The Olympic Games 2024 will take place in France, Paris from 26 July 2024 to 11 August 2024. Around 10,500 athletes from 206 NOCs will compete in the Paris Olympic 2024.
In the Paris Olympics, athletes will compete in a wide range of sports including,3X3 Basketball, Archery, Artistic Gymnastics, Artistic, Swimming, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Breaking, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Cycling BMX Freestyle, Cycling BMX Racing, Cycling Mountain Bike, Cycling Road, Cycling Track, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Marathon Swimming, Modern Pentathlon, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Rowing, Rugby Sevens, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Trampoline, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting and Wrestling.
The first Olympic Games took place in Olympia, a district in Southern Greece. The Greeks played the first Olympic event in 776 BC, two decades before the finding of Rome.
For over one thousand years, the Greeks and later the Romans celebrated the Olympics in honor of Zues in Olympia.
Banning and Vanishing of Olympics in 393 AD
In 393 AD, the Christian Emperor Theodosius I banned the pagan rituals, which also included games.
However, some sports competitions and cultural festivals remained popular in Greek-influenced regions of the Roman empire until the 6th century AD.
Earthquake destroyed the buildings in Olympia where the Olympics were played, causing their ruins to slowly vanished beneath the ground and sand. It left no visible traces left on the site.
The Rediscovery of Olympia by Richard Chandler
Later, Richard Chandler, the English traveler, found the location of ancient Olympia in 1776, and a century later, further research and digging and excavation were conducted by German archaeologists.
The Revival of Olympics
Ancient Greece originated the Olympics, and they revived the games in 1896. They have been scheduled every four years except for the summer and winter Olympics, which have been staggered since 1992. The Olympic games were interrupted by World War I in 1916 and World War II in 1940 and 1944.
Notably, Pierre de Coubertin revived the modern Olympic games in 1896 and held them in Athens.
The Olympic interlaced rings and colors?
You would have observed five interlaced rings of equal dimensions as the Olympic symbol. Let us explore the significance of the five interconnecting rings and the meaning behind the different colors they represent.
The Olympic symbol consists of five interlocked rings of equal size. These rings represent the unity of the five continents and the participation of athletes from all around the world.
Each ring is a different color from left to right, which symbolizes the diversity of the participating nations.
The different colored rings in the symbol are:
| Color | Continent |
| Blue | The blue color represents Europe’s Continent |
| Yellow | The yellow color represents the Asia Continent |
| Black | The black color represents the Africa Continent |
| Green | The green color represents the Australia Continent |
| Red | The color red represents the America Continent |
But in 1913, when Pierre De Coubertin created the rings, the five colors combined with the white background represented the colors of the flags of all nations at that time.
Why do the Olympic Games occur every four years, and what is the tradition of Olympiad?
In ancient times, people held the Olympic Games every four years at Olympia, naming the four-year interval between the Ancient Olympic events an Olympiad.
People used the word Olympiad to count time in Olympiads rather than years. To respect these ancient origins, we schedule the Olympics after a gap of four years.
Mallika Sadhu is a journalist committed to revealing the raw, unfiltered truth. Mallika's work is grounded in a dedication to transparency and integrity, aiming to present clear and impactful stories that matter. Through comprehensive reporting and honest storytelling, she strives to contribute to provide narratives that genuinely inform and engage. When not dwelling in the world of journalism, she is immersed in the colors of her canvas and pages of her journal.
Comments