Yogita Singh explains about the Olympics games and it’s evolution.
INTRODUCTION
Olympics is the world’s largest and leading international sporting festival. More than 200 nations and 13000 athletes participate. Olympics are held in a 4 years’ span. These games are based on games that were held in Greece 3000 years ago. Heracles called the games as ‘Olympics’, which is conducted by International Olympics Committee.
In 21st century Paralympic games, youth Olympic games and winter Olympic games were added. Paralympic games are for disabled people and the youth games are for children below 19 years of age. The winter games are also held for ice and winter sports. Athletes with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions are rewarded with gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. The games are represented with a symbol of 5 rings on the unity of 5 continents, namely – Europe, Oceania, Asia, America and Africa. These rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red in color. The motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”– a Latin term meaning “faster, higher, stronger”, which was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia and is then taken to the host nation.
ANCIENT OLYMPICS
The Olympic games started in 776 BC at Olympia in Greece. Historians believe that games held in 776BC were not the first, but they were the first organized games held in that era. The first Olympic game was the 200 yard dash. In 724 BC, two-stadia race was added. Winners were crowned with wreath from a sacred olive tree and were glorified by the people. These games included athletic and combat games, which were fought between the city states and kingdom of Greece. These games were held in honor of Zeus and Pelops every four years as a custom. In ancient games, women were not allowed to participate or watch these games. These games lost their significance when the Romans took over the Greeks. They destroyed Olympic spirit and in 394 AD, Theo dosins abolished Olympics.
MODERN OLYMPICS
French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin gave new life to Olympics in 1894, by forming International Olympics Committee with an intention of revival and restoring the ancient Olympic games. He endorsed these games keeping in mind that international competition between athletes would promote friendly relations and cooperation among people of different countries. First Olympics were held at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896. There were 14 nations and 241 athletes which participated in 43 events. Subsequently, Olympics was held in 1900, 1904 in Paris and St. Louis respectively. After the success of these games, great public interest was developed internationally. This made Olympics popular and also the size of Olympics grew.
RIO OLYMPICS 2016
The latest, 31st Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 5 August to 21 August 2016. More than 11,000 athletes and 200 nations participated in these games. There were 28 Olympic sports, 306 events for 306 set of medals for competitions held at 38 venues in the host city. Brazil became the first South American country to host the summer Olympics. Mascot of these games was ‘Vinicius’, named after musician Vinicius de Mores, representing Brazil’s wildlife. Official emblem was a logo representing three figures joined at their arms and feet, with overall shape reflecting that of Sugarloaf mountain. “Green games for a blue planet” was the theme of the games showing concern and importance on sustainability and environment protection.
United States won the most number of medals, with 46 gold medals. The second was Great Britain with 27 gold medals, and China stood at third position with 26 gold medals. India won 1 silver and 1 bronze.
The games were surrounded by various controversies including doping scandal of Russian athletes, safety concern due to Zika virus, instability of Brazilian government and funding related issues. However, the games took place as scheduled and were a great success.
INDIA IN OLYMPICS
India first participated in Olympics in 1900 after skipping 1896 games, in which Norman Pritchand won 2 silver medals. After this, India participated in all the Olympic games. From 1920, India started sending teams for Olympics. India fetched most number of medals (11) in field hockey, of which 8 are gold. Khashalsa Dada Saheb Jadhav won first individual medal for India in wrestling in the year 1952. First women medal was won by Karnam Malleswari in wrestling in the year 2000. First individual gold was won by Abhinav Bindra in shooting in the year 2008.
In the latest edition of Olympics -Rio Olympics – India sent its largest contingent of 123 which fetched 1 silver (by P V Sindhu) and 1 bronze (by Sakshi Malik). After the efforts put in by government different sports organizations and athletes, India is also turning into a sporting nation and India’s future also looks bright in Olympics.
WOMEN IN OLYMPICS
In ancient Olympics, women were not allowed to participate in games. They were prohibited to enter the stadium in which games were held as they were considered impure to enter the sacred place. Even in the first modern Olympics, women were absent. In 1900, women participation in Olympics started. The first female Olympic participant was Helene de Pourtales and gold medalist was England’s Charlotte Cooper. After the efforts put in by IOC, women’s participation increased. The Olympics of 2012 were the only games where every participating country included atleast female athlete. Women participation in the games promotes gender equality and equal opportunity.
CONCLUSION
In modern day Olympics, thousands of athletes from different nations from all over the world participate and unite nations throughout the world. These competitions are not only about competition, but they are also about other cultures and similarities of cultures. There are youth games for teenagers which promote friendly spirit and cooperation among our next generation. Paralympics help in changing public attitude towards disabled people. These games have some motto and some themes through which they propagate and create awareness among the people. These games contribute a lot to the society and should be endorsed and spread.
