GENERAL OLYMPIC EDUCATION Section General Olympic Education 1 Main Aim : To provide club members with a basic understanding of Olympism, the Olympic Movement and both the modern and ancient Olympic Games. Specific Objectives : Students will be able to • Demonstrate an understanding for the history of the Olympic Movement • Recognize and understand the principles, symbols and ceremonies of the Olympic Movement • Clearly define the structure of the Olympic Movement and the relationship between the various members • Compare and contrast the symbols, ceremonies, competitions and messages of the ancient and modern Olympic Games • Participate in discussions on the value of the Olympic Movement in today’s society • Recognize and discuss important criticisms, issues and challenges of the Olympic Movement and of sport in general (ex: drug abuse, cheating, effect on the environment, commercialism, inequity, racism, corruption) Part 1 - Ancient and Modern Olympic History The Ancient Olympic Games According to ancient records, the first Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the sacred plains of Olympia. Olympia functioned as a meeting place for worship and other religious and political practices as early as the 10th century B.C. The central part of Olympia was dominated by the majestic temple of Zeus, with the temple of Hera parallel to it. The ancient stadium in Olympia could accommodate more than 40,000 spectators, while in the surrounding area there were auxiliary 1 GENERAL OLYMPIC EDUCATION buildings added gradually up until the 4th century B.C. and used as training sites for the athletes or to house the judges of the Games. The Olympics were held every four years during the month of July or August. The time in between two Olympic Games was called an Olympiad. In the beginning the Games lasted only one day but gradually more events were added. By the 5th century B.C. the Games lasted for 5 days. The Olympic Games consisted of the following events: running, the pentathlon (jumping, discus, javelin, running and wrestling) boxing, the pankration (a combination of boxing and wrestling), chariot racing, and horse racing. All Greeks, who were free citizens and had not committed murder or heresy, had the right to take part in the Olympic Games. Women were not entitled to take part except as owners in the horse races. They were also strictly prohibited from watching the Games. The institution of the Olympic Games lasted for twelve continuous centuries and was abolished in 393 A.D. (the 293rd Olympiad) by order of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosios 1. Later, the functioning of all idol worshiping sanctuaries was forbidden, and in 426 A.D., during the reign of Theodosios II, the destruction of the ancient monuments was carried out. The Modern Olympic Games Local sporting competitions also called “Olympic Games” took place in several parts of Europe, including Greece, prior to the “official” revival of the Modern Olympic Movement in June 1894 in France. At that time, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman and educator, addressed seventy nine delegates from twelve countries attending an international congress. His proposal to re-establish the Olympic Games met with unanimous approval by the delegates to the conference. In honour of the ancient Olympic Games, it was decided to hold the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Demetrios Vikelas of Greece was a strong supporter of this proposal. He became the first president of the IOC. The Athens Games of 1896 was a great success. The Olympics had returned to the land of their birth. On April 5th, the Games were opened by King George of Greece, in front of a crowd of 60,000. The first competition of the Modern Olympics was the first heat of the 100m which was won by Francis Lane (USA), in a time of 12.5 seconds. American James Connolly was the first gold medal winner when he won the triple jump with a distance of 13.71 metres. The 1900 and 1904 Games were held in Paris and St Louis respectively. Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by the trade fairs held concurrently with the Games. The Paris Games was the first to include women athletes. An interim Games was held in 1906 (in Athens), in an attempt to revive the flagging Olympic movement, 2 GENERAL OLYMPIC EDUCATION but was not included in the numbered sequence of the Games’. Twenty countries attended and the Olympic concept was put back on track. The 1908 London Games were the best organized Games to date. The IOC had decided in 1907 to award medals to the first three places in all events. This was continued at Stockholm in 1912, where electrical timing equipment was used for the first time in running events. After World War I, the resumption of the Olympics in 1920 at Antwerp saw the first Olympic flag unveiled in front of the twenty nine nations who participated. The concept of the Olympic oath was also introduced. In 1924, the Games were held in Paris again with an enormous increase in the number of competitors – four thousand from forty four nations. It was the first time all participating sports were organized by their international governing bodies. In 1928, the Games went to Amsterdam. At these Games, the burning of the Olympic Flame throughout the competition, the release of doves at the Opening Ceremony to symbolize peace and the erection of a large results board were seen for the first time. In 1932, Los Angeles provided a special village for athletes, a vast stadium and an operating profit for the first time. The use of photo-finish equipment was also introduced in track events to decide close finishes. The 1936 Games of the 11th Olympiad was held in Berlin where a political agenda and a desire to outclass previous host cities prevailed. World War II necessitated the cancellation of two Olympic Games - the 1940 and 1944 Games. After 12 years, the 1948 Olympic Games was held in London. Germany and Japan were not represented, but fifty nine countries attended. In 1952, the Games of the 15th Olympiad (the 12th set because of the war time cancellations) was held in Helsinki with Japan and Germany re-admitted. This was also the first appearance of the Soviet Union. Melbourne was the site of the Olympic Games in 1956. The threat of war in Hungary and Egypt caused five nations to withdraw their teams but this did not interfere with the scheduled events. For the first time at the Closing Ceremony, the athletes from all countries entered the stadium together, symbolizing the friendship of the Games. The idea came from John Ian Wing, an Australian born Chinese boy, in a letter to the Chairman of the organizing committee. The 17th Olympiad in 1960 in Rome was not affected by any major political disputes and went ahead as planned. The 18th Olympiad in Tokyo in 1964 was the first to be celebrated in an Asian country and was noted for its efficiency and flair. The following Games in Mexico in 1968 were troubled by threats of a boycott by African, American and Soviet block countries who demanded the continued exclusion of the South Africans because of their policy of Apartheid. Munich, in 1972, was interrupted by a violent attack on the Israel compound by Palestinian terrorists when nine Israelis, five terrorists, and a West German policeman were killed. Boycotts again plagued the Games of the 21st Olympiad in Montreal, when most of the African countries withdrew their athletes because of an earlier tour of South Africa by a New Zealand rugby team. The 22nd Olympiad of 1980 in Moscow lacked the participation of the athletes of the United States of America and at least 35 other countries in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, the Los Angeles Games were 3 GENERAL OLYMPIC EDUCATION attended by the Chinese for the first time since 1952, but the Soviet Union and most of its allies withdrew their athletes, alleging insufficient security. Only Romania attended. No major political disputes marred the 24th Olympiad of 1988, when the Games was held in Seoul. The 1992 Games, celebrating the 25th Olympiad was held in Barcelona, Spain with the theme “Friends for Life”. The Games, celebrating 100 years of the Modern Olympics, was held in Atlanta in 1996. Sydney hosted the Games at the dawn of the new millennium in the year 2000 and most recently the Olympic Games for the 28th Olympiad returned to their birthplace Athens, Greece in 2004. The Summer Olympic Games are known as the Games of the Olympiad. The Olympic Games celebrate each “Olympiad” (a period of four successive years) and are held at the beginning of the Olympiad. The Olympic Games cannot, under any circumstances, be postponed to another year. The Olympic Winter Games now form a separate cycle. The first Olympic Winter Games was held in Chamonix, France in 1924, although skating and ice hockey had been included in earlier Games. Since then, they have been held every four years (except during WWII) and numbered independently of the Summer Games. 1924 Chamonix 1956 Cortina 1984 Sarajevo 1928 St. Moritz 1960 Squaw Valley 1988 Calgary 1932 Lake Placid 1964 Innsbruck 1992 Albertville 1936 Garmisch- 1968 Grenoble 1994* Lillehammer Partenkirchen 1972 Sapporo 1998 Nagano 1948 St. Moritz 1976 Innsbruck 2002 Salt Lake 1952 Oslo 1980 Lake Placid In 1986, the International Olympic Committee members decided that after 1992, the Winter Games would take place during the second year following that in which the Games of the Olympiad are held. The first Winter Games to be held on this new cycle was the XVII Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994.