Chronicle of the Olympic Games

Even though we do not know exactly when the tradition of the Olympic Games started, experts are fairly sure that it began in the year 776 before Christ. Back then the games did not last longer than three to five days and did not consist of as many kinds of sports as they do today. Some of the sports that were part of the games were running, jumping, wrestling and horse racing. The reason why the Olympic games were held was that they were supposed to honour Zeus, who in Greek mythology was believed to be the Olympian King of all gods and father of the human race. The winner of a game did not get a gold medal like nowadays, but a wreath from an oil-tree. This was a very great honour. The winners then had a very good reputation and position among the people.

At that time the Olympic games were held every four years. This ended in the year 394 ad. when the ruler Theodosius prohibited carrying out the games because he saw them as a ritual of worshipping heathenish gods. His successor Theodosius II even gave the order to destroy all the places where the games had ever been held.

Many years later the frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin reinvented the spirit of the Olympic Games. He founded an Olympic committee in order to carry on the tradition of the Olympic Games. On the one hand’s side they should be modernised but they should also be related to the old Olympic games.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, the capital city of Greece in the year 1896. Since then they have been held every four years. The only three exceptions were due to World War one and two.

The modern Olympic games have gained some new kinds of sports that had not been part of the games before. In addition to this the duration of the period of time in which they are held has been raised to a 15 days maximum. Maybe the most important difference between the Olympic games we have today and the prior Olympic Games is that today there is no religious motivation behind it. Instead there has developed a different Olympic spirit that is symbolized by the five rings – the symbol of the games. They stand for the connection and solidarity between the five continents. This is in fact only one aspect of the Olympic spirit. It also includes the picture of the perfect, fair game and the total commitment of a human being to sports.