Introduction to the Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are referred to as the Olympic Games, which include the Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, Paralympic Games, Youth Olympic Games and Special Olympics. It is an international games covering a variety of sports hosted by the International Olympic Committee and is held every four years. The Olympic Games first originated in ancient Greece (776 BC) and were named after the venue where they were held in Olympia. The truly modern Olympic Games were founded by Baron Coubertin of France at the end of the 19th century. The Olympic Games have been held every four years since 1896 (it was interrupted three times during the two world wars, in 1916, 1940 and 1944), with a duration of no more than 16 days. Since the Winter Olympics were established in 1924, the Olympic Games are also customarily called the "Summer Olympic Games". The Olympic Games have now become a symbol of peace and friendship.

The Five Olympic Rings

The Olympic movement has a series of unique and distinctive symbolic signs, such as the Olympic logo, motto, Olympic flag, anthem, emblem, medals, mascots, etc. These symbols have rich cultural meanings and vividly reflect the value orientation and cultural connotation of the Olympic ideal.

The "Olympic Charter" stipulates that the property rights of the Olympic logo, Olympic flag, Olympic motto and Olympic anthem belong exclusively to the International Olympic Committee. The International Olympic Committee may take all appropriate measures to obtain legal protection for the Olympic symbols, flags, mottos and anthems at national and international levels.

The most widely circulated symbol today is the five Olympic rings. With the development of the Olympic movement, it has become an image representative of the Olympic spirit and culture. Wherever the five rings "turn", the Olympic movement is there. Wherever it takes root and blossoms.

Speaking of the origin of the five rings, there was an interesting story. The 11th Berlin Olympic Games held the first torch relay event in 1936. The torch relay route started from Olympia, exited from northern Greece, passed through Austria along the Danube River, and finally entered Germany. In order to highlight this symbolic event, Karl Deem, chairman of the Olympic Organizing Committee, and his colleagues arranged the ancient Greek ruins they passed along the way almost exactly according to the scenes of the ancient Olympic Games.

A special ceremony was held when the torch arrived at the ancient sports ground on Mount Parnassus in Delphi. At this time, Deem had a sudden idea to design and carve on the four sides of a rectangular stone about 3 feet high. The five-ring symbol of the modern Olympic movement was placed at one end of the starting line of the ancient sports ground. After the ceremony, the torch continued its journey north, but the stone as a prop was left at the ancient sports ground.

Because very few people knew the true identity of this stone engraved with the five-ring symbol (later known as the "Dim Stone"), for a long time thereafter, it was regarded as "a stone with 3,000 Relics of the ancient Olympic Games with a history of 20 years.” This widely spread error was not pointed out by Greek officials at Delphi until the 1960s. In May 1972, the fake cultural relic was sent to another place in Delphi - the entrance to the Roman Forum.

In fact, the five-ring symbol of the modern Olympic movement was designed by Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Coubertin believed that the Olympic movement should have its own symbol, and this idea had been lingering in his mind for a long time. In 1913, he finally conceived and designed the five-ring logo and the Olympic flag with the five rings printed on a white background, intending to launch this logo on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee.

From June 15th to 23rd, 1914, the International Olympic Committee held its Congress at the Sorbonne Academy in Paris, France, and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee. At the commemorative meeting, Coubertin happily showed everyone the five-ring logo he designed and a flag with the five rings on it, and suggested that they be used as the symbols of the Olympic movement. After listening to Coubertin's explanation, the meeting decided to adopt the Olympic rings and the Olympic flag as the Olympic symbols.

The five Olympic rings logo is composed of five Olympic rings connected from left to right. It can be a single color or five colors: blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The initial explanation was that the five colors represented the colors of the national flags, and later the five rings of different colors were interpreted as symbols of the five continents. The official Olympic website reminds that the statement that "each ring represents a corresponding continent" is wrong.

(See the entry on "Olympic Rings")

The flag is 3 meters long and 2 meters wide, with a white background, symbolizing purity. The five rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red are interlocking. In 1914, the Olympic flag was hoisted for the first time at the Olympic Games in Paris. In 1920, the Olympic flag flew for the first time at the Antwerp Summer Olympics Stadium. After the Olympic Games, the Belgian Olympic Committee presented the same flag to the International Olympic Committee, which was flown during the Olympic Games and later customized. This flag was transferred to the previous host city at the opening ceremony of the previous Olympic Games and kept by the host city during the competition. Only substitutes will be hung on the main sports field. In 1952, the City of Oslo presented the Winter Olympics flag to the International Olympic Committee. The handover, preservation and use methods are the same as those for the Summer Olympics.

In June 1979, the International Olympic Committee officially announced the meaning of the flag and the five rings: According to the "Olympic Charter", the meaning of the Olympic flag and the five rings is: symbolizing the unity of the five continents and the Athletes from all over the world meet at the Olympic Games with fair, candid competition and a friendly spirit.

The origin of the Olympic Games

Legend: The ancient Olympic Games were regularly held sports competitions to worship Zeus. Another legend relates to Heracles, son of Zeus. Hercules was nicknamed "Hercules" because of his immense strength. He completed a task that ordinary people could not complete in the city-state of Elis. In less than half a day, he cleaned the king's cowshed filled with cow dung. However, the king did not want to fulfill his promise of giving away 300 cows, so Hercule drove the king away in anger. To celebrate his victory, he held games at the Olympics.

The most widely circulated story about the origin of the ancient Olympic Games is the story of Pelops's marriage. In order to choose a consort with both civil and military skills for his daughter, King Elis of ancient Greece proposed that the candidate must compete with him in a chariot race. During the competition, 13 young men were killed by the king's spear, and the 14th young man was Pelops, the grandson of Zeus and the princess's sweetheart. Inspired by love, he bravely accepted the king's challenge and finally outsmarted him. In order to celebrate this victory, Pelops and the princess held a grand wedding in front of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. Chariots, gladiatorial games and other competitions were arranged at the meeting. This was the first ancient Olympic Games. Pelops became a legend of the ancient Olympic Games. The founder of.

The origin of the Olympic Games is actually closely related to the social situation of ancient Greece. In the 9th and 8th centuries BC, the Greek clan society gradually collapsed, and the city-state slave society gradually formed, with more than 200 city-states established. The city-states are independent in their own affairs, without a unified monarch, and there are constant wars between the city-states. In order to cope with the war, various city-states actively trained soldiers. Children in the Spartan city-state were raised by the state from the age of 7, engaged in sports and military training, and lived a military life. War requires soldiers, and soldiers need strong bodies, and sports are a powerful means to cultivate soldiers who are good at fighting. War promoted the development of Greek sports, and the events of the ancient Olympic Games also had obvious military imprints. The continuous wars have disgusted the people, and they generally long for a peaceful environment in which to rest and recuperate. Later, the King of Sparta and King Elis signed the "Holy Truce Month" treaty. As a result, military training and sports competitions to prepare troops gradually turned into games for peace and friendship.

The Greeks stipulated in 776 BC that the Olympic Games be held every four years. During the Games, athletes from all over Greece and nearby people gathered in Olympia, a beautiful town in southern Greece. When the first Olympic Games were held here in 776 BC, the Dorian Clos won the championship in the 192.27-meter sprint. He became the first person to win the first title at the International Olympic Games.

Later, the scale of the ancient Greek games gradually expanded and became a grand event to show the national spirit. The winners of the competition receive laurels, wild olives and palm woven garlands, etc. From 776 BC to 394 AD, after 1170 years, China held 293 ancient Olympic Games. Banned by the Roman emperor in 394 AD.

From 1875 to 1881, the German Curtius excavated cultural relics at the Olympic site, which aroused interest from all over the world. For this reason, French educator Pierre de Coubertin believes that restoring the tradition of the ancient Greek Olympic Games is of great significance to promoting the development of international sports. With his advocacy and active efforts, the first international sports conference was held in Paris in June 1894.

The International Sports Congress decided to call the world's comprehensive sports games the Olympic Games, and held the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, which would be held every four years in each member country in turn.

By 2004, 28 Olympic Games had been held. In 2008, the 29th session will be held in Beijing, China.

The first Olympic regulations initiated and formulated by Coubertin were adopted at the Paris International Conference in June 1894. It involves the basic purposes, principles and other related matters of the Olympic Movement. The 1921 Lausanne Olympic Conference formulated the Olympic Law, which includes five parts: the Olympic Charter, the International Olympic Committee Statutes, the Olympic Competition Rules and Protocols, the General Rules for the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Parliament Rules. Over the decades, the Olympic Law has been revised and supplemented many times, but the basic principles and spirit formulated by Coubertin have not changed.

In 1900, at the second Olympic Games held in Paris, 11 women broke the ban and appeared on the sports field. After several debates, the International Olympic Committee finally officially passed a resolution allowing women to participate in the Olympic Games at its 22nd meeting in 1924. Since then, women's events have become an indispensable part of the Olympic Games, and more and more female athletes are participating.

With the development of the Olympic movement, the International Olympic Committee has also made many regulations. In 1913, based on Coubertin's idea, the International Olympic Committee designed the Olympic flag, which has an endless white background and five interlocking rings in the center. The colors of the rings are sky blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The ring symbolizes the unity of the five continents and the fact that athletes from all over the world meet at the Olympic Games with fair, frank competition and a spirit of friendship. In 1914, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the modern Olympic movement, the flag was used for the first time at the Olympic Games held in Paris. During the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, the first five-ring flag was raised on the sports field. Since then, there have been flag handover and flag-raising ceremonies at the opening ceremonies of all subsequent Olympic Games. In order to promote the Olympic spirit and encourage participating athletes, Coubertin proposed and approved by the International Olympic Committee in 1913, "Faster, Higher, Stronger" was adopted as the Olympic motto. When the London Olympics was held in 1908, at the religious ceremony of the Olympic Games held in St. Paul's Cathedral, the Archbishop of Pennsylvania in the United States said in his sermon that "the important thing in the Olympics is participation, not victory." Coubertin greatly appreciated this sentence. It has been quoted many times since then, so many people believe that this sentence should become an Olympic ideal. The athletes' oath was implemented from the 7th Olympic Games in 1920. In 1968, the 19th Olympic Games added referee oaths. At the 11th Olympic Games in 1936, the International Olympic Committee officially stipulated that the Olympic flame symbolizing light, friendship, and unity should be lit at the main venue. Since then, this event has become one of the indispensable rituals at the opening ceremony of every Olympic Games. Before the start of the Olympic Games, a concave mirror was used to gather sunlight to light the torch next to the temple of the Greek goddess Hera (wife of Zeus) in Olympia. The torch relay was then carried out and arrived at the host city the day before the opening of the Olympic Games. At the opening ceremony, athletes from the host country took the last shot to light the flames on the tower, and the flames were extinguished during the closing ceremony.

Olympic Torch

1. Ancient Torch Relay

As a sacred symbol, the history of fire can be traced back to prehistory. Fire represented creation, rebirth and light in Greek history. In Greek mythology, fire is the sacred symbol of Hephaestus, a gift stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and given to mankind.

In the center of every ancient Greek city-state, there was an altar burning an eternal sacred fire, and every household of the city-state residents also had an eternal sacred fire to worship the goddess Hestia. The torch relay was first held at night as a religious ceremony in ancient Greece. Soon it gradually transformed into a team competitive sport that first emerged among teenagers, and eventually evolved into one of the most popular sports in ancient Greece. .

In the council hall of the ancient city of Olympia, there was an altar dedicated to Hestia. The sacred fire of the altar was ignited by focusing sunlight on a concave disk or mirror. The holy fire never goes out. The process of collecting the sacred fire is very simple, but it can leave a deep impression on people. The concave, smooth surface focuses sunlight into a focal point, where the High Priestess can ignite it by holding her torch.

The ancient Greeks held a torch relay competition, and contestants had to carry the torch until the finish line.

The ancient Greek religious ceremony of the Torch Relay was held every four years in honor of the goddess Athena. The power of the holy fire is delivered by the torchbearers in the fastest way. The torch relay starts from the altar of Prometheus and ends at the altar of the goddess Athena located on the Acropolis of ancient Athens. At that time, the torch relay was completed by 40 young people from 10 Athenian tribes, covering a distance of 1.5 kilometers and 2.5 kilometers.

The modern Olympic flame lighting ceremony is the same as that in ancient Greece. It was also lit by a priestess at Olympia while the athletes' oath was recited. The Olympic flame will then be awarded to the first torchbearer, which also marks the official start of the torch relay. To this day, the power of the Olympic torch relay still affects the hearts of millions of people.

2. The beginning and revival of the modern Olympic torch relay

Since today’s torch relay and Olympic flame were not available in the ancient Olympics, where did they start? In fact, this is related to the two world wars. The Olympic flame was first lit in 1920 to commemorate those who died in World War I. In 1928, the International Olympic Committee lit the Olympic flame as a required action of the opening ceremony.

But the emergence of the torch relay of the modern Olympic Games is also thanks to Nazi Germany: before the 1936 Berlin Olympics, under the instruction of Hitler, the Nazi leader who extremely worshiped ancient Greece, especially the Spartans, the Berlin Olympics Dr. Carl Dieem, the head of the organizing committee, combined the two customs of ancient Greece and created a set of Olympic torch relay and flame ceremonies that are still in use today.

On July 20, 1936, under the arrangement of Nazi Germany, Greek priests and 14 local virgins dressed in traditional costumes stood in the ancient Olympic stadium and used the reflection of mirrors to focus sunlight on a tree. On the wood, until the wood heats up and catches fire, the Holy Virgin is chanting: "O holy flame, kindled in ancient and sacred places, begin your run."

Krupp, the largest Nazi arsenal ( The place where the famous Krupp cannons are produced) also contributes to the Olympic torch relay, with all the torches bearing the Krupp trademark. After a brief ceremony, the torch passed through Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia through a relay of 3,075 people, and arrived at the torch platform at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, on August 1.

The Nazi German propaganda machine also hyped up this torch relay ceremony. The most famous one was in the large-scale documentary "Olympia" released in 1938 by Leni Riefenstahl, the famous female director used by Hitler. The camera shows a Greek relay runner, running slowly with a torch in the dusk of the Aegean Sea.

Although life was closely related to fit the Nazi aesthetic, because of its combination of classical and sublime ritual, it continued to be passed down even after the fall of the Nazis. In 1948, London, which had been repeatedly bombed by the Nazis, held the first Olympic Games after World War II, and continued to use a series of ceremonies such as the lighting of the old Olympia site and the torch relay. Today, the torch relay has become a symbol of global solidarity, its Nazi origins long forgotten.

3. The origin of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay graphics: the heirloom dragon and phoenix robe

The phoenix pattern selected for the torch relay graphics came from the jade-plated gold embroidered python phoenix robe given to Qin Liang by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Qin Liangyu, a famous female general in the Ming Dynasty, led the white-pole soldiers to King Qin of Beijing. The dragon and phoenix robe is a gift from the emperor. The torch relay graphics are based on the core graphics of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games plus the traditional Chinese phoenix pattern.

Olympic Anthem

The International Olympic Committee finally decided to use the "Olympic Hymn" as the Olympic anthem at the 55th Plenary Session held in Tokyo in 1958. Its score is kept at the International Olympic Committee headquarters. From then on, this melodious ancient Greek music can be heard at the opening and closing ceremonies of every Olympic Games. The lyrics of this song are as follows:

The ancient immortal god,

The beautiful, great and upright holy father.

Pray to come to the world to express yourself,

Let the heroes who are noticed in this earth and sky,

as a witness of your glory.

Please shine a light on running, wrestling and throwing,

these noble competitions of all-out effort.

Award a wreath made of olive branches to the winner,

Create a steely torso.

The valleys, mountains, and oceans complement you,

like a temple made of colorful rocks.

This huge temple,

People from all over the world come to worship,

Ah! The eternal ancient god.

Athletes Admission

According to regulations, any National Olympic Committee recognized by the International Olympic Committee can send sports teams to participate in Olympic competitions. The Olympic Games is the largest and most influential comprehensive sports event in the world. Normally, the president of the International Olympic Committee and the host country’s head of state attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the conference and deliver speeches at the meeting. The host country’s head of state declares the opening of the conference. . In the past, countries (or regions) participating in the Olympic Games were invited by the host country. In September 1986, the Seoul meeting of the International Olympic Committee Executive Committee decided that the invitation would be changed to the International Olympic Committee in the future.

The Charter of the International Olympic Committee stipulates that the Olympic Games are the exclusive property of the International Olympic Committee. The International Olympic Committee will decide the city to host the next Olympic Games based on the organizational and financial resources of the city applying to host the Olympic Games. The host city must abide by the International Olympic Committee Charter

Olympic Games

Olympic Games include:

Athletics, Basketball, Football

Wrestling and Judo Weightlifting

Shooting, Archery and Fencing

Rowing Equestrian Boxing

Handball Tennis Baseball

Kayaking Table Tennis Hockey

Gymnastics (including artistic gymnastics)

Volleyball (including beach volleyball)

Swimming (including diving, water polo, synchronized swimming) < /p>

Ironman triathlon, modern pentathlon, etc.

If an event is to be set as an official Olympic event, it must meet the following basic conditions:

Only men’s sports events/sub-items that are carried out in more than 75 countries on at least four continents and Women's sports events/sub-events that are carried out in at least three continents and more than 40 countries can be listed as Summer Olympic events.

Only sports that are carried out in more than 25 countries on at least three continents can be listed as Winter Olympic events.

A sports event in the Olympic Games is a competition in a sports event or sub-item. In the Olympic Games, rankings need to be generated, and medals and certificates will be awarded as rewards. Before a sports event can be listed as an official event in the Olympic Games, the first and most important requirement is that there are enough people and areas around the world to carry out the event, and that at least two continental championships have been held. Projects, sub-events and events that mainly rely on mechanical power for propulsion cannot be listed as Olympic events.

In addition to the official competition events, the International Olympic Committee also authorizes the host country to list 1 to 3 popular non-Olympic official events in the country as exhibition events for the current Olympic Games. Other countries can also send athletes team participates. As an unofficial competition, no medals are awarded to the winners.

Reward: The International Olympic Committee emphasizes that the competition is only a competition between individuals and teams, not a contest of sports strength between countries. What the International Olympic Committee announces is only the competition results, not the medals won by each country. However, the host country, the press and the national Olympic committees all conduct statistics in this area and rank the overall rankings by medals or points. In terms of rewards, the focus is also on spirituality and reputation. The International Olympic Committee believes that spiritual rewards are one of the important factors in the Olympic spirit. The top three athletes who win at the Olympic Games will only be awarded gold, silver, bronze and iron medals respectively, without any material rewards.

The ancient Olympic Games have a history of 1,200 years since they were held in Olympia, Greece, in 776 BC. It was originally a religious ceremony and gradually evolved into a sports activity. The competition events at that time included the pentathlon (including discus, javelin, long jump, running; wrestling and boxing), running, boxing, wrestling, and boxing wrestling (a mixture of boxing and wrestling). sports), carriage racing and horse riding. The ancient Olympic Games reflected people's desire for peace. During the Olympic Games, the warring parties would have a truce. However, the ancient Olympic Games were eventually stopped due to war.

The revival of the Olympics began in 1896. With the efforts of the founder of the Olympics, Coubertin, the first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, with 245 athletes from 14 countries participating. Since then, the number of participating athletes, participating countries and competition events has increased day by day. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia, more than 10,000 athletes from 199 countries participated. As the world's largest gathering, the "faster, higher, stronger" spirit proposed by the Olympic Games embodies the spirit of modern people's pursuit of a happy life.

Winter sports were first added to the Olympics in 1908, with figure skating. Ice hockey has been added since 1920. In 1924, the Winter Olympics were held alone for the first time in Chaminis, France. Since 1994, the Winter Olympics are not scheduled to be held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. Therefore, the Olympic Games are currently held every two years, with the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics held alternately.