The Modern Olympics | The Ancient Olympics | Niger & Solomon Islands | Peirce@YOG

The Modern Olympics

»	The Modern Olympics is introduced 1503 years after the Ancient Olympics was ceased.
»	The Olympic Games are an international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating.
»	One of the fundamental principles of Olympism is that Olympism is a 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 in effort, the educational value of leading by example and a respect for fundamental universal ethical principles.

Summer Olympic Games

»	A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was responsible for the rebirth of the Olympics, when he presented the idea in 1894. He was also the one who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894.
»	The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, 14 countries were represented by about 245 men, competing in 42 events.
»	No women compete, as de Coubertin felt that their participation would be ‘impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect.’
»	Held every four years.
»	Over the years the Games have expanded from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting tradition with over 10,000 competitors of both sexes from 205 nations.

1896 (Athens) : First edition of Modern Olympic Games with the playing of the Olympic Anthem composed by Soyros Samaras.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin

»	In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games was held in Chamonix, France, from then the Winter Games was celebrated in the same years as the Summer Games until 1940 when they were interrupted by World War II.
»	The Winter and Summer Games resumed in 1948 and continued till 1992 before the former splits from the Summer Olympics and is held on alternating even years.
»	The Winter Olympics comprises of snow and ice sports that were logistically impossible to hold during the Summer Games.

Paralympic Games

»	Sports events for elite athletes with a physical disability
»	During the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Dr Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries.
»	The Paralympic Games were only officialised in 1960 and the first Games were held in Rome that year.
»	Since then the Paralympics take place in the same year as the Olympic Games.
»	‘Spirit in Motion’ is the motto for the Paralympics movement.

Paralympic Games

»	Sports events for elite athletes with a physical disability.
»	During the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Dr Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries.
»	The Paralympic Games were only officialised in 1960 and the first Games were held in Rome that year.
»	Since then the Paralympics take place in the same year as the Olympic Games.
»	‘Spirit in Motion’ is the motto for the Paralympics movement.

The Olympic Icons

Motto

»	Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Swifter, Higher, Stronger", it expresses the aspirations of the Olympic Movement.
»	Proposed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894.
»	Introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Olympic Symbol – Rings

»	Designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, adopted in 1914.
»	The five interlocking rings represent the five continents, Asia, Americas, Africa, Europe, and Oceania, and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.
»	The five interlaced rings are coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white flag. Every flag of a country participating in the Olympics includes at least one of these five colors

Olympic Flag

Created by Pierre De Coubertin in 1914 and first flown in 1920 at the Antwerp Games in Belgium

“The Olympic flag [...] has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red [...] This design is symbolic ; it represents the five inhabited continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.”

—Pierre De Coubertin (1931)

The flag is handed over from the mayor of the host city to the next host at the Closing Ceremony, and it will be displayed at the city hall of the new host country

Olympic Anthem

»	Composed by Spiro Samaras and the lyrics were penned by Kostis Palamas
»	First played during the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens but only declared the official Olympic Anthem in 1957 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
»	It is sung when the Olympic flag is raised and lowered
»	English lyrics of the Olympic Anthem:

Immortal spirit of antiquity
Father of the true, beautiful and good
Descend, appear, shed over us thy light
Upon this ground and under this sky
Which has first witnessed thy unperishable fame

Give life and animation to these noble games!
Throw wreaths of fadeless flowers to the victors
In the race and in the strife
Create in our breasts, hearts of steel!

In thy light, plains, mountains and seas
Shine in a roseate hue and form a vast temple
To which all nations throng to adore thee
Oh immortal spirit of antiquity!

Olympic Anthem

»	The Olympic Flame originated as a commemoration of the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus. A fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics.
»	The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since.
»	The torch relay of modern times which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics.
»	Few months before the Olympic Games begins, the Olympic Flame is lit on a torch, with rays of the Sun concentrated by a parabolic reflector, at the site of the Ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece.
»	The torch is then carried by athletes, leaders, celebrities and ordinary people, to around the country or continent where the Games are held.
»	On the day of the Games Opening Ceremony, the Olympic Flame is brought to the main stadium and is used to light a cauldron to mark the beginning of the Games.

Starting from Olympia and carried by the first runner, the young athlete Konstantinos Kondylis, the Flame traveled for the first time hand to hand until it reached the Berlin Olympic Stadium, in 1936.

Olympic Anthem

The three core values of the Olympic Movement, which inspire us on individual and organizational levels, are:

*Excellence:*	This value stands for giving one’s best, on the field of play or in the professional arena. It is not only about winning, but also about participating, making progress against personal goals, striving to be and to do our best in our daily lives and benefiting from the healthy combination of a strong body, mind and will.
*Friendship:*	This value encourages us to consider sport as a tool for mutual understanding among individuals and people from all over the world. The Olympic Games inspire humanity to overcome political, economic, gender, racial or religious differences and forge friendships in spite of those differences.
*Respect:*	This value incorporates respect for oneself, one’s body, for others, for the rules and regulations, for sport and the environment. Related to sport, respect stands for fair play and for the fight against doping and any other unethical behaviour.