Ancient vs. Modern Olympics

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Ancient vs. Modern Olympics

• Amy Ard

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Modern Olympics
The Modern Olympic flag of five linked rings,
each with a primary color used in the flags of
the nations competing in the games, was
introduced in 1908.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are awarded to
winners of each event.
The idea of the Olympic torch or Olympic Flame
was first inaugurated in the 1928 Olympic Games
in Amsterdam. There was no torch relay in the
ancient Olympic Games.
The selection of a city to host each Olympics,
winter or summer, is made by the International
Olympic Committee (IOC).
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Gymnastics (Xinhua)

• Shawn Johnson on the beam
• Johnson, 16-year-old gymnast, did not miss her
  last chance of Olympic gold. She scored 16.225
  after a flawless routine.

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Gymnastics (Photo
credit Xinhua)

• Shawn Johnson (C), Nastia Liukin (L), and Cheng
  Fei
• Medal Ceremony afteer balancebeam trials.

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Swimming
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

• Michael Phelps dives into the water to begin the
  men's 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay for the U.S.,
  which won the event and gave Phelps his fifth
  gold medal of the Beijing Games.

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Swimming (Photo
credit Al Bello/Getty Images)

• American Michael Phelps achieved what many
  thought impossible on the ninth and final day of
  Swimming on Sunday at the National Aquatics
  Center landing his eighth gold medal in the Men's
  4 x 100m Medley Relay.
• (L-R)Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Michael
  Phelps and Jason Lezak

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Womens Water Polo Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles
Times
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Soccer
Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

• Benny Feilhaber, center, and Brian McBride of the
  U.S. battle for the ball with Nigeria's Chibuzor
  Okonkwo during asoccer match.

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Diving Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles
Times

• Kai Qin, foreground, and Feng Wang hold their
  form as they dive during the Men's 3 meter
  Synchronized Springboard final at Beijing's
  National Aquatic Center

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Basketball MN Chan / Getty
Images

• Chris Paul, 6-0, GuardThe runner-up in the NBA
  MVP race, the New Orleans Hornet floor leader is
  a do-everything guard who averaged 24.1 points
  and 11.3 assists last season

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Fencing Wally Skalij / Los
Angeles Times

• Mariel Zagunis, left, gets her foot stepped on by
  fellow American Sada Jacobson but manages to get
  a point in the women's individual sabre
  competition. Zagunis won the gold medal and
  Jacobson the silver Saturday.

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Volley Ball Wally Skalij / Los
Angeles Times

• Todd Rogers, left, and Phil Dalhausser collide
  while returning a serve against Switzerland

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Badminton Robert Gauthier / Los
Angeles Times

• Satoko Suetsuna of Japan lines up a shot in a
  badminton match against China. Suetsuna and
  Miyuki Maeda won the match, defeating the
  defending Olympic doubles champions, Wei Yang and
  Jiewen Zhang.

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Weightlifting
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

• Weightlifter Alexandra Escobar of Ecuador falls
  while attempting a lift in the finals of the
  women's 58kg group. Escobar finished fifth in the
  finals.

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Wrestling (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

• Eusebiu Iancu Diaconu of Romania, in blue, flips
  China's Jiang Sheng during a match in the 60kg
  men's Greco-Roman wrestling competition

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Baseball Kathy Willens / Associated
Press

• U.S. catcher Lou Marson prepares to tag out
  Taiwan's Chen Chin-Feng at home plate after a
  strong throw from right fielder Nate Schierholtz
  to end the sixht inning Tuesday.

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Table Tennis (Ping Pong) Scott
Strazzante / Chicago Tribune

• USA's Chen Wang, top, returns a serve by
  Netherland's Li Jiao. Wang wins this game

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Track and Field (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles
Times)

• Kerron Clement of the U.S. easily wins the men's
  44-meter hurdles in Round 1 at the 2008 Beijing
  Olympics.

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Kayaking ( Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

• Slovakia kayaker Elena Kaliska speeds down
  Beijing's slalom course on her way to an Olympic

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Ancient Olympics

• The ancient Olympic Games was a part of a major
  religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek
  god, was the biggest event in their world.
• Women were not allowed to compete
• A winner received a crown made from olive leaves,
  and was entitled to have a statue of himself set
  up at Olympia.

Olympia home to all the Ancient Olympics.
Prizes awarded were wreaths of olives.
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Boxing

• Ancient boxing had fewer rules than the modern
  sport. Boxers fought without rounds until one man
  was knocked out, or admitted he had been beaten.
  Unlike the modern sport, there was no rule
  against hitting an opponent when he was down.
• Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the
  University Museums, University of Mississippi

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Chariot race

• There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse
  chariot races, with separate races for chariots
  drawn by foals. Another race was between carts
  drawn by a team of 2 mules. The course was 12
  laps around the stadium track (9 miles).
• Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the
  Tampa Museum of Art

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Pankration

• This event was a grueling combination of boxing
  and wrestling. Punches were allowed, although the
  fighters did not wrap their hands with the boxing
  himantes. Rules outlawed only biting and gouging
  an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with
  fingernails. Attacks such as kicking an opponent
  in the belly, which are against the rules in
  modern sports, were perfectly legal.
• Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the
  Toledo Museum of Art

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Pentathlon

• This was a 5-event combination of discus,
  javelin, jumping, running and wrestling.

Javelin
Discus
Jump
The javelin was a man-high length of wood, with
either a sharpened end or an attached metal
point. It had a thong for a hurler's fingers
attached to its center of gravity, which
increased the precision and distance of a
javelin's flight.
Athletes used lead or stone jump weights
(halteres) shaped like telephone receivers to
increase the length of their jump. The halteres
were held in front of the athlete during his
ascent, and forcibly thrust behind his back and
dropped during his descent to help propel his
body further.
The ancient Greeks considered the rhythm and
precision of an athlete throwing the discus as
important as his strength. The discus was made
of stone, iron, bronze, or lead, and was shaped
like a flying saucer. Sizes varied, since the
boys' division was not expected to throw the same
weight as the mens'.
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Wrestling

• Part of the Pentathlon. Trainer watching
  wrestlers Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy
  of The University of Pennsylvania Museum of
  Archaeology and Anthropology

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Running

• There were 4 types of races at Olympia. The
  stadion was the oldest event of the Games.
  Runners sprinted for 1 stade (192 m.), or the
  length of the stadium. The other races were a
  2-stade race (384 m.), and a long-distance run
  which ranged from 7 to 24 stades (1,344 m. to
  4,608 m.).
• And if these races weren't enough, the Greeks had
  one particularly grueling event which we lack.
  There was also a 2 to 4-stade (384 m. to 768 m.)
  race by athletes in armor. This race was
  especially useful in building the speed and
  stamina that Greek men needed during their
  military service. If we remember that the
  standard hoplite armor (helmet, shield, and
  greaves)weighed about 50-60 lbs, it is easy to
  imagine what such an event must have been like.

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Websites

• http//www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
• http//www.museum.upenn.edu/new/olympics/olympicor
  igins.shtml
• http//www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp