About the Olympic Games
The History of the Olympic Games
An important tradition linking sport and culture, the Olympic Games boasts a history dating back well over 2,000 years.
The history of the Olympic Games may be disjointed in places, but the Games have well and truly made a comeback. Even the early festivals organised by the Ancient Greeks demonstrated the values that still form the core of the Olympic Spirit today. Moreover, in Antiquity, warring states observed a truce throughout the sporting competitions – a tradition that continues today, with the United Nations General Assembly adopting the Olympic Truce ahead of each edition of the Games. The history of the Games is incredibly rich and spans millennia.
The first written evidence of the official Games dates from 776 BC, when the Greeks began measuring time in Olympiads, or the duration between each edition of the Olympic Games. The first Olympic Games were held every four years in honour of the god Zeus. From then on, a number of artistic activities such as music, singing, poetry and theatre were organised at the Pythian or Delphic Games (a separate event to the Games held in Olympia), linking culture and sport right from the beginning of the Games.
In 393 AD, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games for religious reasons, claiming that they encouraged paganism. They were not revived until the modern era.
The Olympic Games revived in Paris
A number of initiatives to re-establish an international sporting event were attempted at the end of the 19th century, but failed due to the lack of coordination among the worldwide sporting movement – until one man decided to bring the main stakeholders together in Paris. The Olympic Games were therefore revived at the first Olympic Congress, organised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and held at the Grand Amphitheatre at the Sorbonne University from 16 to 23 June 1894. Two thousand people attended, including 58 French delegates representing 24 sports organisations and clubs, and 20 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States representing 13 foreign sports federations.
As the congress came to an end on 23 June, the Olympic Games were reborn and the International Olympic Committee created. The principles that guided Baron Pierre de Coubertin in this endeavour and inspired Olympism and the Olympic movement include :
- Promoting the development of the physical and mental qualities that form the foundation of sport;
- Educating young people through sport in a spirit of mutual understanding and friendship with a view to help build a better, more peaceful world;
- Sharing the Olympic ideals with the whole world and creating an international sense of goodwill; and
- Bringing together athletes from all over the world for a major celebration of sport every four years, the Olympic Games.
Women finally allowed to take part in the Olympics
The first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in Athens, in the country where the original Games took place in Antiquity, in April 1896. Paris hosted the second Games in 1900.
The Paris 1900 Olympic Games saw women compete for the first time. The first female Olympic champion was Charlotte Cooper, a British tennis player who won Wimbledon five times. Out of a total of 997 athletes, 22 were women, competing in just five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian events and golf. Of these disciplines, only golf and tennis included women‑only events. According to the Olympic Charter, the IOC's role is "to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women". Female participation in the Olympic Games has increased dramatically since; 48.9% of the athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Games are expected to be women, as opposed to 23% at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and just 13% at the 1964 Tokyo Games. The IOC has been working with international federations as well as the Olympic Games Organising Committees to increase the number of women's events at the Games for over 20 years. By adding a women's boxing event, the Games in London in 2012 were the first where women competed in all sports of the Olympic programme. At the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, 45% (5,059 women out of a total of 11,238) of the athletes were women. The Games of Tokyo in 2021 were the most equal yet, with 48.9% women athletes.
The development of the Olympic Games over the centuries
The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis (Missouri) were the first to distribute gold, silver and bronze medals, and also included the first known disabled athlete to compete in the Olympic Games, George Eyser. He won six medals in gymnastics, three of which were gold.
The Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 were the first to include competitors from all five continents represented by the Olympic rings. It was also the year that women made their debut in the swimming events.
From 1912 to 1948, artistic competitions were part of the modern Olympic Games, on the initiative of Pierre de Coubertin. Medals were awarded for sport‑related artwork falling in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. In 1920, the Games continued after having been cancelled in 1916 due to World War I. The Olympic flag and the Olympic Oath, written by Pierre de Coubertin, were revealed at the Games in Antwerp.
"We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in a spirit of chivalry, for the honour of our country and for the glory of sport."
Continue reading this article: olympics.com