BBC - Primary History - Ancient Greeks. The Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games began over 2,7. Olympia, in southwest Greece. The Games were part of a religious festival. The Greek Olympics, thought to have begun in 7. BC, inspired the modern Olympic Games (begun in 1. The Games were held in honour of Zeus, king of the gods, and were staged every four years at Olympia, a valley near a city called Elis. People from all over the Greek world came to watch and take part.
Back to top. The statue of Zeus. Visitors to Olympia stared in wonder as they entered the great Temple of Zeus.
[9:20] Čička said: I was inspired by the athletes’ track which, to me, means the base of the Youth Olympic Games. So I put it into my concept and used different. Please use the pulldown menu to view different character maps contained in this font. Ancient Olympics :: Ancient Olympia: Ancient Olympics :: Olympian Games: Ancient Olympics :: Disthenes at the Olympic Games: Ancient Olympics :: Ancient Greek Olympics. The Olympic Games. The Olympic Games began over 2,700 years ago in Olympia, in southwest Greece. The Games were part of a religious festival. The Greek Olympics.
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Inside was a huge statue of the king of the gods, sitting on a throne. People called it one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The statue was covered in gold and ivory, and was six times bigger than a man.
It was built about 4. BC, and no one who made the trip to Olympia missed seeing it.
You can read what the writer Pausanias wrote about it in the Writings section. Back to top. What was the Sacred Truce? The city- states of Greece were often at war. This made travel between them dangerous. So messengers sent out from Elis announced a 'sacred truce' (peace) lasting one month before the Games began. This meant people could travel to Olympia in safety.
The Olympic Games were more important than wars because they were a religious festival. The messengers went all over the Greek world, as the map shows. Back to top. Events at the Games.
At the first one- day Olympic Games, the only event was a short sprint from one end of the stadium to the other. Gradually more events were added to make four days of competitions. They included wrestling, boxing, long jump, throwing the javelin and discus, and chariot racing. In the pentathlon, there were five events: running, wrestling, javelin, discus and long jump.
One of the toughest events was the race for hoplites, men wearing armour and carrying shields. Winners were given a wreath of leaves, and a hero's welcome back home.
Winners might marry rich women, enjoy free meals, invitations to parties, and the best seats in the theatre. The running track was much wider than a modern one.
Twenty people could run at once. Back to top. Spectators. About 5. 0,0. 00 people could sit in the stadium. Away from the arena, most spectators had to find somewhere to pitch their tents or sleep rough, but important visitors and athletes had hotel rooms. It was hot and overcrowded, and the water supply was poor, at first not even a proper drinking fountain.
This didn't stop people coming though! The Games ended with a feast. Lots of oxen were roasted in a giant barbecue. Traders came to do business, entertainers such as jugglers and acrobats performed, and politicians made speeches to the crowds. Back to top. The nastiest event?
Probably the pankration or all- in wrestling was the nastiest event. There were hardly any rules.
Biting and poking people's eyes were officially banned, but some competitors did both! While it does not seem very sporting to us, all- in wrestling was very popular. Boxing was tough too. The fighters wore leather gloves and a boxer was allowed to go on hitting his opponent even after he'd knocked him to the ground! However, cheating was punished.
Anyone caught cheating, trying to bribe an athlete for instance, had to pay for a bronze statue of Zeus, as a punishment. Back to top. Women at Olympia. Only men, boys and unmarried girls were allowed to attend the Olympic Games. Married women were not allowed into the Olympic Games. Any women caught sneaking in were punished!
Women could own horses in the chariot race though. Unmarried women had their own festival at Olympia every four years. This was the Heraia, held in honour of Hera, wife of Zeus.
Women could compete in running races, though only unmarried girls took part. Winners were awarded crowns of sacred olive branches, the same as men. As a rule Greek women did not go in for sport, unless they were Spartans.
Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The 2. 01. 2 Summer Olympics, formally the Games of the XXX Olympiad[2] and commonly known as London 2.
Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 2. July to 1. 2 August 2. The first event, the group stage in women's football began on 2. July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, followed by the opening ceremonies on 2.
July.[3][4] More than 1. National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated.[5]Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and then- Mayor of London. Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2. IOC Session in Singapore, defeating bids from Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris.[6] London was the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times,[7][8] having previously done so in 1. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability.[1. The main focus was a new 2.
Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London.[1. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid.[1. The Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly.[1. The opening ceremony, directed by Danny Boyle, received widespread acclaim throughout the world, particular praise from the British public and a minority of widely ranging criticisms from some social media sites.[1. During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, winning his 2.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games.[2. Women's boxing was included for the first time, thus the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors.[2. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge.
The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China and host Great Britain. Several world and Olympic records were set at the games. Though there were several controversies, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standards of competition amongst nations across the world. Bidding process[edit]By 1. July 2. 00. 3, the deadline for interested cities to submit bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2. Summer Olympics: Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.[2.
On 1. 8 May 2. 00. IOC reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.[2. All five submitted their candidate files by 1. November 2. 00. 4 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February and March 2. The Paris bid suffered two setbacks during the IOC inspection visit: a number of strikes and demonstrations coinciding with the visits, and a report that a key member of the bid team, Guy Drut, would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.[2. Lord Coe – the head of the London 2.
Throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin.
Its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2. May 2. 00. 4.[2. 5] In late August 2.
London and Paris.[2. On 6 June 2. 00. 5, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive. London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2.
New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluations.[2. On 1 July 2. 00. 5, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, "I cannot predict it since I don't know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less."[2. On 6 July 2. 00. 5, the final selection was announced at the 1. IOC Session in Singapore.
Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two contenders were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2. Games with 5. 4 votes to Paris' 5. The celebrations in London were short- lived, being overshadowed by bombings on London's transport system less than 2. Development and preparation[edit]The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was created to oversee the staging of the Games after the success of the bid, and held its first board meeting on 3 October 2. The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, was in charge of implementing and staging the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) was in charge of the construction of the venues and infrastructure.[3.
The latter was established in April 2. The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was the lead government body for coordinating the London 2.
Olympics. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross- programme programme management and the London 2. Olympic Legacy before and after the Games that would benefit London and the United Kingdom. The organisation was also responsible for the supervision of the ВЈ9. In August 2. 01. 1, security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London[3.
England riots, with a few countries expressing fear over the safety of the Games,[3. International Olympic Committee's assurance that the riots would not affect the Games.[3. The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2. Games completed its tenth and final visit to London in March 2.
Its members concluded that "London is ready to host the world this summer".[3. The 2. 01. 2 Olympic and Paralympic Games used a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well- known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade.
After the Games, some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be resized or relocated.[3. The majority of venues have been divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition there are a few venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy some 1. London, which hosted the sailing events. The football tournament was staged at several grounds around the UK.[3. Work began on the Park in December 2. Eton Manor was pulled down.[4.
The athletes' village in Portland was completed in September 2. In November 2. 00. Olympic Park plans were revealed.[4. The plans for the site were approved in September 2. Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.[4. The redevelopment of the area to build the Olympic Park required compulsory purchase orders of property. The London Development Agency was in dispute with London and Continental Railways about the orders in November 2.
By May 2. 00. 6, 8. Residents who opposed the eviction tried to find ways to stop it by setting up campaigns, but they had to leave as 9. ВЈ9 billion regeneration project started.[4.
There were some issues with the original venues not being challenging enough or being financially unviable. Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were initially considered to be too easy, so they were eventually scheduled on new locations.[4.
The Olympic marathon course, which was set to finish in the Olympic stadium, was moved to The Mall, since closing Tower Bridge was deemed to cause traffic problems in central London.[4. North Greenwich Arena 2 was scrapped in a cost- cutting exercise, Wembley Arena being used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events instead.[4. Test events were held throughout 2.
Wimbledon Championships or as a specially created event held under the banner of London Prepares.[5. Public transport[edit]London's public transport scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation; however, it felt that, if the improvements were delivered in time for the Games, London would cope.[5. Transport for London (Tf. L) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2.
London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the introduction of a new "Javelin" high- speed rail service.[5. According to Network Rail, an additional 4,0. Games, and train operators ran longer trains during the day.[5.
During the Games, Stratford International station was not served by any international services (just as it had not been before the Games),[5. Hackney Wick railway station,[5. Pudding Mill Lane DLR station closed entirely during the Games.[5. Tf. L also built a ВЈ2.
River Thames, called the Emirates Air Line, to link 2. Olympics venues.[6. It was inaugurated in June 2. Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,5. O2 arena and the Ex.
Ce. L exhibition centre and providing a crossing every 3. The plan was to have 8. The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 2. In addition, LOCOG planned for 9. Two park- and- ride sites off the M2.
Olympic Park. Another park- and- ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with a capacity for 9,0. To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park- and- ride schemes were set up.[6. Olympic rings marked on a street, indicating that the lane was reserved for the use of Olympic athletes and staff. Tf. L defined a network of roads leading between venues as the Olympic Route Network; roads connecting between all of the Olympic venues located within London. Many of these roads also contained special "Olympic lanes" marked with the Olympic rings—reserved for the use of Olympic athletes, officials, and other VIPs during the Games.