Where the Olympic Games were held. The mysterious and unpredictable history of the Olympic Games

In the 18th century, during archaeological excavations in Olympia, scientists discovered ancient sports facilities. But archaeologists soon ceased to study them. And only 100 years later, the Germans joined the study of the discovered objects. At the same time, for the first time, they started talking about the possibility of reviving the Olympic movement.

The main inspirer of the revival of the Olympic movement was the French baron Pierre de Coubertin, who helped German researchers to study the discovered monuments. He also had his own interest in the development of this project, since he believed that it was the poor physical preparation of the French soldiers that caused their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. In addition, the baron wanted to create a movement that would unite young people and help establish friendly relations between different countries. In 1894, he voiced his proposals at the international congress, where it was decided to hold the first Olympic Games in their homeland - in Athens.

The first Games were a real discovery for the whole world and were a huge success. In total, 241 athletes from 14 countries took part in them. The success of this event so inspired the Greeks that they proposed to make Athens the venue for the Olympics on a permanent basis. However, the first International Olympic Committee, which was founded two years before the start of the first Games, rejected this idea and decided that it was necessary to establish a rotation between states for the right to host the Olympics every four years.

The 1st International Olympic Games were held from 6 to 15 April 1896. Only men competed. 10 sports were taken as a basis. These are classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, shooting, tennis, weightlifting, fencing. In all these disciplines, 43 sets of medals were played. The Greek Olympians became the leaders, the Americans took the second place, the Germans got the bronze.

The organizers of the first Games wanted to make them an amateur competition in which professionals could not take part. After all, according to the members of the IOC committee, those athletes who have a material interest initially have an advantage over amateurs. And that's not fair.

The next Olympic Games will be held at the end of summer 2012. The previous competition took place two years ago - it was the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Despite the fact that it was already the 21st Winter Olympic Games, there were several "premiers" at them.

The emblem of the games was a hero named Ilanaak - "friend", made up of five stones of Olympic colors. Two of the games' slogans were borrowed from Canada's national anthem: the French phrase "To the most brilliant deeds" and the English phrase "With burning hearts".

Amendments have been made to the original script for the opening of the Olympics. A few hours before the ceremony, it became known about the tragedy - a luger athlete from Georgia crashed during training. The ceremony included a minute of silence, and the Georgian national team came out in mourning bandages.

During the lighting of the Olympic flame, there was a small incident. For the first time, four athletes participated in the procedure. But due to a technical failure, only three "grooves" appeared leading to the main torch. However, during the closing ceremony, this situation was played ironically. The same guilty "electrician" appeared on the stage, he apologized and removed the missing fourth element in the design of the Olympic flame.

The main stadium of the games was BC-Place in downtown Vancouver, designed for 55,000 spectators. In addition, some competitions were held in Whistler, Richmond and West Vancouver.

From February 12 to February 28, 82 teams competed for prizes in 15 disciplines. Compared to the previous Olympic Games, the list of disciplines has been replenished: ski cross competitions have been added, separately for men and women.

The medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics were unique, stylized in the tradition of Canadian Indigenous art. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the awards were not flat, but with a wavy surface.

The Russians remember these games as one of the most unsuccessful for the national team. The Winter Olympics became a record failure - the Russians showed the worst result in terms of the number of gold medals and place in the team event. In the medal standings, the team was only 11th in the table. The hosts of the XXI Winter Olympic Games took the first place in terms of the number of "gold", Germany took the second place, and the US team took the third place.

From February 12 to February 28, 2010, the XXI Winter Olympic Games were held in the Canadian city of Vancouver. These two-plus weeks have been filled with many sporting events. Participants and spectators became heroes and witnesses of victories and defeats, doping scandals, the struggle for Olympic medals and, unfortunately, even tragic events. This Olympiad for the Russian team was the most unsuccessful in the history of the Games.

From the very beginning, the Olympic Games in Vancouver were marked by an absurd tragedy: even before the opening of the Games, several athletes were injured on the bobsleigh track, and a young promising athlete from the Georgian team, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died after crashing into a metal support. Therefore, the solemn opening ceremony of the Olympics began with a moment of silence.

But further events went according to plan, despite too warm weather and problems with demonstrators and strikers protesting against globalization. The very next day, ordinary Olympic everyday life began, the first official competitions were held - K-90 ski jumping, in the finals of which the Swiss Simon Ammann won, who opened the scoring for Vancouver medals.

Russian skiers did not start their performances very well, and as a result they got only fourth places, which the coaches explained with poor selection of ski wax. The first Olympic medal for the Russian team was won by skater Ivan Skobrev, who took third place in the 5 km distance.

The Russian team continued to be haunted by failures: the Nordic combined athlete Niyaz Nabeev, on whom great hopes were placed, was suspended from participation in the competition due to an increased level of hemoglobin in the blood. In the very first match with the Finns, the Russian hockey players lost with a score of 1:5 and, in fact, immediately dropped out of the fight for medals. For the first time in many years, there were no Russian athletes in the competitions of sports couples either.

The first gold for Russia only on the 5th day of the Olympiad was won by sprint skiers Nikita Kryukov and Alexander Panzhinsky. Evgeni Plushenko, who was predicted to be gold in figure skating, took only second place, which also became an unpleasant surprise and a reason for long disputes. Ice dancers, skiers in the team sprint, biathletes and lugers were successful, adding a few more medals to the Russian national team. For the first time in the history of Russian sports, Ekaterina Ilyukhina won the gold medal in snowboarding. In the unofficial team standings, the Russian team was only 11th in terms of the number of Olympic medals.

At the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, Vancouver passed the baton to the Russian city of Sochi. Let's hope the next

Greece is truly a magical country. There, the wind plays in the olive groves, the waves gently caress the shores, and the generous sun allows nature to turn green and bloom even in winter. It seems that this fertile land is saturated with some kind of extraordinary ether that helps people create beautiful and eternal things. Greece, ancient Hellas gave the world so many great scientists, architects, poets, thinkers! There is nothing surprising, therefore, in the fact that it was there that the very first Olympics in the world took place.

Olympian gods and the ancient Hellenes

Ancient Hellas was a pagan country. The people there worshiped various gods, the most powerful of which was Zeus. He and his "colleagues" in the heavenly pantheon lived on Mount Olympus and were called Olympians. The Greeks built temples for them, arranged ritual ceremonies and even sacrifices. Zeus was especially revered. At the time when the first Olympics was held, Hellas often fought. We had to repel the attacks of the invaders, and seize new lands ourselves. Yes, and internecine skirmishes constantly occurred, because Hellas was divided into dozens of regions. Each of them considered itself a small state with its own rules and ambitions. In those years, the people highly valued physical strength, dexterity and endurance, because without them it was difficult to survive in battles. Therefore, men were extremely proud of their muscular bodies and wore clothes that did not hide their biceps. In Hellas there was even a certain cult of a strong and healthy body. It was the thirteenth century BC...

How the Olympic Games were born

The history of the first Olympics is rich in myths and legends. The most popular of them is about King Ifit. He was a brave Argonaut and a good king who wished prosperity for his people. Around 885-884 BC, a plague swept through Hellas, claiming thousands of lives. And then there were endless strife overcame. Ifit decided to go to Delphi to the oracle. He wanted to know how to achieve peace in Hellas, even for a short time. The oracle advised the warlike Hellenes to engage in competitions pleasing to the gods. During their conduct, no one had to take up arms, and the competitions themselves had to be held honestly and openly. Ifit rushed to Sparta to the local king Lycurgus. The Spartans attached great importance to physical exercises, and Lycurgus, although he did not favor Ifit, agreed to measure his strength. Having agreed, the two rulers drew up an agreement, the text of which was minted on an iron disk. This great event happened in 884 BC. It is a pity that Hercules subsequently threw such a good king off a cliff.

and Hercules

There is another myth about how the first Olympics came about. The year then was 1253 BC. Elida, a small region in the Peloponnese, was ruled by the treacherous and deceitful Augeas. He owned a huge herd, but he never cleaned his animals. Hercules was instructed to clean the stables from tons of dirt accumulated there in one day. He demanded a part of the herd for this, and Avgiy agreed. No one believed that Hercules could handle it, but he did. To do this, he sent rivers to the stables, changing their channels. Augeas was pleased, but he did not deliver what he had promised. The hero left with empty hands and a desire for revenge. After a while, he returned to Elis and killed Avgii. To celebrate, Hercules made sacrifices to the gods, planted an olive grove and organized competitions in honor of the mighty Zeus. This was the first Olympics in Greece. There are other myths about this event, for example, that the Olympias was arranged by Hercules in honor of his victory over Kronos, who swallowed his sons.

Olympia - the birthplace of the first Olympics

The venue for the Olympics was Olympia. This is a territory in Elis, hundreds of kilometers from Mount Olympus. The legendary olive grove of Altis with the altar of the mighty Zeus was located here. It was bordered by a wall and was considered sacred. Also, there was already a temple of Zeus, where rituals were held for hundreds of years. Later, already by the fifty-second Olympiad, a new temple was founded. It provided for training palestras, gymnasiums, houses for guests and athletes, prototypes. Also, statues of the winners were installed there. The date 776 was carved on one of them. That is how scientists who unearthed Olympia in the 19th century established when the first Olympiad took place. The stadium for the competition was located at the foot of Mount Kronos. Tribunes were arranged on its slopes, accommodating up to 45 thousand spectators. This grandiose complex was completed after more than a hundred years, somewhere around 460 BC. The new temple stood safely for 8 centuries, and in 406 was destroyed by Theodosius II, who hated everything pagan. Nature completed the defeat of Olympia, destroying everything that still remained with two powerful earthquakes, and then flooding with an unprecedented flood of rivers.

The rules of the first Olympics, which are still in force today

The modern Olympics are significantly different from those that were held more than 3,000 years ago. However, some rules are still kept. The main one is the fairness of the competition. Now athletes take an oath of allegiance to the Olympic traditions. Previously, there were no oaths, but if an athlete was caught cheating, he was expelled in disgrace, and copper was cast for the fine money that he had to pay. Before the start of the competition, they were shown to the participants as a sign of edification. The second immutable rule is to hold the Olympics every four years. Then the Greeks introduced a special chronology called the Olympic year. It was exactly equal to four ordinary ones. And one more important rule of the past and present Olympics is to stop hostilities for the duration of them. Unfortunately, both when there was the first Olympics, and now they do not adhere to it at all. Otherwise, the first Olympics are very different from the current ones.

Rules of the first Olympics, no longer in existence

Now representatives of all countries and peoples can compete. When there was the first Olympics, the rules forbade non-Greeks, the poor, as well as slaves and women to participate in competitions. The latter were not even allowed to attend the competitions. Otherwise, they could be thrown off the cliff.

In the entire ancient history of the Olympics, only one Fereniya was able to get there. She was her son's fistfighting coach. Fereniya dressed up in a men's suit for the games. Her son won, and the woman gave herself away in a surge of joy. She was not thrown off a cliff just because the people interceded. But since then, all coaches of athletes, the so-called Hellanodiki, had to be naked to the waist. An athlete who wished to participate in the competition reported about it for a year. All this time he trained intensively, passed the established standards, and if he passed, he trained for another month with a special trainer. Interestingly, there was no Olympic flame at the first Olympics; this “ancient” tradition was invented in the 20th century. In Hellas, they held a race with torches, but not in Olympia, but in Athens - on various holidays.

Types of competitions of the first Olympics

The first Olympics in Greece took place only one day and included a run of 192.14 meters, the so-called one stage, equal to 600 feet of Zeus. According to legend, Hercules himself measured the distance. From the 14th Olympiad, races were introduced for the 2nd stage, and from the 15th - for endurance. The distance included from 7 to 24 stages. From the 18th, wrestling and pentathlon (pentathlon), consisting of wrestling, running, javelin throwing and discus, were included in the regulations. Athletes jumped in length from a place, holding cobblestones in their hands. Landing, they were thrown back. It was believed that this improves the result. The spear was thrown at the target, and the disk was thrown from a special elevation. From the 23rd, fisticuffs appeared in the program, and from the 25th - chariot races. The 33rd Olympiad further expanded the program. Now athletes competed in horse, foal and donkey races and mutilated themselves in pankration (something like our fights without rules). There have been 293 Olympiads in total. Thanks to Theodosius II, they were forgotten, but in 1896 the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin revived the glorious tradition.

How the Winter Olympics was born

The first Winter Olympics took place in France in 1924. Pierre de Coubertin wanted to include figure skating in the program of the first renewed Olympics, but this happened only in 1908. Figure skating included 4 disciplines. Our Russian Panin-Kolomenkin won in the free program. Thus began the history of the first Winter Olympics. The IOC proposed to include a week of winter sports in the program of the Olympic Games. But the Swedes, who hosted the 5th Olympiad, refused, because they already had such competitions. They justified the refusal by the fact that there were no winter competitions in ancient Greece. The 6th Olympiad took place in 1916 and did not take place. At the 7th IOC included figure skating and hockey in the program. The year 1924 has come. The Olympics were hosted by the French, who didn't mind winter sports. The competition aroused crazy interest, and the IOC finally approved the law on the Winter Olympics, and the past competitions were given the status of "I Winter Olympic Games".

Further development of the Olympic movement

The first Winter Olympics had a fairly broad program. It included hockey, curling, figure skating, skating, bobsleigh, several types of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Now the list of disciplines has been replenished with freestyle, luge and skiing, skeleton, snowboarding and short track. At first, the winter competitions were held simultaneously with the summer ones, but later they were shifted by 2 years. The list of participating countries has also expanded significantly. Now not only northern peoples are competing, but also representatives of African countries. The popularity of the Olympic movement is growing every year. Now regional Olympics are also held, and in 2015 Baku will host the first European Olympic Games.

In Paris, in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne, a commission has gathered to revive the Olympic Games. Baron Pierre de Coubertin became its general secretary. Then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took shape, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.

The first Olympic Games of modern times were originally planned to be held at the same stadium in Olympia, where the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were held. However, this required too much restoration work, and the first revived Olympic competitions took place in Athens, the capital of Greece.

On April 6, 1896, at the restored ancient stadium in Athens, the Greek King George declared the first modern Olympic Games open. The opening ceremony was attended by 60 thousand spectators.

The date of the ceremony was not chosen by chance - on this day, Easter Monday coincided in three directions of Christianity at once - in Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. This first opening ceremony of the Games established two Olympic traditions - the opening of the Games by the head of state where the competitions take place, and the singing of the Olympic anthem. However, there were no such indispensable attributes of the modern Games as the parade of the participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the pronouncing of the Olympic oath; they were introduced later. There was no Olympic village, the invited athletes provided themselves with housing.

241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the Games of the I Olympiad: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary (at the time of the Games, Hungary was part of Austria-Hungary, but Hungarian athletes competed separately), Germany, Greece, Denmark, Italy , USA, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden.

Russian athletes were quite actively preparing for the Olympics, however, due to lack of funds, the Russian team was not sent to the Games.

As in ancient times, only men took part in the competitions of the first modern Olympiad.

The program of the first Games included nine sports - classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, bullet shooting, tennis, weightlifting and fencing. 43 sets of awards were played.

According to ancient tradition, the Games began with athletics competitions.

Athletics competitions became the most massive - 63 athletes from 9 countries took part in 12 events. The largest number of species - 9 - was won by representatives of the United States.

The first Olympic champion was the American athlete James Connolly, who won the triple jump with a score of 13 meters 71 centimeters.

Wrestling competitions were held without uniform approved rules for wrestling, there were also no weight categories. The style in which the athletes competed was close to today's Greco-Roman, but it was allowed to grab an opponent by the legs. Only one set of medals was played among five athletes, and only two of them competed exclusively in wrestling - the rest took part in competitions in other disciplines.

The medals were played in four types, all heats were held in "freestyle" - it was allowed to swim in any way, changing it along the distance. At that time, the most popular swimming methods were breaststroke, overarm (an improved way of swimming on the side) and "trend-style". At the insistence of the organizers of the Games, the program also included an applied type of swimming - 100 meters in sailor's clothes. Only Greek sailors participated in it.

In cycling, six sets of medals were played - five on the track and one on the road. Track races were held at the Neo Faliron velodrome specially built for the Games.

Eight sets of awards were played in artistic gymnastics competitions. Competitions were held outdoors, at the Marble Stadium.

In shooting, five sets of awards were played - two in rifle shooting and three in pistol shooting.

Tennis competitions were held on the courts of the Athens Tennis Club. Two tournaments were held - in singles and doubles. At the 1896 Games, there was not yet a requirement that all team members represent one country, and some couples were international.

Weightlifting competitions were held without division into weight categories and included two disciplines: squeezing the ball bar with two hands and lifting the dumbbell with one hand.

In fencing, three sets of awards were played. Fencing became the only sport where professionals were also admitted: separate competitions were held among "maestro" - fencing teachers ("maestro" were also admitted to the 1900 Games, after which this practice ceased).

The culmination of the Olympic Games was the marathon. Unlike all subsequent Olympic competitions in marathon running, the length of the marathon distance at the Games of the I Olympiad was 40 kilometers. The classic length of a marathon distance is 42 kilometers 195 meters. The Greek postman Spyridon Louis finished first with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds, who became a national hero after this success. In addition to the Olympic awards, he received a gold cup, established by the French academician Michel Breal, who insisted on the inclusion of marathon running in the program of the Games, a barrel of wine, a voucher for free meals throughout the year, free sewing of a dress and use of a hairdresser throughout his life, 10 centners of chocolate, 10 cows and 30 sheep.

Third-place finishers were not counted at the time, and only later were included by the International Olympic Committee in the country medal standings, however, not all medalists were accurately identified.

The greatest number of medals was won by the Greek team - 45 (10 gold, 17 silver, 18 bronze). The second was the US team - 20 awards (11 + 7 + 2). The third place was taken by the German team — 13 (6+5+2).

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

BAKU, April 6 - Sputnik. One hundred and twenty years ago, the first modern Summer Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece. In 1896, the Olympic Games were held from 6 to 15 April in Athens, Greece.

On June 23, 1894, a commission to revive the Olympic Games met in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne in Paris. Baron Pierre de Coubertin became its general secretary. Then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took shape, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.

Already on April 6, 1896, at the restored ancient stadium in Athens, the Greek King George declared the first modern Olympic Games open. The ceremony was attended by 60 thousand spectators.

The date was not chosen by chance - on this day, Easter Monday coincided in three directions of Christianity at once - in Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. This first opening ceremony of the Games established two Olympic traditions - the opening of the Games by the head of state where the competitions take place, and the singing of the Olympic anthem. However, there were no such indispensable attributes of the modern Games as the parade of the participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the pronouncing of the Olympic oath; they were introduced later. There was no Olympic village, the invited athletes provided themselves with housing.

Russian athletes were quite actively preparing for the Olympics, but due to lack of funds, the Russian team was not sent to the Games.

As in ancient times, only men took part in the competitions of the first modern Olympiad.

The program of the first Games included nine sports - classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, bullet shooting, tennis, weightlifting and fencing. 43 sets of awards were played.

According to ancient tradition, the Games began with athletics competitions. Athletics competitions became the most massive - 63 athletes from 9 countries took part in 12 events. The largest number of species - 9 - was won by representatives of the United States.

The first Olympic champion was the American athlete James Connolly, who won the triple jump with a score of 13 meters 71 centimeters.

Since there were no artificial pools in Athens, swimming competitions were held in an open bay near the city of Piraeus; the start and finish were marked with ropes attached to the floats. The competition aroused great interest - by the beginning of the first swim, about 40 thousand spectators had gathered on the shore. About 25 swimmers from six countries took part, most of them are naval officers and sailors of the Greek merchant fleet. The medals were played in four types, all heats were held in "freestyle" - it was allowed to swim in any way, changing it along the distance. At that time, the most popular swimming methods were breaststroke, overarm (an improved way of swimming on the side) and "trend-style". At the insistence of the organizers of the Games, an applied type of swimming was also included in the program - 100 meters in sailor's clothes. Only Greek sailors participated in it.

In cycling, six sets of medals were contested - five on the track and one on the road. Track races were held at the Neo Faliron velodrome specially built for the Games.

Eight sets of awards were played in artistic gymnastics competitions. Competitions were held outdoors, at the Marble Stadium.

In shooting, five sets of awards were played - two in rifle shooting and three in pistol shooting.

Tennis competitions were held on the courts of the Athens Tennis Club. There were two tournaments - singles and doubles. At the 1896 Games, there was not yet a requirement that all team members represent one country, and some couples were international.

Weightlifting competitions were held without division into weight categories and included two disciplines: squeezing the ball bar with two hands and lifting the dumbbell with one hand.

The winners were awarded on the closing day of the Games - April 15, 1896. Since the Games of the First Olympiad, a tradition has been established of performing the national anthem in honor of the winner and raising the national flag. The winner was crowned with a laurel wreath, he was awarded a silver medal, an olive branch cut in the Sacred Grove of Olympia, and a diploma made by a Greek artist. The second place winners received bronze medals. Third-place finishers were not counted at the time, and only later were included by the International Olympic Committee in the country medal standings, however, not all medalists were accurately identified.

The greatest number of medals was won by the Greek team - 45 (10 gold, 17 silver, 18 bronze). The second was the US team - 20 awards (11 + 7 + 2). The third place was taken by the German team - 13.

First Games

It is not a secret to anyone that the first Olympic Games were held in Greece as early as 776 BC. The small village of Olympia was chosen as the venue for the competition. At that time, competitions were held in only one discipline, which was running at a distance of 189 meters. An interesting feature that made the first Olympic Games in Greece stand out was that only men could take part in them. At the same time, they competed without shoes and any clothes on themselves. Among other things, only one woman, whose name was Demeter, received the right to observe the course of the competition.

History of the Olympics

The first Olympic Games were a great success, so the tradition of holding them has been preserved for another 1168 years. Already at that time it was decided to hold such competitions every four years. A confirmation of their great authority is the fact that during the competition between states that were at war, a temporary peace treaty was always concluded. Each new Olympics has received many changes compared to what the first Olympics were like. First of all, we are talking about adding disciplines. At first it was running at other distances, and then long jumps, fisting, pentathlon, discus throwing, spears, darts and many others were added to it. The winners enjoyed such great respect that they even erected monuments in Greece. There were also difficulties. The most serious of these was the ban on the Games by Emperor Theodosius I in 394 AD. The fact is that he considered this kind of competition pagan entertainment. And 128 years later, a very strong earthquake happened in Greece, because of which the Games were forgotten for a long time.

rebirth

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the first attempts to revive the Olympics began. They began to come true about a hundred years later thanks to the French scientist Pierre de Coubertin. With the help of his compatriot - archaeologist Ernst Curtius - he, in fact, wrote new rules for such competitions. The first modern Olympic Games began on April 6, 1896 in the Greek capital. Representatives of 13 countries from all over the world took part in them. Russia, due to financial problems, did not send its athletes. Competitions were held in nine disciplines, among which were the following: gymnastics, shooting, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling, fencing, tennis, swimming and cycling. Public interest in the Games was colossal, a vivid confirmation of which is the presence at them, according to official figures, of spectators in the amount of more than 90 thousand people. In 1924, it was decided to divide the Olympics into winter and summer.

Failed competitions

It happened that the competitions were not held, despite the fact that they were planned. We are talking about the Berlin Games in 1916, the Olympics in Helsinki in 1940, as well as the London competitions in 1944. The reason for this is one and the same - in world wars. Now all Russians are looking forward to the first Olympic Games to be held in Russia. It will happen in Sochi in 2014.