FREE ESSAY ON OLYMPICS

OLYMPICS

The Olympic Games, an international sports competition, are held once every four years at
a different site, where athletes from different nations compete against each other in a
wide variety of sports. There are two classifications of Olympics, the Summer Olympics
and the Winter Olympics. Through 1992 they were held in the same year, but beginning in
1994 they were rescheduled so that they are held in alternate even-numbered years. For
example, the Winter Olympics were held in 1994 and the Summer Olympics in 1996. The
Winter Olympics were next held in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, while the Summer Olympics will
next occur in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
The Olympic Games are administered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is
headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC was created in Paris in 1894 as an
independent committee selecting its own members but to begin the process, however,
Coubertin himself chose the first 15 members(White 60). IOC members are officially
considered to be representatives from the IOC to their own nations, not delegates from
their own countries to the IOC(White 65). Most members are elected to the IOC after
serving on the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of their own countries. The first IOC
members were all from either Europe or the Americas, with the exception of one
representative from New Zealand. Currently, members from European and North American
countries still account for a majority of the IOC membership. IOC members must retire at
the end of the year in which they reach the age of 80, unless they were elected before
1966, in which case they can serve for life. 
The IOC oversees such functions as determining the site of the Olympic Games, the
establishment of worldwide Olympic policies, and the negotiation of Olympic television
broadcast rights. The IOC works closely with the NOCs and with the International Amateur
Athletic Federation (the international governing body for track and field), and other
international sports federations (ISFs) to organize the Olympics. The ISFs are
responsible for the international rules and regulations of the sports they govern(Gary
22). The IOC president, who is chosen by IOC members, is assisted by an executive board,
several vice presidents, and a number of IOC commissions. The IOC's first president,
Demetrius Vikelas of Greece (served 1894-1896), was succeeded by Coubertin himself
(1896-1925). The other IOC presidents have been Count Henri de Baillet-Latour of Belgium
(1925-1942), J. Sigfrid Edstrom of Sweden (1946-1952), Avery Brundage of the United
States (1952-1972), Michael Morris, Lord Killanin, of Ireland (1972-1980), and Juan
Antonio Samaranch of Spain (1980-) .
In order to host the Olympics, a city must submit a proposal to the IOC, and after all
proposals have been submitted, the IOC will vote. If no city is successful in gaining a
majority in the first vote, the city with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voting
continues with successive rounds, until a majority winner is determined. Typically the
Games are awarded several years in advance in the hopes of allowing the winning city
adequate time to prepare for the Games. In selecting the site of the Olympic Games, the
IOC considers a number of factors, mainly among them is which city has, or promises to
build, the best facilities, and which organizing committee seems most likely to stage the
Games effectively as well as efficiently. The IOC also considers which parts of the world
have not yet hosted the Games. For instance, Tokyo, the host of the 1964 Summer Games,
and Mexico City, the host of the 1968 Summer Games, were chosen in part to popularize the
Olympic movement in Asia and in Latin America(Gorman 69). Because of the growing
importance of television worldwide, the IOC in recent years has also taken into account
the host city's time zone. Whenever the Games take place in the United States or Canada,
American television networks are willing to pay significantly higher amounts for
television rights because they can broadcast popular events live, in prime viewing
hours.
Once the Games have been awarded, it is the responsibility of the local organizing
committee-not the IOC or the NOC of the host city's country-to finance them. This is
often done with a portion of the Olympic television revenues and with corporate
sponsorships, ticket sales, and other smaller revenue sources, such as commemorative
postage stamps or proceeds from a national lottery. In many cases there is also some
direct government support. Although many cities have achieved a financial profit by
hosting the Games, the Olympics can be financially risky. Montreal, Canada, for example,
spent a great deal of money preparing for the 1976 Summer Games which were due to
extensive design and construction costs for new facilities. When the proceeds from the
Games were less than expected, the city was left with large debts(White 28).
Although the Olympic Charter, the official constitution of the Olympic movement,
proclaims that the Olympics are contests among individuals and not among nations, the IOC
assigns to the various NOCs the task of selecting national Olympic teams. In most cases
the NOCs do this by holding Olympic trials or by choosing athletes on the basis of their
previous performances. From the start of the modern Olympic Games, male amateur athletes
of every race, religion, and nationality have been eligible to participate(White 36).
Although Coubertin opposed the participation of women in the Olympics and no women
competed in 1896, a few female golfers and tennis players were allowed to participate in
the 1900 Games (Gary 39). Female swimmers and divers were admitted to the 1912 Games, and
female gymnasts and track-and-field athletes first competed at the 1928 Games. Women's
Olympic sports have grown significantly since then, and currently women account for
approximately half of the members of teams, except in teams from Islamic nations, where
the level of female participation is generally lower.
Coubertin and the IOC intended from the start for the Olympics to be open only to
amateurs. Amateurism was determined by adherence to the amateur rule, which was
originally devised in the 19th century to prevent working-class athletes from
participating in sports such as rowing and tennis(Gary 21). The amateur rule prevented
athletes from earning any pay from activities in any way related to sports, and
working-class athletes could not afford both to make a living and train for competition.
Olympic rules about amateurism, however, have caused many controversies over the years.
Such questions as whether an amateur could be reimbursed for travel expenses, be
compensated for time lost at work, be paid for product endorsements, or be employed to
teach sports have been raised, but they have not always been satisfactorily resolved by
the IOC, leading to confusion about the definition of professionalism in different sports
(White 79). By 1983 a majority of IOC members acknowledged that most Olympic athletes
compete professionally in the sense that sports are their main activity. The IOC then
asked each ISF to determine eligibility in its own sport, and over the next decade nearly
all the ISFs abolished the distinction between amateurs and professionals, accepting
so-called open Games. One of the most visible examples of the policy change came in 1992,
when professional players from the National Basketball Association of the United States
were permitted to play in the Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.
The Olympic Games have always included a number of ceremonies, many of which emphasize
the themes of international friendship and peaceful co-operation. The opening ceremony
has always included the parade of nations, in which the teams from each nation enter the
main stadium as part of a procession. The Greek team always enters first, to commemorate
the ancient origins of the modern Games, and the team of the host nation always enters
last(Gary 25). The opening ceremony has evolved over the years into a complex
extravaganza, with music, speeches, and pageantry. The torch relay, in which the Olympic
Flame symbolizes the transmission of Olympic ideals from ancient Greece to the modern
world and was introduced as part of the opening ceremony at the 1936 Summer Games in
Berlin(Gary 26). In the relay the torch is lit in Olympia, Greece, and is carried over
several weeks or months to the Host City by a series of runners. After the last runner
has lit the Olympic Cauldron in the main Olympic stadium, the host country's head of
state declares the Games officially open, and doves are released to symbolize the hope of
world peace.
Two other important ceremonial innovations had appeared earlier at the 1920 Games in
Antwerp, Belgium. The Olympic Flag, with its five interlocking rings of different colors
against a white background, was flown for the first time. The five rings represent unity
among the nations of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe(Gary 27). Another
innovation occurring in 1920 was the first reciting of the Olympic Oath, taken in the
name of all the athletes by a member of the host's team. The oath asserts the athletes'
commitment to the ideals of sportsmanship in competition(Gorman 22). Medal ceremonies are
also an important part of the Modern Games. After each individual event during the Games,
medals are awarded in a ceremony to the first-, second-, and third-place finishers. The
ceremony occurs after each event, when these competitors mount a podium to receive gold
(actually gold-plated), silver (silver-plated), and bronze medals. While the national
flags of all three competitors are hoisted, the national anthem of the winner's country
is played. Some critics have suggested that because the medal ceremony seems to
contradict the IOC's vow to internationalism, these national symbols should be replaced
by the hoisting of the Olympic Flag and the playing of the official Olympic Hymn. 
Originally there was another parade of nations during the closing ceremonies of the
Games. At the end of the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia, the athletes broke
ranks and mingled together to celebrate the occasion, and this custom is continued
throughout subsequent games(Gorman 24). After the athletes join in the main Olympic
stadium in celebration, the president of the IOC invites the athletes and spectators to
meet again at the site of the next Games. The IOC president then declares the Games
officially over, and the Olympic Flame is extinguished.
While the exact origin is unknown, there have been many popular myths surrounding the
beginning of the Ancient Olympic Games. Two of the more popular myths surround the
legendary Hercules and a young hero named Pelops . The most common myth of the beginning
of the Ancient Olympics is the story of the hero Pelops and was displayed prominently on
the east pedimental sculptures of the Temple of Zeus. Pelops was a prince from Lydia in
Asia Minor who sought the hand of Hippodamia, the daughter of King Oinomaos of Pisa.
Oinomaos challenged his daughter's suitors to a chariot race under the guarantee that any
young man who won the chariot race could have Hippodamia as a wife. Any young man who
lost the race would be beheaded, and the heads would be used as decoration for the palace
of Oinomaos. With the help of his charioteer Myrtilos, Pelops devised a plan to beat
Oinomaos in the chariot race. Pelops and Myrtilos secretly replaced the bronze linchpins
of the King's chariot with linchpins made of wax. When Oinomaos was about to pass Pelops
in the chariot race, the wax melted and Oinomaos was thrown to his death. Pelops married
Hippodamia and instituted the Olympic games to celebrate his victory. A different version
of the myth refers to the Olympic games as funeral games in the memory of Oinomaos.
Another myth about the origin of the Olympic Games comes from the Tenth Olympian Ode of
the poet Pindar. He tells the story of how Hercules, on his fifth labor, had to clean the
stables of King Augeas of Elis. Hercules approached Augeas and promised to clean the
stables for the price of one-tenth of the king's cattle. Augeas agreed, and Hercules
re-routed the Kladeos and Alpheos rivers to flow through the stables. Augeas did not
fulfill his promise, however, and after Hercules had finished his labors he returned to
Elis and waged war on Augeas. Hercules sacked the city of Elis and instituted the Olympic
Games in honor of his father, Zeus. It is said that Hercules taught men how to wrestle
and measured out the stade, or the length of the footrace.
Although the exact origin is unknown the Ancient Olympic Games were held in a sacred
valley at Olympia in Elis near the western coast of Greece and the earliest recorded
Olympic competition was in 776 B.C. So important were these contests that time was
measured by the four-year interval between the Games with the term Olympiad describing
this period. It is a well established fact that religious festivals in honor of Olympian
Zeus had been observed in the sacred valley for several centuries previous to that remote
date. The Greek Games were celebrated in the belief that the spirits of the dead were
gratified by such spectacles as delighted them during their earthly life(Gorman 79).
During the Homeric age, these festivals were simply sacrifices followed by games at the
tomb or before the funeral pyre(White 49). Gradually they grew into religious festivals
observed by an entire community and celebrated near the shrine of the god in whose honor
they were instituted. The idea then developed that the gods themselves were present but
invisible and delighted in the services and the contests. 
Later these festivals lost their local character and became Pan-Hellenic. Four of these
festivals, Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian, had attracted world wide attention
but the one held at Olympia was by far the most important consecrated to the Olympian
Zeus. The Olympic Games became the greatest festival of a mighty nation. Once every four
years trading was suspended, the continuously warring states and the fighting tribes laid
down their arms, and all of the people went forth in peace to pay tribute to the manhood
of its nation(Gorman 82). The immediate site of the Games, the Stadium of Olympia, lay
towards the northeast of the Altis beyond Mount Kromion. It was an oblong area that was
about 643 feet in length and about 97 feet wide. It consisted of four sloping heights,
two at the sides and two at the ends. The one at the north had been cut into a hill,
while the other had been artificially formed by earth that had been taken from the arena.
The spectators sat on the grassy slopes which accommodated more than 40,000(White 50).
For the first 13 Olympiads, the competition consisted of a single race of 200 yards,
approximately the length of the stadium(Gorman 84) The race was called the Stade from
which our word stadium was derived. The first recorded victor in 776 B.C. was Coroebus of
Elis, a cook(Gorman 84). The athletes of Elis maintained an unbroken string of victories
until the 14th Olympiad at which time a second race of two lengths of the stadium was
added. In the 15th Olympiad, an endurance event was added in which the athletes went 12
times around the stadium, about 4 1/2 kilometers(Gorman 85). The athletes competed in
groups of four, which were determined by drawing lots with the winners meeting the other
winners until a final race was run(Gorman 86).
In 708 B.C., the Pentathlon and Wrestling events were introduced. In 688 B.C., Boxing; in
680 the Four Horse Chariot Race; in 648 the Pancration (a fierce combination of boxing
and wrestling), and in 580 the Armed Race where the men traversed the stadium twice while
heavily armed. In the pentathlon, those who jumped a certain distance qualified for the
spear throwing; the four best then sprinted the length of the stadium, the three best
then threw the discus, and the two best then engaged in a wrestling match to the finish.

The early rewards were simple crowns of wild olive, but, by the 61st Olympiad, it was
permitted in Olympia to erect statues in honor of the victors(Gary 72). However, the
athletes had to win three times before the statues could be made in their likeness.
Later, it was often the practice to make a breach in the walls of the city through which
the victorious athletes returned(Gary 73).
In the fifth century before the Common Era, the Games reached their climax; and they were
already showing their first sign of decay. Trying for records and specialization claimed
the interest of the crowd. The invasion of the Macedonians put an end to the Greek
city-states and, relieved of the political controversies, they devoted themselves
entirely to the Olympic Games. Instead of training their growing youth like the Greeks,
they merely hired athletes and nationalized them. During the middle of the second century
before the Common Era, Greece came under the domination of the Romans, who permitted the
Games to continue but they had little interest in them. Centuries passed and the Games
still continued but the high Olympic ideals were entirely discarded and profit alone
provided the incentive. In 393 A.D., the Emperor Theodosius forbade the Games
altogether(Gorman 102) but they had survived a period of nearly 300 Olympiads or
approximately 1200 years(Gary 78).
Full credit for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era must go to Baron
Pierre de Coubertin, who was born in Paris, Jan. 1, 1863 and who died at Geneva, Sept. 2,
1937(Gary 89). Very early in life he showed a taste for the study of literature, history,
and the problems of education and sociology(Gary 90). At the age of 17 he began to
scrutinise the weaknesses of his people who were trying to recover hope and self-respect
following the Franco-Prussian War. He concluded that three monarchies, two empires, and
three republics during a single century are not indicative of stability in the French
character(Gary 92). The solution, he believed rested in the development of the
individual.
Coubertin had sufficient means to travel, he therefore visited England and America where
he studied organised athletics conducted by students. He observed that competing for a
place on an athletic team
developed qualities of character whereas the attitude in French schools was that games
destroyed study(Gorman 118). He was convinced that he should devote his entire time and
energy to securing a reform in his own country. He decided to start at the bottom
because, as he expressed it, the foundation of real human morality lies in mutual
respect-and to respect one another it is necessary to know one another(Gary 92)
Coubertin was not an athlete but he chose athletics as his field. The first major sport
with which he associated himself was rowing, but when he attempted to bring the British
oarsmen to France or send the French oarsmen to compete at Henley, he found that the
British and French conceptions of amateurism were not the same(Gorman 120). This gave him
the idea of bringing together educators, diplomats, and sports leader for the purpose of
developing a universal understanding of amateurism so that the athletes of all nations
might meet on an equal basis.
Coubertin realized that to capture the attention of disinterested persons he would have
to originate something spectacular. He began to dream of a revival of the Olympic Games.
At a meeting of the Athletic Sports Union at Sorbonne in Paris, Nov. 25, 1892, be first
publicly announced the Olympic Games idea. Speaking at the conference, Coubertin said,
Let us export oarsmen, runners, fencers; there is the free trade of the future-and on the
day when it shall take place among the customs of Europe the cause of peace will have
received a new and powerful support(Gorman 125).
However, his proposal to revive the Olympic Games went for naught as his auditors failed
to grasp the significance of the idea. His next opportunity came in the spring of 1894 at
an international congress which he had assembled for the purpose of studying the
questions of amateurism. At this meeting, official delegates from France, England, the
United States, Greece, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, were in attendance.
Hungary, Germany, Bohemia, Holland and Australia sent proxies or letters. Seven questions
concerning the problem of amateurism were on the agenda and Coubertin took the liberty of
adding an eighth, Regarding the possibility of the revival of the Olympic Games(Gorman
125). Coubertin imparted his enthusiasm so well that it was unanimously agreed on June
23, 1894 to revive the Games and an International Committee was formed to look after
their development and well-being(Gorman 130). 
Two years later in 1896 Greece celebrated in the rebuilt stadium of Athens the first
Olympic Games of the present cycle and from this beginning, the world's greatest athletic
spectacle was established. Only the ceaseless labor, the tenacity and the perseverance of
Baron de Coubertin accomplished and perfected this great work. Its main organization
benefited from his methodical and precise mind and from his wide understanding of the
aspirations and needs of youth. In fact, Coubertin was the sole director of the Games in
regards to their form and character; the Olympic Charter and Protocol and the athlete's
oath were his creation, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games(Gary
95). In addition, until 1925, he personally presided over the IOC, assuming single-handed
all the administrative and financial duties. The work of Coubertin was, above all, a work
of peace but there is one basic fact, almost universally misunderstood which is that
peace is not the major aim of the Olympic Games.
Peace, Coubertin hoped and believed, would be furthered by the Olympic Games . . . 
but peace could be the product only of a better world; a better world could be brought 
about only by better individuals; and better individuals could be developed only by the 
give and take, the buffeting and battering, the stress and strain of fierce competition.

Although they were founded as part of a vision of world peace, once the modern Olympic
Games became a truly important international event they also became a stage for political
disputes. The most controversial Olympics were the Berlin Games of 1936. The IOC had
voted in 1931 to hold these Games in Berlin, before IOC members could have known that the
Nazi movement would soon control the country. When it became known in the early 1930s
that under the rule of the Nazis, German Jewish athletes were being barred from the 1936
German team which was in violation of the Olympic Charter, many Americans demanded a
boycott of the 1936 Games. The boycott movement failed because Avery Brundage, head of
the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) at the time, was convinced by German officials
that Jewish athletes would be permitted to try out for the German team(Gary122). In fact,
only two Jewish athletes were named to the 1936 German Olympic team, and both were of
mixed religious backgrounds.
There have been several boycotts of the Olympics by various countries. In 1956 the
Egyptian, Lebanese, and Iraqi teams boycotted the Melbourne Games to protest the invasion
of Egypt by the United Kingdom, France, and Israel that had occurred earlier that year.
Major boycotts of the Olympics occurred in 1976, 1980, and 1984. In 1976 many African
nations demanded that New Zealand be excluded from the Montreal Games because its rugby
team had played against South Africa, then under the rule of supporters of apartheid, the
official policy of racial segregation followed in that country from 1948 to the early
1990s. When the IOC resisted the demands of the African countries with the argument that
rugby was not an Olympic sport, athletes from 28 African nations were called home by
their governments.
The issue in the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Games was the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
by the USSR. Although American President Jimmy Carter forced the USOC to refuse the
invitation to attend the Moscow Games, many other NOCs defied their governments' requests
that they boycott the Games(Gary 124). Once Carter acted to spoil the Moscow Games and
after 62 nations did boycott the Games it became clear that the USSR and its allies would
retaliate with another boycott at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Although Romania did
send a team to Los Angeles, 16 of the USSR's other allies boycotted the Los Angeles
Games.
From the 1940s to the 1980s, the IOC also had to deal with the political problems caused
by divided nations. One example was the dilemma concerning the Chinese Olympic team,
which developed in 1949 after the political division of China into the People's Republic
of China on the mainland and the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. The issue was
whether the Chinese people would be represented by a team from the mainland or by a team
from Taiwan. In 1952 the IOC decided to invite both Chinas, but this decision led to
decades of boycott by the government of mainland China, which did not send a team to the
Olympics until the Lake Placid Games in 1980. 
Another political issue arose in 1949, because of the formal political division of
Germany that year into East Germany and West Germany. This division created the question
of whether there was to be one German team or two. The IOC tried to solve this problem by
insisting on a combined German team. Negotiations lasted several years, and this solution
was first tested at the Melbourne Games in 1956; it lasted until the Munich Games in
1972, for which two teams were formed. There continued to be two German teams until 1992,
by which time the countries had reunited. The IOC also had to cope with racial
segregation in South Africa. The IOC voted in 1968 to exclude the South African team from
Olympic competition in order to bring pressure on the government to give up its policy of
apartheid. The South Africans were not readmitted until the Barcelona Games in 1992-by
which time apartheid had been discontinued.
Violence has also occurred at the Olympic Games. In the midst of the 1972 Munich Games,
the Olympic movement experienced its most tragic hour. A band of Palestinian terrorists
made their way into the Olympic village, murdered two members of the Israeli team, and
took nine hostages. When the IOC, meeting in emergency session, learned that a gunfight
had broken out and that all nine hostages were dead, along with five of the terrorists,
the Games were suspended for a day. The IOC's controversial decision to resume the Games
that year was endorsed by the Israeli government.
Having survived a century of warfare and political turmoil, the Olympic Games have become
very successful in recent years, gaining more popularity and generating more money than
ever before. A great deal of this popularity and wealth is due to the development of
satellite communications and global telecasts. Not only can more and more people see the
Games, but the opportunity developed to sell television rights to the Games for hundreds
of millions of dollars. With their share of this income, organizing committees can now
stage spectacular Games without fear of the huge indebtedness incurred by Montreal's
organizing committee in 1976. With more money, the IOC can also subsidize the development
of sports in less affluent nations. In return for their money, however, television
networks have gained a strong influence on when, where, and how the Olympics will take
place. The Olympic movement has also become dependent on multinational corporations, who
pay millions of dollars to become official sponsors of the game and to use Olympic
symbols in their advertisements which has led to the mass commercialization of the
Olympic movement. However Pierre de Coubertin's dream has lasted over 25 Olympiads and
will no doubt continue remain in the hearts of the world with the Olympic ideals carrying
on well into the future.
The Games of the Olympiads and The Cities of the Olympic Games
Summer Winter 
I 1896 Athens, Greece 
II 1900 Paris, France 
III 1904 St. Louis, USA 
IV 1908 London, England 
V 1912 Stockholm, Sweden 
VI 1916 Cancelled due to W.W.I 
VII 1920 Antwerp, Belgium 
VIII 1924 Paris, France 1924 I Chamonix, France 
IX 1928 Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1928 II St. Moritz, Switzerland 
X 1932 Los Angeles, USA 1932 III Lake Placid, USA 
XI 1936 Berlin, Germany 1936 IV Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany 
XII 1940 Cancelled due to W.W.II 1940 Cancelled due to W.W.II 
XIII 1944 Cancelled due to W.W.II 1944 Cancelled due to W.W.II 
XIV 1948 London, England 1948 V St. Moritz, Switerland 
XV 1952 Helsinki, Finland 1952 VI Oslo, Norway 
XVI 1956 Melbourne, Australia 1956 VII Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy 
XVII 1960 Rome, Italy 1960 VIII Squaw Valley, U.S.A. 
XVIII 1964 Tokyo, Japan 1964 IX Innsbruck, Austria 
XIX 1968 Mexico City, Mexico 1968 X Grenoble, France 
XX 1972 Munich, Germany 1972 XI Sapporo, Japan 
XXI 1976 Montreal, Canada 1976 XII Innsbruck, Austria 
XXII 1980 Moscow U.S.S.R 1980 XIII Lake Placid, U.S.A. 
XXIII 1984 Los Angeles, USA 1984 XIV Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 
XXIV 1988 Seoul, South Korea 1988 XV Calgary, Canada 
XXV 1992 Barcelona, Spain 1992 XVI Albertville, France 
XXVI 1996 Atlanta U.S.A 1994 XVII Lillehammer, Norway 
XXVII 2000 Sydney, Australia 1998 XVIII Nagano, Japan 
Bibliography
Gary, Austin. (1986). Development of the Olympic Games. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
Gorman, David. (1998) A Detailed Account of the Olympic Games. New York: Basic Books. 
Miller, Andrew. (1994). Olympic Stories. London: Sage Publishers. 
White, Matt.