The word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek word gymnos, which means naked. In ancient times athletes practiced in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games. Women were not allowed to participate or even to attend as spectators.
The first Olympic games were held in 776BC – and then every 4 years until 339BC. The first Olympic race was won by Corubus, a chef. For many years the Olympics consisted of only one race, a sprint of 192 metres (210 yards, the length of the stadium) called the “stadion.” A second race of 400 metres was added 50 years later. The pentathlon, wrestling, boxing, single-horse and four-horse chariot races were included later still. There also was a special event in which runners competed in hoplite armor, helmet, shield, and greaves that weighed 20-25 kg (50-60 lbs). There were no team events, relay races or the long distance race of Marathon – these events were introduced in the modern Olympics.
Go for silver
No medals were awarded in the ancient Olympics. A winner received an olive wreath to wear on his head. Second and third placings received nothing. When the Olympics were revived in 1896 in Athens, Greece, winners received silver medals instead of gold medals. Eight years later, at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, gold replaced silver for first place. Today’s gold medals actually are sterling silver covered with a thin coat of gold.
Olympic medals since 1928 have featured the same design on the front: a Greek goddess, the Olympic Rings, the coliseum of ancient Athens, a Greek vase known as an amphora, a horse-drawn chariot, and the year, number of the Olympiad, and host city.
Games for all
At the first modern Olympic Games there were 311 male but no female competitors. Women were allowed to take part in the next Olympics in Paris. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games there were 3543 female competitors.
The oldest Olympic athlete at the Sydney Games was a 62-year-old archer representing Vanuatu. But he has some years to go to be the oldest ever Olympian. That title is held by Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn who won his sixth Olympic medal at the 1920 Antwerp Games at the age of 72 years and 280 days old. The youngest ever Olympian is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics. He was 10 years old.
The first ever perfect score of 10 in Olympic gymnastics was achieved at the 1976 Montreal Olympics by Romanian Nadia Comaneci. She won 3 gold medals.
The record for the most Olympic medals ever won is held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Competing in three Olympics, between 1956 and 1964, she won 18 medals: 9 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze. Thus she also tops the list of gold medals winners, beating Olympic stars such as US swimmer Mark Spitz and Finnish long distance runner Paavo Nurmi.
The Olympic Games is the largest single broadcast event in the world, broadcasted in 220 countries to more than 3.5 bilion people.
The Olympic Games
| Summer Olympics
The modern Olympics is the brainchild of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. He organised the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. A total of 245 athletes from 14 nations competed. The modern Olympic Games: 1896 Athens, Greece 1900 Paris, France 1904 St. Louis, USA 1908 London, UK 1912 Stockholm, Sweden 1920 Antwerp, Belgium 1924 Paris, France 1928 Amsterdam, Netherlands 1932 Los Angeles, USA 1936 Berlin, Germany 1948 London, UK 1952 Helsinki, Finland 1956 Melbourne, Australia 1960 Rome, Italy 1964 Tokyo, Japan 1968 Mexico City, Mexico 1972 Munich, West Germany 1976 Montreal, Canada 1980 Moscow, USSR 1984 Los Angeles, USA 1988 Seoul, South Korea 1992 Barcelona, Spain 1996 Atlanta, USA 2000 Sydney, Australia 2004 Athens, Greece 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics not held due to war: 1916, 1940 and 1944 |
Winter Olympics
The first Winter Olympics Games was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. The venues since: 1928 St Moritz, Switzerland 1932 Lake Placid, USA 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 1948 St Moritz, Switzerland 1952 Oslo, Norway 1956 Cortina, Italy 1960 Squaw Valley, USA 1964 Innsbruck, Austria 1968 Grenoble, France 1972 Sapporo, Japan 1976 Innsbruck, Austria 1980 Lake Placid, USA 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 1988 Calgary, Canada 1992 Albertville, France 1994 Lillehammer, Norway 1998 Nagano, Japan 2002 Salt Lake City, USA 2006 Turin, Italy Winter Olympics not held during WWII 1940 and 1944 |
