With so much Olympic hype ... I figured now would be a good time to give you guys a little history lesson. -.- Don't worry it's not a long one and I'm just touching on some of the important things about the Olympics. Since I wrote this for you guys the least you can do is read it right?? =D
The original Olympic games start back in Olympia, Greece as early as 776 BC and were celebrated until AD 393, the year the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games as a pagan festival. We know very little about the origins of this ancient form of the Olympics. Greek legend claims however that Heracles was in fact the creator of the Olympic Games and that he built the first Olympic stadium and the buildings surrounding it to honor his father Zeus. That's right I'm talking about two of the characters that Disney later used in their animated movie "Hercules".
Obviously, the story told in Disney's movie is very very loosely based on the actual myths surrounding Hercules. But what the movie did get right was that he was the son of Zeus, king of all gods. (Who btw had a LOT of kids =.= basically... Hercules was born after Zeus disguised himself a moral womans husband and well basically slept with her.... so he was the master of getting unsuspecting women into bed with him) He was seen to be both god and hero, making him one of Greeks only demi-gods. Moving on!
More religious then anything else, the games we're interwoven with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring Zeus as well as Pelops, hero and mythical king of Olympia who was famous for his legendary chariot race.
Only men were allowed to participate in the games or even sit as spectators in the stadium. Why? Because most of the events were played in the nude .... I feel compelled to point out that one of the main events was wrestling. Basically if you've seen Borat: the movie... you know what the typical Ancient Olympic wrestling match would look like ... I'd post a pic for those of you who haven't but I really really don't think thats a good idea of that I personally want to see that image again =.= I still have nightmares. Moving on!
What was the perk of wrestling with another man naked? If you were the winner of the event, you would become an instant celebrity across Greece and you would be immortalized in poems and statues. Winners of the events were also crowned with a crown of olive branches symbolizing hope and peace. Some of the other Olympic symbols we see today such as the Olympic torch as well as the symbol formed by interconnecting rings were introduced as part of the modern Olympic games.
The modern version of the Olympic games first began to come together in 1850 after a French man by the name of Pierre de Coubertin got into his head that he wanted to improve the physical health of the French people. He also saw the Olympics as a way to bring nations together and to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in wars. The turn out at the first modern Olympic games which were held in 1986? Less than 250 participants, but before you write off the games as a failure you should know that the games were in fact the largest international sports event held up until then. The next games held in Paris, France (1890) were less popular. The Paris games mark the first Olympic games were women were allowed to compete. The rest is pretty boring -.- with the Olympics gaining popularity to become the games they are today. Now knowing all this you can look and see how the attitude toward the Olympics has changed and exactly how political the games have become.
=.= K i was going to write more but Im out of steam.
