By Sam Eyers and Aiden Plumbe
If you don’t know, the Olympics are an international sporting event in which 206 nations compete in a variety of events. The first ever modern Olympics were held in 1896 in Athens. Throughout the 128 years that the Olympics has been running, it has only ever been cancelled completely three times. All because of the World Wars (Covid-19 only postponed the Olympics, not cancelled it). The most successful nation to complete in the Olympics, to no-one’s surprise, is the U.S.A with 1061 gold medals, followed by the Soviet Union with 395 gold medals (even though the U.S.S.R collapsed in 1991, they still have the second most gold medals ever).
As well as the original Olympics, there are the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. The Winter Olympics was formed in 1924 in the French Alps. The events included forms of skiing, skating, snowboarding, ice hockey and others. The Paralympics began in 1960 as a way for athletes with physical disabilities to compete internationally.
We can trace the existence of the Olympics all the way back to Ancient Greece in 776BC. They were extremely different from the Olympic Games you know today. Athletes would perform in the nude and even fight each other to death. The games were held in the names of the pagan gods, the Olympians. These were the main gods and goddesses that were worshipped from Greek mythology. The Olympians are also the namesake of the Olympics. In 393AD, a Christian ruler called Emperor Theodosius I banned all pagan practices including the Olympics. From then on, the Olympics were practically dead until the 19th Century. A French man called Pierre de Coubertin who believed in pure sportsmanship and its presence in the Olympics. This was later written down in the Olympic Creed: “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”
With the Olympic Creed in mind, Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894. Only two years later, the very first Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. It took place in the Panathenaic Stadium, built in 6th Century BC and entirely out of marble.
Even if you are not an Olympics genius, you’ve probably seen the famous five rings that represent the Olympic Games. These were designed by none other than Coubertin himself. Each ring represents one of the inhabited continents (the Americas counting as one). The colours were chosen because every flag in the world had at least one of those five colours in them. It was to symbolise the diversity and unity of the Games.
The Olympics serve as an example of peace through the sporting field and, while on the surface just the pinnacle of sport (I know “just the pinnacle of sport”) they also have been cleverly used as propaganda. For example, when Russia declared war on Ukraine, the next Olympics (2021, Tokyo) didn’t use the Russian flag to depict the Russian athletes, they used a blank white flag. This subtle action of defiance symbolises the dissatisfaction of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) at the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Another, obvious example of the Olympics being wielded into a propaganda show was the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where Hitler manipulated the games to show off his tyrannical regime and the might of Germany (who won 38 gold medals, the most in this Olympics). However, his theories of Aryan racial superiority were proven incorrect, as the hero of those Olympics was not a German, but it was Jesse Owens; an African-American sprinter and long jumper who won 4 gold medals.
The most decorated athlete ever to compete in the games is an American swimmer named Michael Phelps. He has won 28 gold medals, over 4 Olympics, Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio (2016). Phelps began his career in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney when he was only 15 years old. He retired at age 31 after the 2016 Rio Olympics. Although he doesn’t compete anymore, Michael Phelps is still involved with the Olympics. The athlete now shares his expertise in swimming as an NBC sports analyst at the current Olympics in Paris, providing a unique perspective on the sport which he dominated for 20 years.
Overall, the Olympic Games have been a testament to good sportsmanship and talent on the sporting fields. The games have served the purpose of uniting the world in a way that is unexpected. It has let athletes share their stunning capabilities with the rest of the world and achieve great things. Happy 2024 Olympics!