From Athens to Rio, in the The Winter Olympics are an international sports competition held every four years. The event, also called the Winter Games, includes cold-weather events on snow skiing, snowboarding, biathlon and ice figure skating, hockey, speed skating, curling, bobsled, luge, skeleton. With icy conditions, slick surfaces and freezing temperatures, technological innovation is especially important for the athletes and organizers of the Winter Olympics.
From an all-weather torch to a souped-up bobsled, check out some of the many inventions the Games have Although inspired by the ancient Greeks, the Olympic marathon is a thoroughly modern invention. When the Olympic Committee announced that Squaw Valley would be the There are two layers to every water polo match: the graceful athleticism above the water, and the rough play and cheap shots hidden beneath the surface. The Melbourne Olympics were a lot like a game of water polo.
The World Series—or Fall Classic—annually pits the pennant winners of the American and National leagues in a best-of-seven series for the Major League Baseball championship. The St. Singer Tina Turner was the main draw at the opening ceremony in San Francisco for the first Gay Games in , but city supervisor Doris Ward may have received the biggest reaction from the crowd. The Kentucky Derby, first held in at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, is the longest-running sports event in the United States.
In fact, prizes were awarded only to the winners, which began with a wreath made from the leaves of the sacred olive trees at Olympia. Victors were also allowed to erect a statue of themselves in the sacred Altis grove - the sanctuary of the Gods - at Olympia, now a UNESCO world heritage site, although only the wealthiest could afford to do this.
At the end of the festival the winners, along with their families and supporters, were invited to an elaborate feast. Greece is known for its searing summer temperatures, and that is exactly when the Games were held. This is because summer was the quietest time of the year for agricultural work, which was the lifeblood of the Greek economy. Not even the Olympics were more important than that.
Consequently, a summer Games meant that significantly more people were able to compete at and enjoy the festival. The ancient Olympics were so popular, that they were allowed to continue when Greece was conquered by the Romans. However, as time went on, the Games began to decrease in size and prestige, along with historical recordings of them.
The site at Olympia deteriorated due to numerous enemy invasions, in addition to earthquakes and floods. Top ten facts about the ancient Olympic Games There was wrestling, boxing, and running, but did you know that there were separate games for women, and that rule violations resulted in physical punishments?
Greek gymnast Lefteris Petrounias runs through the ancient stadium at Olympia before the Rio modern Olympic Games.
A recreation of the monumental statue of Zeus at Olympia. A discus thrower, a jumper and two javelin throwers take part in the Ancient Olympic Games. Although shot put was not an ancient Olympic event, the qualifying rounds of the Athens Olympic Games took place in the Ancient Stadium of Olympia.
The reverence for the winners extended to their extended family and their city of origin. The home cities of these winners basked in the fame of their Olympionkikes the winners at the Olympics and bestowed honors and privileges upon them, such as providing them with free dinners for life.
Tradition holds that cities will welcome back their Olympic winners by symbolically demolishing part of their defensive walls. In Roman times, Tiberius won the chariot race in 4 BCE, and in a scandalous turn of events, the th Olympiad was postponed until 69 CE so emperor Nero could compete in a special music competition and in the chariot race.
He won the race by fielding ten horses while all competitors could use four. In the end he was declared a winner even though he had abandoned the race, but the records were later expunged.
Because the games were integrated with the worship of Zeus--a Pagan god-- they were not approved by the Christians of the late Roman empire, and were banned in CE by emperor Theodosius I in his drive to purge all Pagan festivals. He also ordered the destruction of the temples of Olympia, and soon that the sanctuary along with the Olympic games were forgotten.
But years after Theodosius' ban, the modern Olympic revival began in , when the first modern Olympics convened in Athens with the patronage and leadership of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France.
For the occasion, the Hellenistic Panathenaic stadium was renovated to host the games in Athens. The first Greek to win the modern games was Spyridon Louis, a water seller who won the Marathon event. Since , the Olympics have occurred every four years in different countries interrupted only by the two World Wars , and they have become one of the largest sports entertainment events in the world, drawing billions of dollars in revenues, and enjoying wide participation by the vast majority of nations.
As a tribute to their ancient roots, before each Olympic event the Olympic flame is initiated in ancient Olympia, in the temple of Hera. In Greek mythology, Mt. Olympos was the home of the greatest of the Greek gods and goddesses. The ancient Olympic Games began in the year BC , when Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the stadion race, a foot race feet long. The stadion track at Olympia is shown here. According to some literary traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals or until BC.
From BC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries. Contrary evidence, both literary and archaeological, suggests that the games may have existed at Olympia much earlier than this date, perhaps as early as the 10th or 9th century BC. What's that, you ask?
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