THE OLYMPIC GAMES

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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• Objectives
• In the two lessons on the Olympics you should
  learn about-
• The History of the Ancient Modern Games.
• The Importance of The Olympics as an
  International event.
• The controversies surrounding various Games in
  the modern era
• The advantages and disadvantages of hosting the
  Olympics.

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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• A N C I E N T O LY M P I C GA M E S
• The first recorded Ancient Olympic Games were in
  776BC. They lasted for approximately
• 1000 years. Then in 394AD they were banned
  by the Roman Emperor, Theodosius.
• He forbade any pagan festivals, which
  included the Olympic Games.
• The Games were held in Olympia. A village in a
  sacred fertile valley, approximately 500km
• south west of Mount Olympus, after which
  it is named. Originally, organised as a
  religious, sporting and cultural festival, the
  Ancient Olympic Games were held in honour of
  Zeus, the father of the gods.
• The Ancient Greeks believed that both the body
  and mind needed discipline. They believed
• that those who practiced this discipline
  could best honour Zeus. The perfect human would
• come from a marriage of mind and muscle.
• The name Olympic is derived from Mount
  Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. The Games of
  Olympia were held in honour of Zeus. They were
  held every four years. This time span has become
  known as an Olympiad. Only Greek citizens were
  allowed to compete. For centuries Greece was
  divided into independent states. These states
  were often at war with one another. However,
  during the Olympic festival there was a
  guaranteed official truce, called the Ekecheiria.
  This allowed athletes to travel safely from their
  cities, across the Greek Empire, to take part in
  the Games. A violation of this truce was
  punishable by death. And yes they
• had to compete naked!!!!

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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• THE BIRTH OF THE NEW GAMES
• It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France who
  dreamt up this ambitious project. Drawing
  inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games, plus
  from Much Wenlock! Coubertin decided to create
  the modern Olympics and founded the International
  Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 in Paris. This
  new committee set itself the objective of
  organising the first modern games.
• The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 featured
  many references to the original Greek Games
• They were held in Athens as a reminder that the
  Olympic Games originated in Greece.
• Most of the sports on the programme of the
  ancient Olympic Games were echoed in the modern
  Games. The organisers even went as far as to
  invent the marathon

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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• De Coubertin liked the way that sport was
  organised in Britain and visited lots of events
  including the Henley Regatta this combined with
  the discovery of the ruins of the original
  stadium in Olympia gave him the push to start the
  Olympics.
• He believed that the games would promote world
  peace and harmony as
• seen in his quote which is still displayed
  on the scoreboards at each games.
• The most important thing in the Olympic Games is
  not to win but to
• take part. Just as the most important
  thing in life is not the triumph but the
• struggle

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The IOC which was originally chosen by the Baron
is now huge and has representatives from all the
countries who take part. They decide where the
games will take part and chose the city 6 years
before the event. At first not many cities
wanted the honour as the games are extremely
expensive and usually made a loss. This changed
after 1984 when because of marketing and
sponsorship the games resulted in a surplus It
now costs nearly as much to make a bid as host
the games!
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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• The Motto
• The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words
  
• Which means
• FASTER HIGHER STRONGER
• The Flame
• Link between the Games of antiquity and the
  modern Games Message of peace and friendship
  Lighting of the flame and organisation of the
  relay.

• Rings, motto and flame Transmitting the values
  of Olympism through symbols universality,
  excellence, peace and openness to others.
• The Rings
• Five interlacing rings to illustrate the
  universality of the Olympic Movement and the
  Olympic Games Rings and flag proposed by Pierre
  de Coubertin in 1914 Presence of the rings and
  flag at the Olympic Games Symbol recognised all
  over the world.
• Rings represent the five continents and the
  colours are in every flag in the world.

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THE OLYMPIC GAMES

• The Olympic games were the first major
  international sporting event and they are still
  the most important and successful of all the
  events that take place.
• However, things have not always run smoothly and
  nearly all of the recent one have been affected
  by problems of one sort or another.

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THE BERLIN GAMES 1936

• This was a games dominated by politics Hitler
  was in power and wanted the games to be a
  propaganda exercise for his ideals and beliefs.
  One of these was that the Aryan master race
  that people who were blond, fair and true Germans
  were superior to all others.
• However Jesse Owens a black USA athlete won 4
  gold medals and this along with many other black
  athletes winning medals foiled Hitler's plans.
• The USA team nearly hadnt gone to the games
  because they were concerned about what was
  happening to Jews and Black people in Germany
  under Hitler but this ended up being the best way
  to counteract his ideas to the world at large.
• It did make the IOC think much more carefully
  about who to let host the games from then on.

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THE MEXICO GAMES -1968

• Mexico was a very controversial games for several
  reasons. Firstly it was the first one to be held
  at high altitude helps athletes who train at
  altitude and those in short explosive events.
• Secondly Mexico was a very poor country and
  people worried that they would not be able to
  afford the games they were still paying the
  money off many years later.
• There were also several black American athletes
  who gave a black power salute during their medal
  ceremonies. This was to protest at the way black
  people were treated in America. Two athletes were
  sent home by the American team.

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THE MUNICH GAMES - 1972

• On the morning of September 5, with six days left
  in the Games, the worst tragedy in Olympic
  history hit. Eight Arab terrorists stormed into
  the Olympic village and raided the apartment
  building that housed the Israeli contingent. Two
  Israeli athletes were killed and nine more were
  seized as hostages. They demanded the release of
  over 200 Palestinians serving time in Israeli
  jails, along with two renowned German terrorists.
• After a day of unsuccessful negotiations, the
  terrorists collected the hostages and headed for
  the military airport in Munich for a flight back
  to the Middle East. At the airport, German
  sharpshooters opened fire, killing three of the
  Palestinians. A horrifying gun battle ensued,
  claiming the lives of all nine of the hostages,
  along with one policeman and two terrorists.

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THE MUNICH GAMES - 1972

• Athletic competition was suspended for 24 hours.
  During a day of mourning, a memorial service was
  held at the main stadium in front of 80,000
  spectators. In a controversial decision, IOC
  president Avery Brundage declared, "the Games
  must go on." And so they did, with the Olympic
  and national flags flying at half-mast.
• The most memorable footage from Munich should
  have been that of American swimmer Mark Spitz
  winning his seventh gold medal or 17-year-old
  Russian gymnast Olga Korbut wowing the world on
  the balance beam. Instead, we're left with
  disturbing photos of terrorists in ski masks and
  of a policeman standing on the roof of the
  compound waiting to pounce with a semi-automatic
  weapon. And ultimately we're left with the video
  of ABC announcer Jim McKay uttering his fateful
  words, "They're all gone."

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THE MONTREAL GAMES 1976

• South Africa had been banned from Tokyo Olympics
  because of apartheid.
• A New Zealand rugby team had toured South Africa
  and therefore upset African Nations.
• A total of 30 nations , mostly African, boycotted
  the Montreal Games as a consequence.
• This was the start of a long period of boycotts
  for various political reasons.
• The other reason that Montreal was notable was
  the cost of the games because of increased
  security after the Munich Games. It took Montreal
  many years to pay off the debt.

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THE MOSCOW GAMES - 1980

• The choice of Moscow was controversial due to a
  poor human rights record.
• The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan prior to
  the Games and when the games were due to begin
  they were still occupying the country.
• Many countries demanded that the Soviets withdrew
  but they refused many countries boycotted the
  games as a protest.
• As a result a total of 52 nation, including the
  USA and Canada boycotted and also individuals
  from many other teams decided that their
  consciences would not allow them to go.
• Many people felt that this devalued the Moscow
  Games particularly as the American team was
  always very strong i.e. that the standard
  wasnt as high.

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THE LOS ANGELES GAMES - 1984

• As the venue is chosen 6 years in advance the IOC
  could not avoid America staging the Games after
  they had boycotted the Moscow Games.
• The Soviet Union along with 14 other nations
  retaliated in turn by boycotting the Los Angeles
  Games. Security was the excuse but in reality it
  was tit for tat.
• Another excuse was that the Games were over
  commercialised and for the first time ever the
  Games ran at a large profit for the host city.
• This was against Communist ideals and thus was a
  perfect excuse to boycott.

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THE SEOUL GAMES - 1988

• Seoul is in S Korea and there had been a war
  between them and N Korea situation was still
  bad in 88.
• The IOC was criticized for awarding Seoul the
  games there was a lot of tension that the
  facilities wouldnt be ready and that N Korea
  would interfere.
• In the end there was little disruption and the
  games were quite successful.
• There were 5 boycotts including N Korea and Cuba
  but new rules meant that the countries who
  boycotted would not be involved in future
  decisions.
• The biggest controversy was drug related in all
  ten athletes were banned after testing positive.

• The most famous was Canadian Ben Johnson who won
  the 100m but was stripped of his title 2 days
  later.

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THE BARCELONA GAMES - 1992

• After all the previous controversial events the
  1992 were just about incident free.
• This is basically because the old Soviet Union
  had ceased to exist and the E. European Communist
  countries had collapsed and all these countries
  could now compete individually.
• South Africa were also welcomed back to fold as
  they had ended apartheid and entered a mixed race
  team.
• There were over 12,000 athletes competing in 257
  medal events.
• Drugs were still an issue and 3 Britons were sent
  home when they tested positive.

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THE ATLANTA GAMES - 1996

• Controversy raged before the games even started
  it was considered that the time of the games
  would result in potential danger for the athletes
  because of high humidity and temperatures but
  Atlanta had spent 6 yrs getting ready for the
  biggest games yet so it was decided to carry
  on.
• Measures were taken to help the athletes fans
  blowing fine mists of water particularly used
  in the equestrian events and marathons.
• There were problems due to the large numbers of
  media and spectators which meant crushes at many
  of the venues athletes were often held up
  getting to their event.
• Drugs were a problem Michelle Smith won 3 gold
  medals but insisted it was not due to drugs
  1997 tested positive and eventually banned in
  1999.

• On day 9 there was a tragedy a pipe bomb blast
  in Centennial Park (right next to the stadium)
  killed 1 person and injured 11. This brought new
  fears about the games being a terrorist target so
  security was greatly increased.

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THE NAGANO GAMES - 1998

• These winter Olympics were the first ones in
  which technological developments created big
  controversy.
• Dutch skaters used revolutionary skates with
  hinged mechanisms and a one piece body suit
  therefore much more aerodynamic.
• They presented the innovations to the
  International Speed skating Union for approval
  48hrs before the races so no one could copy them.
  They went on to win the first 4 places in the
  5000m race.
• The USA and Canadian teams also protested when
  the winner of the luge Georg Hackle wore
  aerodynamic boots which shaved 300th of a second
  off his time.

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THE SYDNEY GAMES - 2000

• Thought to be one of the most successful and
  friendly games of recent times. Very little in
  the way of controversy or major incident.
• The biggest controversy was the withdrawal of 27
  athletes and 13 team officials from the Chinese
  team just before the games. People thought that
  this was because they didnt want to risk drugs
  tests finding positive results.
• Drug testing at the games were the strictest ever
  and also the most advanced ever and low levels of
  performance particularly in the marathon was
  evidence that less cheating had taken place.
• Steve Redgrave also won his 5th Gold medal in
  rowing a record in an endurance event.

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• Find out about Olympic Games since 2000.
• 2002
• 2004
• 2006
• 2008
• 2010
• 2012

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Hosting the Games

• Why host the Olympic Games?
• The advantages to hosting the Games must outweigh
  the disadvantages as there is never a shortage of
  countries wanting to host it.
• In fact, countries spend hundreds of millions of
  pounds just on the bidding process!

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• Advantages
• Profit through sponsorship, media rights and
  merchandise. (Think of all the London 2012
  products on sale).
• Updated or new facilities that can be used for
  years to come.
• Raising the profile and reputation of the hosts
  in the eyes of the world.

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• Negatives
• Security and risk of terror attacks.
• Boycotts and political protests.
• High costs!

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• You will not be asked about any one Games but you
  are likely to be tested on issues relating to
  them and the advantages and disadvantages of
  hosting them.

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