Ancient Greece Olympic Games
The Olympic Games began in ancient G
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The Olympic Games began in ancient Greece in 776 BC and continued until 395 AD. The games were held at Olympia on the Peloponnesse and attracted visitors from all over the Greek world. The central attraction was the games, of course, but Olympia, the site of the games, was also a reason many visitors came just to see this huge architectural achievement. The games were revived a century ago and have become a major business enterprise televised around the world, and countries compete for the right to host both the winter and summer games.The ancient games were held in honor of Zeus, the supreme god in Greek mythology, and visitors to Olympia were making a pilgrimage to Zeus's most sacred place, the grove known as Altis (Swaddling 7). There are several legends regarding the origin of the games, and the date ascribed to that event is traditional but uncertain. Indeed, competitions were held on an annual basis before 776 BC on an unofficial basis. One of the legends involved the Delphic Oracle calling for the reinstitution of the games after a period of civil war, and the idea of the Olympic Truce would become a major instrument in the unification of the Greek states and colonies (Swaddling 9). Pindar told the story that the games extended back to the time when Heracles was given the task of cleaning out the Augean stables. When Heracles cleaned out the stables by diverting two rivers, King Augeas refused to pay him, so Heracles killed the king and his enti
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an nations were engaged in wars and skirmishes and were best by other tensions involved in building a national identity. However, Coubertin began to make his dream come true when he announced it at a meeting of the Athletic Sports Union at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1892. He set his idea more explicitly in written form in 1894, stating,
Above all things it is important to preserve the noble and chivalrous qualities in athletics that have characterized it in the past, in order that it may continue effectively to play the part in modern education that the ancient Greeks attributed to it (Henry 22).
A congress was convened, and the only country that actively opposed the idea at the congress was Belgium, which organized violent propaganda among gymnastic organizations all over Europe. The effects of the Franco-Prussian War affected the debate as well, since the French Gymnastic Union stated that if Germany were admitted to the congress, it would not participate. Germany failed to send an official delegation, which reduced the tensions that might have developed. Official delegates came from France, England, the United States, Greece, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, and Hungary, Germany, Bohemia, Holland, and Australia se
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Approximate Word count = 2641
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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