When Richard Chandler, an archeologist, found the location of the olden Olympic Games in 1766, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who took a trip to the site, believed that this tradition should be revived. Baron Pierre visualized that an international competition for different sports could promote worldwide peace and unity among countries. Because of his vision, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded.
The Ancient Olympic Games
It is believed that the Olympics started on 776 B.C. in Olympia's valley found in southwest Greece. Since the event was held in Olympia, it became famously known as Olympic Games. As a symbol for the opening of the event, the altar of Zeus was lit with a flame. The extinguishing of the flame marked the end of the event.
Based on historical Olympic records which were stored by Hippias, the first race by foot was done in Western Peloponnese of Olympia in 776 BC. The foot race was for the honor of Zeus, a Greek god. The first winner of the race called "stade" was Coroebus from Elis who was a cook by profession. "Stade" was a sprint race that covered a total distance of 210 yards. As a reward, a "kotinos", wreath made of wild olive, served as the crown and was given the special recognition and honors in the home city.
From the single sport which was "stade," the event also included other famous sports such as boxing, equestrian event, pankration, wrestling and pentathlon where the player has to jump, run, throw a javelin and discus and wrestle. Based on historical records, in 369 A.D., Varasdates had the last entry as a boxing champion. After being held every four years for the last 1100 years, the Olympic Games never happened again when Emperor Theodosius banned it because of belief that it was a pagan activity.
After 1525 years, the Olympics became alive again so that it would change the way people compete. Instead of destroying each other, the Olympic Games was believed to settle any rivalry into friendly and noble competition.
The Modern Olympic Games
In 1892, Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed the revival of Olympics but this was rejected during an international conference for sports. In 1894, Coubertin gathered enough support from nine countries to approve the revival of Olympic Games.
The initial plan was to hold the event in Paris in 1900 but, because of the enthusiasm of Greeks, the event took places in 1896 and the location was changed to Athens of Greece.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin became the president of IOC in 1896 and had thrown huge effort to promote the unpopular Olympic Games. After several years of hard work, in 1924, a really successful Olympic Games event was celebrated in Paris. 3000 athletes from 44 nations joined.
At present, athletes from all over the world compete to get a medal from this prestigious competition. Countries choose their best athletes and invest on them to make sure that they will be the best for a sports competition on Olympic Games.
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