UNIT: 2

INTRODUCTION
The Olympic movement deals with understanding the
development of Olympic games from when they
started to the present. The goal of the Olympic
movement is to contribute to build a peaceful and
better world. It includes educating the youth through
the practice of sports in the Olympic spirit and without
any discrimination. It requires mutual understanding
with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

ANCIENT AND MODERN

OLYMPICS
ANCIENT OLYMPIC (BEFORE 1896)
HISTORY
According to historical records, the first ancient
Olympic games can be traced back to 776bc. There
were a series of athletic competitions held for
representatives of various city states of ancient Greece
held in honor of Zeus. They were staged on the ancient
plains of Olympia in Greece. The games were usually
held every fourth year. They continued for nearly 20
centuries, until emperor Theodosius ordered in 393
A.D. to ban the Olympic games.

The games and religion

The Olympic games were closely linked to the religious
festival of the worship of Zeus, but they were not an
integral part of a religious ceremony. Indeed, they had
a secular character and aimed to show the physical
qualities and evolution of the performances
accomplished by young people, as well as encouraging
good relation between the cities of Greece. According
to specialist, the Olympic games owed their purity and
importance to religion.

The Games
The ancient games were initially a one-day event until
684BC, when they were extended to three days. In the
5th century B.C., the games were extended again to
cover 5 days. The ancient games includes running, long
jump, shot put, javelin, boking, pankration and
equestrian events. All free male Greece citizens were
entitled to participate in ancient Olympic games,
regardless of their social status. Married women were
not allowed to participate or watch the games nut
unmarried had their own games. During the
celebration of the games, an Olympic truce was
enacted so that athletes could travel from other
counties to the games in safety. The ancient stadium in
Olympic could accommodate more than 40,000
spectators, while in the surrounding areas there were
auxiliary buildings which developed gradually up until
the 4th century B.C. and were used as training sites for
the athletes or to house the judges of the games.

VICTORY CEREMONIES
The first Olympic champion listed in the records was
koroibos of Elis, a cook, who won the sprint race in 776
B.C. The Olympic victor received his first award
immediately after the competition. Following the
announcement of the winner’s name by the herald, a
hollandaise would place a palm branch in his hand,
while the spectators cheered and threw flowers on
him. Red ribbons were tied on his head and hands as a
mark of victory. The official award ceremony would
take place on the last day of the games, at the elevated
vestibule of the temple of Zeus. In the loud voice, the
herald would announce the name of the Olympic
winners, his father’s name, and his homeland. Then,
the hellanodikis placed the scared olive tree wreath, or
kotinos, on the winners’ head.

RULES OF ANCIENT OLYMICS

1. The participant should be free born Greece.
2. The amateurs were allowed to participate.
3. The competitors must have at least 10 months of
training prior to their participation in the Olympic, the
last and final month being spent at Olympic under the
control of the official judges of the games (the
hellanodikis).
Because of the addition of more events from time the
duration of the games was extended to five days.
The programme of the Olympics games consisted of
individuals sports only, there were no team sports. The
competitions took place in the stadium and the
hippodrome.
1. first day, the athletes, as well as the judges, took an
oath to respect the rules. Contests for trumpet-players
and heralds followed this ceremony, the winners of
which had the honour of making the announcement
during the games. After the soundings of the trumpet,
the name of the event, the arrival of the competitors
and the names of the winners were announcement
loudly by these veritable “speakers” of their era.
2. second days, the equestrian events took place in the
hippodrome. The most popular event was the four-
horse chariot race (quadriga). There were also chariot
race for young houses and a mounted horse race.it
must ne noted that the winners were not the jockeys or
the charioteers, but rather the owners of the horses.
3. third day was devoted to the official sacrifice
ceremonies in honour of Zeus and other divinities.
4. fourth day the foot races took place in the stadium.
There were several types of races: the stadium race
covered one length of the stadium, that is roughly 192
m. the dolichols, a long-distance race (from 7 to 24
laps).
The race in arms (in Olympia it was a diaulos ), where
the athletes wore a helmet and graves and carried a
shield.
5.fifth and last day was reserved for honouring
victorious athletes. They were covered in ribbons and
received victory palms in a stadium, before a solemn
ceremony in which they were crowed with olive
wreaths. Finally, a banquet was given for them,
together with the politicians and judges.
The women were not allowed to take part or witness
the competition. They used to have their own games
called the heraca in honour of her, wife of God Zeus.
MODERN OLYMIPCS (AFTER
1896)
Boron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) of France, is
rightly know as the “founder of the modern Olympic
games”. This wealthy young nobleman was
commissioned by the French government in 1889 to
study physical culture throughout the civilized world.
On November 25, 1892, de Coubertin in a lecture at
the Sorbonne in Paris for the first time publicly
advanced his conviction that there should be a modern
revival of the ancient games. His lecture was received
with an ovation. De-Coubertin convened an
international conference at the hall of sciences at the
Sorbonne from June 16-23, 1894. Thirteen century sent
representatives and 21 others sent messages of
supports. On the last day resolution was passed that
“sport competition should be held every fourth year on
the line of the Greek Olympic games and every nation
should be invites to participate.”
On April 6th, 1896, after the gap of 1503 years, 80,000
Athenians witnessed the modern Olympics. Despite the
support of 34 nations at the pars conference, only 14
sent their representatives to Athens and 241 athletes
competed in 43 events. Athletics, gymnastics,
wrestling, weightlifting, swimming, shooting, fencing,
cycling and tennis were included in the first modern
Olympic games. A small American team won 9 out of
the 12 track and field events, while the Germans
dominated the gymnastic and the French the cycling.
The Greek became depressed as the titles, even those
which they regarded as their national specialist, such as
discus throw, were won by foreigners. Happily, the last
event-the marathon was won by the Greek names as
Spyridon louis, a post office messenger.
Olympic governing body: international Olympic
committee is the supreme controlling body for the
modern Olympic games which was formed during the
international athletic conference held at Paris June
25th1894. The first was nominated by boron-de-
Coubertin on his personal selection of fifteen members
in whom he had confidence that they would help in
fostering the Olympic ideals. The headquarters of I.O.C
are located at Lausanne (Switzerland).
The I.O.C. is the permanent and self-elected body
which has at least one member from the country
where there is a national Olympic committee. However,
the countries that have had once conducted Olympic
games or have made special contribution to Olympic
movement have the privilege to be represent by two
members. From India, Sir Dorabjee Jamshedji tata in
1920, Mr. G.D. Sondhi in 1932 and raja Balendra singh
in 1947, had the honour of being member of I.O.C.

SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

The summer Olympic games or the games of the
Olympiad first held in 1896, is an international multi-
sport event that is hosted by a different city every four
year. The international Olympic committee organise the
games and oversees the host city’s preparations. In
each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first
place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and
bronze medals are awarded for third, this tradition
began in 1904. Th e wither Olympic games were
created due to the success of summer Olympic. The
Olympic was increased in scope form a 42-events
competition with fewer than 250 male competitors
from 14 nations in 1896 to 339 events with 11,420
competitors from 206 events in 2021.
19 countries have hosted summer Olympic. The united
state has hosted four summer Olympics (1964, 1988,
2008,2020) in Japan, south Korea and China. The only
summer Olympic held in southern hemisphere have
been in Australia (1956, 2000) and Brazil (2016). The
2016 games were the first summer Olympic to be held
in south America and the first to be held in the local
winter season. Africa has yet to host summer Olympic.
 Only five countries- Greek, Australia, France, Great
Britain and Switzerland- have been represented in
every summer Olympic games. The only country to
won at least one gold medal at every summer Olympic
games is Great Britain. The united sates lead the all-
time medal table.

WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

The winter Olympic games is a major international
sporting event that occurs over every four years. Unlike
the summer Olympic, the winter Olympics features
sports practised on snow and ice. The first winter
Olympic, the 1924 winter Olympics, was held in
Chamonix, France. The original five sports (broken into
nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice, hockey,
Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military
patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined. And ski
jumping) and skating. The games were held in every
four years from 1924 until 1936, after which they were
interrupted by World War II. The Olympic resumed in
1948 and was again held every four years. Until 1992,
the winter and summer Olympics games were held in
same years, but in accordance with a 1986 decision by
the international Olympics committees (IOC), the
summer and winter Olympics games have been held
separately and have alternated every two years.

The winter games have evolved since its inception.

Sports and disciplines have been added and some of
them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed
skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding,
have earned a permanent sport on the Olympic
programme. The winter Olympics have been on three
continents by 12 countries. The games have been held
four time in united state, in France three times, and in
Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland
twice. Also, the games have been held in Germany,
Yugoslavia, Russia, south Korea, and Chiana once. No
city in the southern hemisphere has hosted or even
been an applicant to host the winter Olympic, the
major challenge preventing one hosting the games is
the independence in the winter weather, and the
traditional February timing of the games fall in the
middle of the southern hemisphere summer.
Twelve countries- Australia, Canada, Finland, Great
Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the united state- have sent athletes to
every winter Olympic games. Six of those- Australia,
Canada, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and the United
States- have earned medals in every winter Olympic
games, and only one- the united sates- has earned gold
at each game. Norway leads in terms of number of
golds medals and overall number of medals. German
and Japan have been banned at times for competing in
the games.
2.2 OLYMPISM- CONCEPT
AND OLYMPIC VALUES
(EXCELLENCE, FRIENDSHIP
AND RESPECT)
CONCEPT OF OLYMPISM:
Olympism is the philosophy of life, exalting and
combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body,
will and mind. Blending sport with culture and
education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life
based on the joy found and efforts, the educational
value is the good example and respect for universal
fundamentals ethical principles.
The goal of the Olympic movement is to contribute to
building a peaceful and better world by educating
youth through sport practised without discrimination
of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires
mutual understanding with the spirit of friendship,
solidarity, and fair play.
FUNDAMENTAL PRICIPLES OF OLYMPISM
1. Olympism is the philosophy of life, exalting and
combining in a balanced whole the qualities of
body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture
and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of
life based on the joy found and efforts, the
 educational value is the good example and respect
for universal fundamentals ethical principles.
2. the goal of Olympism is to concert, organised,
universal, and permanent action, carried out
under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all
individual and entities who are inspired by the
values of Olympism. It covers the five continents.
It reaches its peak with the brining together of the
world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the
Olympics games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
3. The practice of sport is a human right. Every
individual has the possibility of practising sport,
without discrimination of any kind and the
Olympics spirit, which requires mutual
understanding with a spirit of friendship,
solidarity, and fair play.

OLYMPIC VALUES
(EXECLLENCE, FRIENDSHIP,
AND RESPECT)
The values of Olympic is the excellence, friendship, and
respect. They constitute the foundation on which the
Olympic movement builds its activities to promotes
sports, culture, and education with a view to building a
better world.
EXCELLENCE: this is about giving one’s best, on the field
of play or in your personal and professional life. It is
about trying your hardest to win, but it is also the joy
participating, achieving your personal goals, striving to
be and to do your best in your daily lives and benefiting
from the healthy combination of a strong body, mind,
and will.
FRIENSHIP: it encourages us to consider sport as a tool
of mutual understanding among individuals and people
humanity to overcome political, economic, gender,
racial, and religious difference and to forge friendship
regardless of those difference.
RESPECT: it incorporates respect for oneself, for one’s
body, for other, for the rules and regulations and for
sports and the environment. Related to sport, respect
stands foe fair play and for the fight against doping and
other unethical behaviour.

2.3 OLYMPICS- SYMBOLS,

MOTTOS, FLAG, OATH AND
ANTHEM.
The values and the meaning of Olympics are expressed
by the Olympics symbol (the five rings) and other
identifying Olympics elements (the fame, the torch
relays, the motto, the maxim, the anthem, and the
oaths). These make it possible to transit a message
simply and directly. They give the Olympic movement
and the games their own identify.

The Olympic creed

The creed means a set of beliefs or aims which guide
someone’s actions.
The Olympics creed is, “the importance thing in life is
not the triumph, but the fight; the essential things is
not to have won, but to have fought well.”
Inspired by the world of the bishop of Pennsylvania,
Ethelbert talbot, Pierre de Coubertin first spoke this
phrase in a slightly different from at a reception given
by the British government on 24 July 1908. It went on
to become the Olympics movement creed.

The Olympics symbol: the five rings

The Olympics rings is the five interlocked rings of equal
proportion of five different colours. The colour
sequence of rings from left to right is, blue, yellow,
black, green, and red, where blue, black, and red rings
are placed on the top, the yellow and the green are
placed at the bottom. It was Pierre de Coubertin
himself design the symbol. The five rings represent five
continents. They are interlinked to show the
universities of Olympics and hoe athletes from all over
the world come together for Olympics games.
Today, the symbol is one of the most widely recognised
in the world. Its use is subject to very strict rules
enacted by the IOC. It is important to note that there is
just one Olympics symbol.

OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE OLYMPIC

IDENTITY
THE FAME AND TORCH RELAY: with the flag, the
Olympic flame and torch relay are the most well-known
elements of the games. At the modern games, the
Olympics flames is an expression of the positive values
that the humans have always associated with the
symbolism of fire. The flame is lit at Olympia in Greece,
recalling the ancient Greek roots of the Olympics
games and also emphasising the link between the
ancient and modern games.
Form Olympia, the flame is carried to the city hosting
the games by thousands of torchbearers. Wherever it
goes, the flames announce the Olympic games and
transmits a message of peace and friendship to all
those it meets along the way. It also promotes the
culture and the natural riches of the regions through
which it passes.
The flame recalls the ancient Olympic games, during
which a scared fire burnt on the altar of Zeus. However,
the symbolism of the relay is linked not to these games
but to the torch games, or lampadedromia, held in
anthem in honour of the gods associated with fire.
At the modern Olympics games, a flame was lit for the
first time in the stadium at Amsterdam, in 1928. For its
part, the torch relay was not introduced until the 1936
games in berlin.

THE MOTTO AND MAXIM

The original Olympic motto “citius, Altius, forties” was
adopted with the lunch of the Olympics movement in
1894 at the urging of founder Pierre de Coubertin, who
wanted a slogan that expressed in sport. These three
words were meant to encourage athletes to give their
best during competition. Pierre de Coubertin proposed
the motto, having borrowed it from his friend Henri
Didion, a Dominican priest who taught sport close to
paris.