The Olympic Games 関連ＨＰ: THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT　 The Ancient Olympics
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The Ancient Olympics
The first recorded Olympic Games were an altogether more modest affair than those of today, consisting of just one event, the stadion foot race. The year was 776 BC and the location was Olympia in western Greece, not to be confused with Olympus, which is a mountain in north-east Greece and thought to be the home of the Gods.

The origins of the Games are shrouded in the mythology of Ancient Greece - some say Herakles (or Hercules) was responsible for them, others say Pelops (a Lydian prince) started them, but all agree that the Games were started up to honor Zeus, king of the Gods. The Games were held every four years from the beginning and each Olympiad saw additions to the events. The Pentathlon consisted of five events; the long jump, the stadion race, discus throwing, javelin and wrestling, but this only appeared seventy years after the first Olympiad.

Before the start of the first Olympiad, King Iphitos of Elis (a city-state of Olympia) was ordered by the Delphic Oracle to plant an olive tree to symbolize peace among the cities and states of Ancient Greece. It was from this tree that the winners' wreaths were taken over the five days of the Games.

The Games were abolished in 393 AD by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I after 1,170 years. If the present day Olympics last as long, they will still be held in 3066 AD.


The Modern Olympics
Around 1,500 years after the Ancient Olympics were abolished, a Frenchman named Baron de Coubertin decided to reinstate the Games as a means of providing friendship and understanding between nations. The first Modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, but it wasn't until 1920, in Antwerp, that the Olympic rings made their debut on the flag. The five rings are thought to symbolize the five continents; Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America, and it is widely believed that the colors of the rings (blue, black, red, yellow and green) were chosen because at least one of them can be found in the flag of every nation.

At the 1908 London Games, Bishop Ethelbert Talbot impressed Baron de Coubertin with his speech to the Olympic athletes when he declared "The important thing in these Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle." Baron de Coubertin adopted the first part of this speech as the creed for the Games which now appears on the scoreboard during the opening ceremony.

As well as providing the games with a creed, Baron de Coubertin also adopted the motto "Citius, altius, fortius" from his father's school motto. It means "Swifter, higher, stronger", a sentiment that athletes from all over the world aspire to achieve. In some cases athletes are so set on doing the best they can that they take performance-enhancing drugs, which push their bodies to their physical limits. However, officials at the 2004 Athens Games have stated that any evidence of drug-taking will be met with immediate disqualification and, to show they mean what they say, daily tests are being carried out on athletes.

This Olympiad, the first that Athens has hosted since 1896, promises to be a spectacular event and it leaves us just 265 more before we can equal the number held over the history of the Ancient Olympics!