With the 2024 Summer Olympic Games being held in France, much international attention has been drawn to the multi-sport event, as it does every four years.
The Olympic Games are broadly considered to be the peak of international sports competition, the apex that the best athletes around the world aspire toward, allowing them the chance to represent their nations on the global stage.
The Olympics has a storied history that dates back centuries and has gone through many changes, evolving to become what it is today.
The ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece between 776 BCE and 393 CE, though it is believed by some historians that there might have been games held before and after that period. Much like the modern version of the games, they were held every four years, which was called an Olympiad, a historical unit of time.
Though these Olympics were an athletic competition, they were also a part of a religious festival honoring Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. There is no solid evidence on how or why the games were started but there are many Greek myths on the origins involving the Greek gods themselves.
The ancient Olympics featured a series of athletic competitions among representatives of various Greek city-states. Any freeborn Greek man was allowed to compete in events such as running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration (a combination of wrestling and boxing), and equestrian competitions.
The first Olympics used to only have one event, a race called a stadion, named after the building it was held in, which is where the word stadium is derived from. The winners were celebrated and often immortalized in poetry and sculpture, gaining significant prestige and benefits.
Loincloth
Athletes used to participate in just a loincloth called a perizoma, but it would soon become a tradition to participate completely in the nude. Women were not permitted to participate or even attend, though some women were known to be titled winners in chariot riding, only due to the victor being the owner of the chariot and not the rider.
Despite these limitations, the ancient Games were a crucial part of Greek culture, fostering a spirit of competition and unity among the often-warring city-states. Visitors to the Olympics were mandated to have safe passage, even during wartime.
However, the Olympics would come to be a political tool for city-states to establish dominance over one another, and many political alliances would be forged during the games.
The ancient Olympic Games continued even after the Romans took over the tradition, until 393 CE when they were abolished by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I as part of his campaign to promote Christianity and suppress pagan traditions.
Revival
The site of Olympia fell into ruin, and the Games were largely forgotten for centuries. Much later, many major athletic events would crop up over the years, directly inspired by the Olympics, such as William Penny Brookes’s Wenlock Olympian Games and Evangelis Zappa’s Olympics, the successes of which would go on to inspire the modern revival of the Olympics.
The revival of the Olympics as we know it came in the late 19th century, spearheaded by French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Having attended the Wenlock Olympian Games, he was inspired to promote international peace and friendship through sports and established the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, to which he presented the idea of creating an international Olympic Games that would occur every four years.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, featuring athletes from 14 countries competing in 43 events. Unlike the ancient Games, the modern Olympics included male and female athletes, although women were initially allowed to compete only in a limited number of events.
Since their revival, the Olympic Games have grown exponentially in size, scope, and global importance. The Summer Olympics are held every four years, with the Winter Olympics introduced in 1924 to feature snow and ice sports. The Games have been hosted by cities around the world, providing a platform for athletes of all nations to compete.
Today, the Olympic Games are a global phenomenon, watched by billions of people around the world. They feature a diverse array of sports, from traditional athletics and gymnastics to newer events like skateboarding and surfing, and even more being considered such as e-sports. The Games continue to evolve, reflecting changes in society and the interests of new generations.
