). The IOC approved break dancing, or breaking, as a sport at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France. The women’s competition at the Summer Games has expanded into traditionally male sports such as boxing, weight lifting, and wrestling.

The Winter Games include sports played on snow or ice. Among these are the biathlon (combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting), bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, ice skating (figure skating and speed skating), luge, skeleton sledding, skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding.

Read on to find out:

• What are some of the reasons countries have boycotted the Olympic Games?
• Which American Olympic medalists staged a historic protest at the 1968 Games?
• Why were two sets of gold medals awarded in pairs figure skating in 2002?

For the most part the Olympic Games have realized Coubertin’s hopes for promoting global unity. There have been some exceptions, however. In 1936 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party attempted to use that year’s Games in Berlin, Germany, to promote their racist theories. The greatest tragedy in Olympic history occurred at the 1972 Munich Games, where terrorists killed 11 members of the Israeli team.

International political issues are sometimes imposed on the Olympics in the form of boycotts. In 1976 more than 20 African countries boycotted the Games in Montreal, Canada. They were protesting the New Zealand rugby team’s recent tour of South Africa, which had been banned from the Olympics over its racist policy of apartheid. (Apartheid was a system of racial segregation and discrimination against South Africa’s nonwhite majority. It lasted from about 1950 to the early 1990s.) Angered by the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the United States led approximately 60 countries in a boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow, U.S.S.R. (now in Russia). The Soviet Union in turn boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, California.

National politics has also affected the Games. Shortly before the opening of the 1968 Games in Mexico City, Mexico, students there protested the government’s use of funds for the Olympics rather than for social programs. Mexican army troops fired upon the protesters, killing more than 200. Political tension within the United States also surfaced at the Mexico City Games. At the medal ceremony for the men’s 200-meter race, Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos (gold and bronze medalists, respectively) delivered a Black Power salute while the U.S. national anthem played. The athletes described the gesture as a protest of their country’s mistreatment of Black citizens. Their protest was an important moment in the civil rights movement.

The impartiality of judges had been questioned in the past but finally became a glaring issue at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the ice-skating pairs competition, Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier skated a flawless final program. However, they scored lower than Russians Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who won gold despite making several errors in their performance. After the competition a judge admitted that she had been forced into voting for the Russian pair by a skating official, though she later took back her story. The International Skating Federation eventually awarded a second pair of gold medals to the Canadian team amid pressure from the public and the IOC.

Discover:

• Who was the first great champion of the modern Games?
• What athletic feat did track legends Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis both accomplish?
• Which Olympic champion overcame a paralyzing illness during her childhood?
• Which swimmer became the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history?
• Who owns the most career medals at the Winter Games?

Some of the greatest athletes in history have performed at the Olympic Games. The ancient Games produced legendary performers. They include six-time wrestling champion Milon of Kroton and the runner Leonidas of Rhodes, who won races at four consecutive Olympics. The modern Games have been the stage for many more sporting heroes.

Summer Games

The first great champion of the modern Games was Spyridon Louis, a Greek shepherd who won the marathon at the 1896 Athens Games. The marathon was invented as the feature event of those Games. The race honored an ancient Greek runner who is believed to have been sent from the plain of Marathon to Athens to announce the defeat of an invading Persian army in 490 bc.

The decathlon has produced some of the world’s finest athletes. Participants in the decathlon compete in 10 different running, jumping, and throwing events over two days. Olympic champion decathletes include Americans Jim Thorpe (1912), Bob Mathias (1948 and 1952), and Rafer Johnson (1960), as well as Englishman Daley Thompson (1980 and 1984). One of the world’s greatest female athletes, American Jackie Joyner-Kersee, dominated the heptathlon, a seven-event competition for women. She won the Olympic heptathlon and long jump in 1988 and repeated as Olympic heptathlon champion in 1992.

In 1936 American sprinter Jesse Owens won four track-and-field gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races, the long jump, and as a member of the 4 × 100-meter relay team. That feat was matched in 1984 by American Carl Lewis. Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands won four gold medals in track and field in 1948. In 1960 Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals in a single Olympics. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter races in an unprecedented three consecutive Olympic Games (2008, 2012, and 2016). Between 2004 and 2021 American sprinter Allyson Felix won 11 Olympic medals. That tally made her the most decorated female Olympian in track and field.

Did You Know?

As a child, Wilma Rudolph suffered a number of illnesses, including polio. Her left leg was paralyzed for a time, and she was unable to walk normally until she was 11 years old. Her determination to compete, however, soon made her a star sprinter. At 16 she made her first Olympic appearance, winning bronze in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the 1956 Games.

Among the great distance runners of Olympic history are the “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi, who captured nine gold medals across three Games (1920, 1924, and 1928), and Czech runner Emil Zátopek, winner of four gold medals (1948 and 1952). Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila was the first man to win back-to-back Olympic marathons (1960 and 1964). At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Ethiopian runner Tirunesh Dibaba became the first woman to win gold in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races. Somalian-born British runner Mo Farah won gold medals in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races at both the 2012 Olympics in London, England, and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Away from the track the Summer Games has also produced memorable heroes such as American Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in swimming at the 1972 Munich Games. At the 2008 Beijing Games, American swimmer Michael Phelps broke Spitz’s record for most gold medals won in a single Olympics. Phelps took gold in each of the eight events in which he competed. He went on to win additional medals in 2012 and 2016, becoming the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, including a record 23 gold. American swimmer Katie Ledecky currently has 10 Olympic medals. Her six career individual Olympic gold medals are the most of any female swimmer in history.

Other superb Summer Olympians include Cuban boxer Téofilo Stevenson, who was undefeated in Olympic boxing competition and won three gold medals from 1972 to 1980. Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored a perfect 10 seven times during her performances and earned three gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Games. British rower Steve Redgrave won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics between 1984 and 2000. In 2016 Simone Biles claimed four gymnastics gold medals, becoming the first American woman to do so at a single Games. Biles now holds seven career Olympic medals.

Winter Games

The Winter Games have their legends as well. Norwegian figure-skating sensation Sonja Henie won three gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936). American speed skater Eric Heiden sped to five gold medals at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, New York. He became the first athlete to win gold medals in all speed-skating events. One of the biggest upsets in Olympic history occurred at those Games when the U.S. men’s ice hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet team in the gold-medal game. The Soviets had won the last four gold medals in the event.

Did You Know?

At the 1984 Winter Games British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean received perfect scores for artistic impression from all of the Olympic judges, a feat never achieved before. Their rousing free dance to the music of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro earned them a standing ovation and the gold medal.

Among the greatest Olympians on skis was Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy. He thrilled spectators on his way to sweeping the three Alpine events at the 1968 Games in Grenoble, France. At the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, Croatian skier Janica Kostelic became the first woman to capture three Alpine skiing gold medals at a single Olympics.

The athlete who won the most career medals at the Winter Olympics is Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen. She earned 15 medals across five Games between 2002 and 2018. She is followed by Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst, who each won 13 Olympic medals. Another legendary Norwegian cross-country skier, Bjørn Daehlie, captured 12 Olympic medals.

Other top Winter Olympians include American speed skater Bonnie Blair. She dominated the sprint events at three Games (1988, 1992, and 1994), winning five gold medals and one bronze. American snowboarding superstar Shaun White raised the profile of his sport by winning three gold medals in the halfpipe event (2006, 2010, and 2018).

During the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, American bobsledder Vonetta Flowers became the first Black athlete to win a Winter gold medal, and Canadian hockey player Jarome Iginla became the first Black male athlete to win Winter gold. American speed skater Shani Davis made more history at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. There he became the first Black athlete to win an individual Winter gold medal when he triumphed in the 1,000-meter long-track event. He repeated as the gold-medal winner of the 1,000-meter race in 2010.

Kenneth F. Sarubbi

Ed.