The Olympic Games, the world’s most important sporting competition, take place every four years. The Olympic motto is ‘citius-altius-fortius’ (faster-higher-stronger).
The 2016 Summer Olympics (Portuguese: Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016),[1] "officially known as the Games
of the XXXI Olympiad, and commonly known as Rio 2016, are a major
international multi-sport event that
will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to August 21, 2016. Record
numbers of countries and sets of medals are awaiting in the games. More than
10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic
Committees(NOCs), including from Kosovo and South Sudan for the first time, will take
part in this sporting event.[2] With 306 sets of medals, the games will
feature 28 Olympic sports —
including rugby sevens and golf,
which were added by the International
Olympic Committee in 2009. These sporting events will take
place on 33 venues in the host city and additionally on 5 venues in the cities
of São Paulo (Brazil's largest city), Belo Horizonte,Salvador, Brasília (Brazil's capital), and Manaus.[2]"
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Ancient Olympic Games
There
are many legends surrounding the origins of the Olympic Games; according to one
legend the Games were founded by Heracles (= Hercules in Roman mythology).
Historically the first Ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC.
Every fourth year, they took place in Olympia in honour of the Olympian Gods.
The prizes for the champions were wreaths from a sacred olive tree that was
said to have been planted by Heracles.
When
the Romans conquered Greece, the Games were also introduced in the Roman
Empire. In 393 AD, however, Emperor Theodosius thought that the ‘pagan
cult’ could threaten the Christian religion and therefore banned the Games
ending a thousand-year period of Olympic Games.
Modern Olympic Games
The
French Baron Pierre de Coubertin is the initiator of the modern Olympic Games.
He wanted to bring nations closer together and have them compete in sports
rather than fight in wars. Thanks to the efforts of Coubertin and his
supporters, the first modern Games took place in 1896 – in Athens, the
actual birthplace of the Olympics.
Coubertin’s
idea of bringing the nations closer together is symbolised in the Olympic flag:
its rings represent the five continents of the world and the colours (blue,
black, red, yellow, green, white) were chosen such that they contained the flag
colours of all countries participating in the games at the time the Olympic
flag was created.
Months
before the Olympics actually take place, the Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia
and relayed to the host city where, at the opening ceremony, the last runner
lights the Olympic fire. Another highlight of the opening ceremony is the
parade of the competitors.
There
are Olympic Summer Games, Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games. The Winter Games take place
two years after the Summer Games. The Paralympic Games are an event for
athletes with physical and mental disabilities – they are held shortly
after the Olympic Games, at the same venues.
At
the first modern Olympic games, 245 athletes from 13 nations competed in 10
different sports. Now more than 10,000 athletes from about 200 nations compete
in 28 summer sports and 7 winter sports. The sports on the Olympic programme
might change, however. Over the years, the IOC has added new sports (e.g. beach
volleyball, snowboarding, curling) and striked out others (e.g. golf, rugby, tug of war).
The
Olympic Games did not take place in 1916 due to World War I and in 1940 and
1944 due to World War II.
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