The Olympics

The Olympics were invented by the ancient Greeks in honors of their god. There were a lot of contests the first one called The Isthmos game were held every two years and it where held in the Isthmos of Corinth. The second contest was The Pythian Games and it took place every four years which were held near Delphi but the famous games was took place in Olympia in the south west of Greece and it was organized every four years.

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Olympics/

The Olympics started in 776 BC at Olympia in Greece it was held in the wooded valley of Olympia in Elis. The Eleans traced the founding to the Olympic Games to their king Iphitos. At first there was only one Olympic event 200 yard dash, it was called a stadium and it was the only event until 724 BC, two more racing event were added. In 726, 24-stadia event started and in 708 the pentathlon was enrolled among other event like wrestling, running, throwing discus, hurling the javelin and leaping which in that time boxing, a chariot race and other games were held in. The winners were crowned wreaths made of olive tree which have grown behind of Zeus Temple. According to the ancient Greeks this tree was planted by the founder of the games Hercules. Even through wars the Olympics Games were still held without interruptions. It was held in 480 BC during the war with the Persians. The games took place every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD. It was abolished by Emperor Theodosius I the Christian byzantine emperor. There was an attempt to revive it again and it became successful because of a French baron called Pierre de Coubertin, who started the Olympics in France in the late 19^th century. In March 24, 1896 in Athens, Greece held the first modern Olympic Games.

According to the tradition of Hippias of Elis ca. 400 BC, the events of the Olympic Games were added to the program in the following order.

Year	Olympiad	Event
776 BC	1st Olympiad	Stadium race
724 BC	14th Olympiad	double-stadium race
720 BC	15th Olympiad	long-distance race
708 BC	18th Olympiad	Pentathlon
708 BC	18th Olympiad	Wrestling
688 BC	23rd Olympiad	Boxing
680 BC	25th Olympiad	4-horse chariot race
648 BC	33rd Olympiad	horse race
648 BC	33rd Olympiad	Pankration
520 BC	65th Olympiad	race in armor
408 BC	93rd Olympiad	2-horse chariot race

http://www.nostos.com/olympics/

The games at Olympia were only for Greeks and no one from other country was participating in the games. In the 2^nd century, the roman was extended to every part of their empire and from that on other nationality can compete in the Olympics games. After the Greek government put back the games together again in 1896, it became international and competitors from all over the world were attracted to the Olympic Game. Athletes worldwide shown off their skill and abilities in a competition called the Olympics games. Nearly every country selects the best athletes and team and sends them to take part in the games. There are two Olympics games contests, Summer Olympics Games and the Winter Olympics Games. The summer games include many events like basketball, gymnastics, shooting, football, track and field, handball, swimming, cycling, water games and archery. The winter games include ice sports such as hockey, skiing, skating, bobsledding and biathlon. The decathlon is considering the most thrilling track and field event. Decathlon is came from the Greeks which is mean ten contest, deka means ‘ten’ and thlon means ‘contest’. The participants in this event have to complete the ten events, running, jumping, and throwing events and the one with the highest scoring total points it will be the winner of this event. Another Olympic event the marathon race, it covers 26 miles its honor Pheidippides the Greek runner who ran from Marathon to Athens to tell about the victory against the Persians. http://www.nostos.com/olympics/

The IOC is stands for International Olympic Committee. It was founded in 1894 in Paris, France. The International Olympic Committee headquarter are based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The first committee had 14 members only, nowadays there about 70 committee members and they are considers as ambassadors from the committee to any kind of sport organizations and for promoting young athlets. There is only one member from each country and the elected presidents of the IOC can be president for eight years. http://www.nostos.com/olympics/

The Olympic flag have 5 circles each one represent one continent, Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games

Bibliography

"Ancient Greece - Olympic Games." Ancient Greece. Web. 16 Jan. 2012.

Home Page." New Nostos Home Page. Web. 16 Jan. 2012

Olympic Games." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Jan. 2012