The Olympics
Table
of Contents:
1.
Introduction and History
2.
The different sports
3.
Important records
4.All
Olympics held
5. Bibliography
An Introduction and a History
“For athletes, the Olympics are the
ultimate test of their worth.”~Mary Lou Retton.
We
all love watching sporting events. Especially the Olympics, the biggest
international sporting event there is. The Olympics are historically divided
into two parts: The ancient Olympics and the Modern Olympics. We all might have
a vague idea on how it started. Somewhere in Greece........right? Well, let's
go back to 776 BC.
The
first records of the ancient Olympics date back to 776 BC, when a cook named Koroibos
won a 600 meter foot race. After this, the Olympic games were held every four
years for almost twelve centuries! Back then, a footrace was the only event.
Slowly, over the years, more and more games were added such as boxing, chariot
racing, wrestling and the pentathlon.
The last ancient Olympics were thought to be held in 393 AD.
The
ancient games eventually lead to the formation of the International Olympic
Committee, which assembled in Paris in June in the year 1984 to discuss the
modern Olympic games. The Committee chose Olympia, Greece as the home for the
first Olympics because the ancient Olympics were believed to have originated
there.
At the first modern
Olympics, 241 male athletes (and no women) representing 14 nations competed in
43 events. James Connolly of America
became the first modern Olympic champion when he won the triple jump on the
opening day of the Games. For his achievement, he was awarded a silver medal
and an olive branch. Connolly later finished second in the high-jump event and
took third in the long jump.
France, Great Britain,
Germany and Greece had the largest number of athletes participating.
Nevertheless, the U.S. took home the most first-place finishes, 11 of any
nation, followed by Greece, 10 and Germany, 6. America placed first, second or
third in 20 events while Greece scored in 46 events and Germany placed in 13
competitions. To the delight of the Greek crowd, their runner Spyridon Louis
won the marathon. The first Olympics closed on April 15, 1896.
The second Olympics were
held in Paris in 1900 with 997 athletes, out of which 22 of them women from 24
countries competing in 95 events. The U.S. hosted the Olympics for the first
time in 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri. The third Olympics marked the first time
gold, silver and bronze medals were given out to first, second and third-place
finishers.
Long history, right???
Don't worry, you're at the end of this chapter.
The different
sports
In
the ancient Olympics, there were very few sports, mainly footraces, equestrian
events, chariot racing, pentathlon, discus, javelin, long jump, running, boxing
and wrestling. The winners were awarded olive leaf laurels.
The
modern Olympics have many more sports.
Important records
1. Nadia
Comaneci:
Nadia
Comaneci was born on November 12th, 1961 Onesti, Romania. She became famous at the age of 14
when she became the first Olympic gymnast to score a prefect 10. In fact,
when she received her score, it was
1.00 because the scoreboard couldn't show 10.00!
2. Michael Phelps:
Michael
Phelps was born on June 30th, 1985 in Towson, Maryland. He became
famous in swimming, especially the butterfly stroke. He holds not one, but
seven records!
3. Jesse Owens:
Jesse Owens was born on September 12th,
1916 in Oakville, Alabama. He became famous when he won four gold medals in the
1936 Olympic games in Berlin. These awards were incredibly important as at that
time, all the winners were Aryans.
4.
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton was born on January 24th,
1968. She became famous as the first American gymnast to score a 10 in the
Olympics.
Bibliography
http://thefw.com/olympic-facts/
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