The Modern Olympic Games
THE SPORTS PHENOMENON OF MODERN TIMES（现代体育现象）
The Olympic Games have become the biggest sporting event of our time. Athletes from the entire world take part. Their achievements are watched from both near and far by hundreds of millions of spectators.
The five rings on the Olympic flag represent the international nature of the Games
THE SUMMER GAMES AND THE WINTER GAMES（夏奥会和冬奥会）
The Olympic Games include(包括) the Games of the Olympiad (i.e. the Summer Games) and the Olympic Winter Games.
The word Olympiad designates the four-year period that separates each edition of the Summer Games.
Although the Summer and Winter Games originally took place in the same year, since 1992 they have been held alternately every two years. The Summer Games and the Winter Games continue to be organised once every four years.
In the Summer Games, athletes compete in a wide variety of competitions on the track, on the road, on grass, in the water, on the water, in the open air and indoors.
The Winter Games feature sports practised on snow and ice, both indoors and outdoors.
A SPORTING EVENT UNLIKE ANY OTHER（不同于其他的体育赛事）
What makes the Olympic Games different from other sporting events ?
The Games take place every four years. They are the world’s largest sporting event, in terms of the number of sports on the programme, the number of athletes present, and the number of different countries reunited in a single geographical area.
The Olympic Games are set in the wider context of the Olympic Movement. The purpose of the Olympic Movement is to :
- link sport with culture and education
- promote the practice of sport and the joy found in exertion
- help to build a better world through sport practised in a spirit of fair play and friendship.
HISTORY
It was Pierre de Coubertin of France who dreamt up this ambitious project [see sheets “ Pierre de Coubertin and the revival of the Games ”]. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games, Coubertin decided to create the modern Olympic Games, and founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 in Paris. This new committee set itself the objective of organising the first Olympic Games of modern times.
The date of the first Games, 1896, marked the beginning of an extraordinary adventure that has now lasted for over a century !
The development of the Games（奥运会的发展）
THE LEGACY OF THE PAST
The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 featured many references to Greek Antiquity.
They were held in Athens as a reminder that the Olympic Games originated in Greece.
The majority of the competitions took place in the ancient stadium (the Panathenaic Stadium), which was restored for the occasion.
Most of the sports on the programme of the ancient Olympic Games were echoed in the modern Games. The organisers even went as far as inventing a new race, inspired by a legendary event : the marathon race.
INNOVATIONS
Although the modern Olympic Games were inspired by the past, they have made some radical departures :
GAMES AROUND THE GLOBE
In contrast with the Olympic Games of Antiquity, each edition of the modern Games takes place in principle in a different city and country.
ATHLETES FROM ALL OVER
The ancient Olympic Games were the preserve of Greek citizens, whereas the modern Games are open to all. The 245 participants in Athens in 1896 came from 14 different
countries.
The Stockholm Games in 1912 were the first to boast the presence of national delegations from the five continents. The universality of the Olympic Games was assured.
WOMEN JOIN IN
Following on from the traditions of Ancient Greece, the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 were an exclusively male preserve. When women made their Olympic debut four years later at the Paris Games in 1900, only two sports were open to them : tennis and golf.
In early 20th century society, women athletes had to deal with a great deal of prejudice : there were fears that they would lose their femininity, grow unattractively muscular, or become sterile. Pierre de Coubertin himself was not in favour of the participation of women
in the Olympic Games :
“ … the true Olympic hero, in my view, is the individual adult male. ”
Le Sport Suisse, 31st year, 7 August 1935, p. 1.
This was the type of preconception the first female athletes were faced with. Gradually, they earned their place at the Games, sport by sport, and event by event.
Two important occasions for women at the Summer Games were :
– the first appearance of women swimmers at the 1912 Games in Stockholm
– the first female athletics competitions, at the Amsterdam Games in 1928 (the 800 m race was considered too difficult for women and was discontinued
after 1928, not to be reintroduced until 1960).
From canoeing (1948) to volleyball (1964), from cycling (1984) to football (1996), women Olympians have gone from strength to strength !
At the turn of the third millennium, over 40 % of athletes at the 2000 Games in Sydney (Australia) were women. This was the largest proportion of female participants in the history of the Olympic Games. For the first time, women took part in the modern pentathlon and in weightlifting events.
The only sports now not open to women on the programme of the Summer Games are boxing