By Tim Lambert
The Early Olympic Games
In Ancient Greece, the Olympic Games began in Olympia in 776 BC. They were held in honor of Zeus, the leader of the gods, and people from all over Greece and the Greek colonies came to participate in them. Wars stopped to allow everyone to take part. Greek athletes competed in sports like boxing, wrestling, running, horse racing, chariot racing, and the pentathlon (five athletic events). Winners were not given medals but they were given a crown of leaves.
Women were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. However, they had their own games dedicated to the goddess Hera (the wife of Zeus). The Heraean games were held once every 4 years.
However, the Olympic Games ended by the early 5th century AD.
The Modern Olympic Games
At the end of the 19th century, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games. The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens on 6 April 1896. Athletes from 14 nations participated.
In 1900, the second modern Olympics were held in Paris. Women were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games (in certain events) for the first time. At the 1900 Olympic Games, only 22 out of 997 athletes were women but female participation gradually grew.
The third Olympic Games were held in St Louis in 1904, and gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded for the first time. Field hockey was first included in the Olympic Games at the London Olympics in 1908. At the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 some 28 nations took part.
The Olympic Rings were created in 1913. The five rings represent five continents. (North and South America were included as one continent. The rings did not include Australasia!)
At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics in 1920, for the first time, ice hockey was included.
In 1924 the first Olympic Village was made for the Paris Olympic Games. The Olympic flame relay was introduced for the Berlin Games in 1936.
Swimming was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. At first, only men swam, but in 1912, at the Stockholm Olympic Games, women’s swimming was included. Diving was first included as an Olympic sport in 1904, and women’s diving was first included in 1912. In 1924, 50-metre pools with lane markers were introduced at the Olympics.
George Eyser was an amputee. He had an artificial leg. But he won 6 medals at the Olympic Games in St Louis in 1904. He won the medals for gymnastics. He won 4 gold medals, one silver, and one bronze.
In 1908 a runner, John Taylor became the first African American to win a gold medal, at the Olympic Games in London. In 1936 an African American named Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin. The 1936 Olympic Games were the first to be televised.
In 1920, a 72-year-old Swede named Oscar Swahn won an Olympic silver medal for shooting. He was the oldest person to win an Olympic medal. The oldest woman to win an Olympic medal was Eliza Pollack. She won two bronze medals and a gold medal for archery at the Olympic Games in 1904, when she was 63 years old.
The Winter Olympics were first held in 1924. In 1924 at the Summer Olympics women’s sword fencing was included for the first time.
In 1940 and 1944 the Olympic Games were cancelled because of the Second World War but in 1948 they were held in London. In 1948 Alice Coachman was the first black woman to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. She won gold in the high jump.
In 1960, an Ethiopian marathon runner named Abebe Bikila became the first man from Sub-Saharan Africa to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Also in 1960, the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome.
In 1964 the Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo. In 1964 judo was included as an Olympic Sport.
Also in 1964 Women first played volleyball at the Olympics. Women’s basketball was included in the Olympic Games in 1976, and so was women’s rowing. Women’s field hockey became an Olympic sport in 1980. Women’s judo became an Olympic Sport in 1992. Women’s water polo was included in the Olympic Games in 2000. Women’s boxing was made an Olympic Sport in 2012. So was women’s ski jumping.
The first Youth Olympic Games was held in Singapore in 2012.
The 2020 Olympics were delayed until 2021 because of the Covid pandemic. They were held in Tokyo and karate, surfing and skateboarding were all included for the first time. The most recent Olympic Games were held in Paris in 2024. The next Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles.
