Olympic Games

The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920.The Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event. The original Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; [Olympiakoi Agones] ) were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were held until AD 393. Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833. Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in 1859. He paid for the refurbishment of the Panathenian Stadium for Olympic Games held there in 1870 and 1875. This was noted in newspapers and publications around the world including the London Review, which stated that "the Olympian Games, discontinued for centuries, have recently been revived! Here is strange news indeed ... the classical games of antiquity were revived near Athens."

The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 on the initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The IOC has become the heart of the "Olympic Movement," a conglomeration of sporting federations that are involved in the organization of the Games. As the Olympic Movement has grown so have the profile and complexity of the Games. Participation in the Games has increased to the point that nearly every nation on earth is represented. With the proliferation of satellite communications, the internet, and the continuing trend towards globalization, the Olympics are consistently gaining supporters. This growth has created numerous challenges, including political boycotts, the use of performance enhancing medications, bribery of officials, and terrorism.

Despite these challenges the Olympics have continued to thrive and flourish. Each successive Games attempts to add more events in order to keep up with the ever-evolving advance of athletic expression around the world. The 2008 games in Beijing comprised 302 events in 28 sports. The most recent Winter Olympics in 2006 featured 84 events in 7 sports. While the Olympic Games do continue to evolve, they also encompass many rituals that were established during their infancy in the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of these traditions are on display during the Opening and Closing ceremonies, and the medal presentations. For its part, the Olympic Movement has made considerable progress in fostering participation among as many nations as wish to compete, as well as focusing on the Olympic motto: Citius Altius Fortius - Faster, Higher, Stronger.

Ancient Olympics

Athletes trained in this Olympia facility in ancient times.

There are many myths surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games, the most popular of which identifies Heracles as the creator of the Olympic Games. According to the legend, Heracles built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labors. After he built the stadium he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this distance a "stadion" (Greek: στάδιον, Latin: stadium, "stage") that later also became a unit of distance. This is also why a modern stadium track is 400 meters in circumference — the distance a runner travels in one lap (1 stadium = 400 m). Another myth associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of ἐκεχειρία (ekecheiria), Olympic truce. The date of the Games' creation was based on a four year cycle. The most widely held estimate for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC, although scholars' opinions diverge between dates as early as 884 BC[citation needed] and as late as 704 BC.[citation needed]

From then on, the Olympic Games quickly became much more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia, who was famous for his legendary chariot races with King Oenomaus of Pisatis, and in whose honour the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalised in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an Olympiad. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their units of time measurement. The most famous Ancient Olympic athlete lived during the sixth century BC: the wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics.

The Games gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power in Greece. After Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the religion of the Empire in AD 393 and banned pagan rites, the Olympic Games were outlawed as a pagan festival. The Olympics were not seen again until their rebirth 1,500 years later.

In antiquity normally only young men could participate. The sportsmen usually competed nude. This was due in part to the weather and also because the festival was meant to be a celebration of the achievements of the human body. Upon winning the event, the victor would have not only the prestige of being in first place but would also be presented with a crown of olive leaves. The olive branch is a sign of hope and peace. While the symbol of the olive branch has carried through from the Ancient Games to the modern reinvention, many other current Olympic symbols are unique to the Modern Olympics. The bearing of a torch, for example, formed an integral part of Greek ceremonies but the Ancient Games did not include a torch-lighting ceremony, nor was there a symbol formed by interconnecting rings.

Revival

Although the revival of the Olympic Games began in the mid-19th Century, many sports events with titles such as "Olympick" or "Olympian" Games were held before that and as early as the 16th Century. These sports events should not be confused with the re-establishment of the Olympic Games in modern times. These included an "Olympick Games" sports festival that was run for several years at Chipping Campden in the English Cotswolds. The present day local Olympick Games trace their origin to this festival.

In 1833, the poet Panagiotis Soutsos mentions a revival of the ancient Olympic Games in modern times in his poetry.

In 1850, an "Olympian Class" was begun at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England. This was renamed "Wenlock Olympian Games" in 1859 and continues to this day as the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded in 1860. A national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organised by their founder, William Penny Brookes, at Crystal Palace in London, in 1866. This national Olympic Games was the first games to actually resemble an Olympic Games to be held outside of Greece.

Meanwhile Evangelos Zappas, a wealthy Greek philanthropist, sponsored the first modern revival of the Olympic Games. The first modern international Olympic Games was held in an Athens city square in 1859. Zappas paid for the refurbishment of the ancient Panathenian Stadium. This first modern international Olympic Games to be hosted in a stadium was hosted there in 1870, followed by a second 1875. The same stadium was refurbished a second time and used for the Athens 1896 Games. The revival of the Olympic Games, sponsored by Zappas was a dedicated Olympic Games composed of athletes from two countries: Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

The interest in reviving the Olympics as an international event grew further when the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archaeologists in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and desired to improve this. Coubertin also sought a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war. In 1890 he attended the "Olympian Games" of the Wenlock Olympian Society, and decided that the recovery of the Olympic Games would achieve both of his goals.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin built on the ideas of Brookes and the foundations of Evangelis Zappas. His aim was to globalize the Olympic Games and to that end he established the International Olympic Committee. In a congress at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, France, held from June 16 to June 23, 1894 he presented his ideas to an international audience. On the last day of the congress, it was decided that the first IOC Olympic Games would take place in 1896 in Athens, in the country of their birth. To organise the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established, with the Greek Demetrius Vikelas as its first president. The Panathenian Stadium used for the Olympic Games of 1870 and 1875 was refurbished a second time in readiness for the 1896 Games.

The total number of athletes at the the first IOC Olympic Games was less than 250, which is minuscule by modern standards, but at that time the games were the largest international sports event ever held. This first Modern Olympics had only nine disciplines: Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. The Greek officials and public were very enthusiastic about hosting the inaugural games, and at one point offered to host the Olympic Games permanently. The IOC decided differently, however, and the second Olympic Games took place in Paris, France. It was at the Paris Games that women were allowed to compete.

Modern Olympics

Main articles: Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games

The United States Olympic Committee's training facilities at their headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904) were overshadowed by the World's Fair exhibitions, which were held at the same time and location. The 1906 Intercalated Games (so-called because they were the second games held within the third Olympiad) were held in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC recognised and supported these games, they are currently not recognised by the IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were intended to mark the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics. The 1906 Games again attracted a broad international field of participants (in 1904, 80% of the athletes had been American) and generated great public interest, thereby marking the beginning of a rise in both the popularity and the size of the Games.

From the 241 participants representing 14 nations in 1896, the Games have grown to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The scope and scale of the Winter Olympics is much smaller than that of their Summer counterpart. For example, Turin Italy hosted 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competing in 84 events during the 2006 Winter Olympics. As participation in the Olympics has grown, so has its profile in the international media. The Olympic Games are one of the world's largest media events. At the Sydney Games in 2000, there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watched the games on television. The sale of broadcast rights has turned into an integral part of the formula by which countries recoup some of the costs incurred by hosting the Games.

Financing the Olympics is one of the largest problems faced by the IOC and host countries today. Although allowing professional athletes and attracting sponsorships from major international companies solved financial problems in the 1980s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics. For example, the 2012 Summer Olympics (which will be held in London), is expected to have a budget of over £9 billion—one of the largest budgets for an Olympics to date. One of the biggest problems prospective host countries face is the financial burden their economy will be forced to cope with. Corporate sponsorships do lighten the load in terms of the debt that these countries take on, but as the Games continue to grow the IOC and host countries will have to address the ever-increasing price tag that comes with the honor of hosting an Olympic Games.

Despite the Olympics usually being associated with one host city, most of the Olympics have had events held in other cities, especially the football and sailing events. There have been three Olympics in which events were held in a different country: during the 1920 Antwerp Olympics two sailing races were held in the Netherlands; and during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics equestrian events were held in Sweden. The 2008 Beijing Olympics marked the third time that Olympic events were held in the territories of two different NOC's: equestrian events will be competed in Hong Kong (which competes separately from mainland China).

203 countries currently participate in the Olympics. This is a noticeably higher number than the number of countries belonging to the United Nations, which is only 193. The International Olympic Committee allows nations to compete which do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that many other international organizations demand. As a result, many colonies and dependencies are permitted to host their own Olympic teams and athletes even if such competitors also hold citizenship in another member nation. Examples of this include territories such as Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Hong Kong, all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country. Also, since 1980, Taiwan has competed under the name Chinese Taipei, and under a flag specially prepared by the IOC. Prior to that year the People's Republic of China refused to participate in the Games because Taiwan had been competing under the name Republic of China. The Republic of the Marshall Islands was recognised as a nation by the IOC on February 9, 2006, and competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Youth Olympic Games

Main article: Youth Olympic Games

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are planned to be a junior version of the Games, complementing the current senior Games, and will feature athletes between the ages of 14 and 18. The idea for such an event was conceived by IOC president Jacques Rogge, in 2001. At the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City in July 2007, the IOC approved the Games.

The Youth Games versions will be shorter: the summer version will last at most twelve days; the winter version will last a maximum of nine days. The IOC will allow a maximum of 3,500 athletes and 875 officials to participate at the summer games, while 970 athletes and 580 officials are expected at the winter games. Each participating country will be allowed to send at least four athletes. The sports contested at these games will be the same as those scheduled for the traditional Games, but with a limited number of disciplines and events, and including some with special appeal to youth. Education and culture are also key components to this Youth edition.

Estimated cost for the games are currently $30 million for the summer and $15–$20 million for winter games. It has been stated that the IOC will "foot the bill" for the Youth Games.

The first host city will be Singapore in 2010; the bidding for the first Winter edition in 2012 is underway.

Olympic problems

Boycotts

Main article: Olympic boycotts

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics were the first Olympics to be boycotted. The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refused to attend because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union; additionally, Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon boycotted the games due to the Suez Crisis.

In 1972 and 1976, a large number of African countries threatened the IOC with a boycott, to force them to ban South Africa, Rhodesia, and New Zealand. The IOC conceded in the first two cases, but refused to ban New Zealand in 1976 because the boycott was prompted by a New Zealand rugby union tour to South Africa, and rugby was not an Olympic sport. The countries withdrew their teams after the games had started; some African athletes had already competed. A lot of sympathy was felt for the athletes forced by their governments to leave the Olympic Village; there was little sympathy outside Africa for the governments' attitude.[citation needed] Twenty-two countries (Guyana was the only non-African nation) boycotted the Montreal Olympics because New Zealand was not banned.

Also in 1976, due to pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Canada told the team from the Republic of China (Taiwan) that it could not compete at the Montreal Summer Olympics under the name "Republic of China", despite a compromise that would have allowed Taiwan to use the ROC flag and anthem. The Republic of China refused and as a result did not participate again until 1984, when it returned under the name "Chinese Taipei" and used a special flag.

Countries that boycotted the 1976 (yellow), 1980 (blue) and 1984 (red) games

In 1980 and 1984, the Cold War opponents boycotted each other's games. Sixty-five nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The boycott reduced the number of nations participating to only 81, the lowest number of nations to compete since 1956. The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners (except Romania) countered by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. They contended that they could not guarantee the safety of their athletes. Soviet officials were quoted as saying, "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States." The 1984 boycotters staged their own Friendship Games in July-August.

There had been growing calls for boycotts of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in protest of China's poor human rights record and response to the recent disturbances in Tibet, Darfur, and Taiwan. President George W. Bush showcased these concerns in a highly publicized speech in Thailand just prior to the opening of the Games. Ultimately no nations withdrew before the games began. There have also been campaigns calling for Chinese goods to be boycotted.

Doping

One of the main problems facing the Olympics (and sports in general) is doping, or the use of performance enhancing drugs. In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to enhance their performance. For example, the winner of the marathon at the 1904 Games, Thomas J. Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy by his coach, even during the race. As these methods became more extreme, it became increasingly evident that doping was not only a threat to the integrity of sport, but could also have potentially fatal side-effects on the athlete. The only Olympic death caused by doping occurred at the Rome Games of 1960. At the cycling road race in Rome, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died. A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines. By the mid-1960s, sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance enhancing drugs, and the IOC followed suit in 1967.

The first Olympic athlete to test positive for the use of performance enhancing drugs was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use. Seventy-three athletes have followed him over the next 38 years, several medal winners among them. The most publicised doping-related disqualification was that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who won the 100 meter dash at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but tested positive for stanozolol. He subsequently had his gold medal stripped. It was awarded to runner-up Carl Lewis, who himself had tested positive to banned substances prior to the Olympics, but was not banned.

Despite the testing, many athletes continued to use medication to improve their athletic ability without getting caught. In 1990, documents were revealed that showed many East German female athletes had been unknowingly administered anabolic steroids and other drugs by their coaches and trainers. Girls as young as eleven were started on the drug regimen without prior consent from their parents. American female swimmers, including Shirley Babashoff accused the East Germans of using performance enhancing drugs as early as the 1976 Games. No clear evidence of doping was discovered until after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the aforementioned documents proved that East Germany had embarked on a state-sponsored program to dramatically improve their competitiveness at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events. Many of the culprits have been subsequently tried and found guilty of various crimes in the German penal system.

In the late 1990s, the IOC took initiative in a more organised battle against doping, leading to the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999. The recent 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics have shown that this battle is not nearly over, as several medalists in weightlifting and cross-country skiing were disqualified due to doping offences. One possibly innocent victim of the anti-doping movement at the Olympics was the Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan who was stripped of her gold medal in the All-Around Competition of the 2000 Sydney games. Test results indicated the presence of the banned stimulant pseudophedrine which had been prescribed to her by an Olympic doctor. Raducan had been unaware of the presence of the illegal substance in the medicine that had been prescribed to her for a cold she had during the games. During the 2006 Winter Olympics, only one athlete failed a drug test and had a medal revoked. The only other case involved 12 athletes with high levels of haemoglobin and their punishment was a five day suspension for health reasons. The techniques for unfairly improving an athlete's abilities have gotten far more sophisticated over the years. As a result, the International Olympic Committee introduced blood testing for the first time at the 2006 Games in Turino, Italy.

Politics

Olympics has been affected by political incidents on many occasions. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin are an example of how the Olympics have been used to promote a political agenda. The German Nazi Party promoted the 1936 Games as propaganda for the superiority of both the Aryan race and the facist political structure. In a stunning reversal, Luz Long, a German competitor in the long jump, helped Jesse Owens (a black athlete) to win the long jump, at the expense of his own silver medal; some describe this as the "true Olympic Spirit.” in a similar vein the Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympic Games until the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Instead, in 1928 the Soviets organized an international sports event called Spartakiads. Many athletes from Communist organizations or from countries with close political ties to the Soviet Union chose not to participate, or were even barred from participating in Olympic Games, and instead participated in Spartakiads.

A political incident on a smaller scale occurred at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Two American track-and-field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, performed the Black Power salute on the victory stand for the 200-meter track and field race. In response, the IOC's president Avery Brundage told the United States Olympic Committee to either send the two athletes home, or withdraw the complete track and field team. The USOC opted for the former.

Interference of politics in the Games is not a thing of the past. Currently, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran specifically orders its athletes not to compete in any Olympic heat, semi-final, or final that includes athletes from Israel. This directive had an impact at the 2004 Olympics when an Iranian judoka who had otherwise earned his place, did not compete in a heat against an Israeli judoka.

Violence

Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the 1916 Games were cancelled, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II. A recent and more ironic example is the 2008 South Ossetia War between Georgia and Russia started on the same day the 2008 Summer Olympics began.

Terrorism has also threatened the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich massacre. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue, as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed. During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence at ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.

The Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City were the first Olympic games held since September 11, 2001. These Games saw a dramatic increase in the amount of money spent on security. Due to the already high profile of the Olympic Games around the world, it is feared that they will continue to present prime targets for terrorist organizations. Therefore, increasingly stringent security protocols are now required for all Olympic games.

The Olympics have also been used by regimes with human rights crises to try and silence their opposition. The Mexican government, ten days prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics, used the impending Olympic games as an excuse to crack down on student demonstrations in Mexico City. The incident would become known as the Tlatelolco Massacre. The Chinese government has been accused of similar tactics in their dealings with the 2008 Tibetan unrest before the Beijing Olympics. The concern in both of these examples is the propensity of host countries to use the Olympic Games as a reason to repress political dissent within their own borders.

Olympic Movement

A number of organizations are involved in organizing the Olympic Games. Together they form the Olympic Movement. The rules and guidelines by which these organizations operate are outlined in the Olympic Charter. At the heart of the Olympic Movement is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), currently headed by Jacques Rogge. It can be seen as the governing body of the Olympics. The IOC oversees the organization of the Olympic games and insures the host city is meeting its obligations. The IOC makes all the important decisions; such as choosing the host city for each Games, and the event programme of the Olympics. Beyond the role of the IOC, there are a great number of other organizations that contribute to the Olympic Movement. Three of these groups are listed below. More broadly speaking, the term Olympic Movement is sometimes also meant to include everybody and everything involved in the Olympics. This would include national sport governing bodies, athletes, media, and sponsors of the Olympic Games.

Three groups of organizations operate on a more specialised level:

International Federations (IFs), the governing bodies of a sport (e.g., FIFA, the IF for football (soccer), and the FIVB, the international governing body for volleyball.) National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which regulate the Olympic Movement within each country (e.g., USOC, the NOC of the United States)

Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG), which is the committee responsible for the organisation of a specific celebration of the Olympics.

At present, 202 NOCs and 35 IFs are part of the Olympic Movement. OCOGs are dissolved after the celebration of each Games, once all subsequent paperwork has been completed.

Criticism

One of the criticisms leveled at the IOC is their favoritism of host cities from the West. Of the 49 cities that have or will host an Olympic Winter or Summer games, 42 are located in either Europe or North America. It should be noted that since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the Olympics have been held in Asia/Oceania 4 times, which is a sharp increase compared to the previous 92 years of modern Olympic history. All bids by countries in South America and Africa have failed. Many believe the games should expand to include locations in poorer regions. Some people assert that the infrastructure investments could provide significant long term benefit.[citation needed] However, many host cities view the high costs associated with hosting the games as a poor investment.

In the past, the IOC has often been criticised for being a monolithic organization, with several members remaining on the Committee for life. The leadership of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch was especially controversial. Under his presidency, the Olympic Movement made great progress, but was also viewed as autocratic and corrupt. Samaranch's ties with the Franco regime in Spain and his long term as an IOC president (21 years, until he was 81 years old) have been points of criticism.

In 1998, it became known that several IOC members had taken bribes from the organising committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in exchange for a vote on the city at the election of the host city. The IOC started an investigation, which led to four members resigning and six being expelled. The scandal set off further reforms, changing the way in which host cities are elected to avoid further bribes. Also, more active and former athletes were allowed in the IOC, and the membership terms have been limited.

In the same year (1998), four European groups organized the International Network Against Olympic Games and Commercial Sports to oppose their cities' bids for future Olympic Games. Also, an Anti-Olympic Alliance had formed in Sydney to protest the hosting of the 2000 Games. Later, a similar movement in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia organized to protest the hosting of the 2010 Winter Games. These movements were particularly concerned about adverse local economic impact and dislocation of people to accommodate the hosting of the Olympics.

A BBC documentary aired in August 2004, entitled Panorama: "Buying the Games", investigated the taking of bribes in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The documentary claimed it is possible to bribe IOC members into voting for a particular candidate city. After being narrowly defeated in their bid for the 2012 Summer Games, Parisian Mayor Bertrand Delanoë specifically accused the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the London Bid Committee (headed by former Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe) of breaking the bid rules with flagrant financial and sexual bribes. He cited French President Jacques Chirac as a witness but President Chirac gave rather more guarded interviews. In particular, Bulgaria's member Ivan Slavkov, and Muttaleb Ahmad from the Olympic Council of Asia, were implicated. They have denied the allegations. Mayor Delanoë never mentioned the matter again. The Turin bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics was also shrouded in controversy. A prominent member of the IOC, Marc Hodler, himself strongly connected with rival Sion, Switzerland's bid, exposed alleged bribery of IOC officials by members of the Turin Organizing Committee. These accusations led to a wide-ranging investigation. The allegations also served to sour many IOC members to Sion's bid and in fact may have helped Turin to capture the host city nomination.

The Olympic Movement has been accused of being overprotective of its symbolism (in particular, it claims an exclusive copyright over any arrangement of five rings and the term "Olympics"), and have taken action against things unrelated to sport, such as the role-playing game Legend of the Five Rings. It was accused of homophobia in 1982 when it successfully sued the Gay Olympics, an event now known as the Gay Games, to ban it from using the term "Olympics" in its name.

Olympic symbols

The Olympic movement uses many symbols, most of them representing Coubertin's ideas and ideals. The Olympic Rings are the most widely used symbol. These five intertwined rings represent the unity of the five inhabited continents (with the Americas regarded as one continent). The five colored rings on a white field form the Olympic Flag. The colors, white, red, blue, green, yellow, and black, were chosen because each nation has at least one of these colors in its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914, but the first Games at which it was flown were at Antwerp 1920. It is hoisted at each celebration of the Games.

The Olympic Motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius," a Latin phrase meaning "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Coubertin's ideals are probably best illustrated by the Olympic Creed:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

Prior to each Games, the Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia, Greece and brought to the host city by runners carrying the torch in relay. There it plays an important role in the opening ceremonies. Though the torch fire has been around since 1928, the relay was introduced in 1936 as part of the then German government's attempt to promote their National Socialist ideology.

The Olympic mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968. It has played an important part of the games since 1980 with the debut of Misha, a Russian bear. The mascots of the most recent Olympic Games in Beijing were called the Fuwa. They are five creatures that represent the five fengshui elements important to Chinese culture.

French and English are the official languages of the Olympic movement. The other official language used at each respective Olympic Games is the language of the host country. Consequently, every proclamation (such as the announcement of each country during the parade of nations in the Opening Ceremonies) is spoken in French, English and the host country's native language.

Olympic ceremonies

Opening

Opening ceremonies climax with the lighting of the cauldron. For lighting the cauldron, modern games feature elaborate mechanisms such as this spiral arrangement lit by the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. Most of these rituals were established by the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.

The ceremonies typically start with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem.[citation needed] The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theatre representative of the culture of that country.

The traditional part of the ceremonies starts with a "Parade of Nations" (or of athletes), during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, country by country. Each country's delegation is led by a sign with the name of their country and by their nation's flag.

Traditionally (starting at the 1928 Summer Olympics), Greece enters first, due to its historical status as the origin of the Olympics, while the host nation marches last. (In 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, Greece marched last as host nation rather than first, although the flag of Greece was carried in first.) Between these two nations, all other participating nations march in alphabetical order of the dominant language of the host country, or in French or English alphabetical order if the host country does not write its dominant language in an alphabet which has a set order. In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both Spanish and Catalan were official languages of the games, but due to politics surrounding the use of Catalan, the nations entered in French alphabetical order. The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan saw nations entering in English alphabetical order since the Japanese language grouped both China and Chinese Taipei together in the Parade of Nations. For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, instead of using either French or English, the countries were ordered by how many strokes it took to write the country's name in Simplified Chinese.

After all nations have entered, the president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president who, at the end of his speech introduces the representative of the host country who declares the Games open by reciting the formula:

I declare open the Games of [name of the host city] celebrating the [ordinal number of the Olympiad] Olympiad of the modern era. (There is a similar recital for the Winter Games.)

Before 1936, the Opener often used to make a short Speech of Welcome before declaring the Games open. However, since 1936 when Adolf Hitler opened both the Garmisch Partenkirchen Winter Olympics and the Berlin Summer Olympics, the Openers have unswervingly stuck to that formula. There have been two exceptions In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan opened the Summer Olympics that year in Los Angeles, and also in his home state, California, with the words Celebrating the XXIII Olympiad of the modern era, I declare open the Olympic Games of Los Angeles. In 2002, five months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush opened the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, with "On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation," then the standard opening formula following.

Despite the Games having been awarded to a particular city and not to the country in general, the Olympic Charter presently requires the Opener to be the host country's head of state. However, there have been many cases where someone other than the host country's head of state opened the Games. The first example was at the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris in 1900, when there wasn't even an Opening Ceremony. There are five examples from the United States alone where the Games were not opened by the head of state.

Next, the Olympic Flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Anthem is played. The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic Flag must "fly for the entire duration of the Olympic Games from a flagpole placed in a prominent position in the main stadium".

The flag bearers of all countries then circle a rostrum, where one athlete (since the 1920 Summer Olympics) and one judge (since the 1972 Summer Olympics) speak the Olympic Oath, declaring they will compete and judge according to the rules. Finally, the Torch is brought into the stadium, passed from athlete to athlete, until it reaches the last carrier of the Torch, often a well-known athlete from the host nation, who lights the fire in the stadium's cauldron. The Olympic Flame has been lit since the 1928 Summer Olympics, but the torch relay did not start until the 1936 Summer Olympics. Beginning at the post-World War I 1920 Summer Olympics, the lighting of the Olympic Flame was for 68 years followed by the release of doves, symbolizing peace. This gesture was discontinued after several doves were burned alive in the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics. However, some Opening Ceremonies have continued to include doves in other forms; for example, the 2002 Winter Olympics featured skaters holding kite-like cloth dove puppets. The 2008 Summer Olympics also included a physical formation of a dove using many people in lighted suits.

Opening ceremonies have been held outdoors, usually on the main athletics stadium, but those for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be the first to be held indoors, at the BC Place Stadium.

Closing

Various traditional elements also frame the closing ceremonies of an Olympic Games, which take place after all athletic events have concluded. Flag bearers from each participating country enter the stadium in single file, but behind them march all of the athletes without any distinction or grouping of nationality – a tradition that began at the 1956 Summer Olympics at the suggestion of Melbourne schoolboy John Ian Wing, who thought it would be a way of bringing the athletes of the world together as "one nation." (In 2006, the athletes marched in with their countrymen, then dispersed and mingled as the ceremonies went on).

Three national flags are hoisted on flagpoles one at a time while the corresponding national anthems are played: The flag of Greece is raised on the middle pole honoring the birthplace of the Olympic Games, the flag of the host country on the lefthand pole, and then the flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games on the righthand pole. (Exceptionally, in 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, only one Greek flag was raised.)

In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony (because the tradition began in 1920), the mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers a special Olympic Flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the city hosting the next Olympic Games. The receiving mayor then waves the flag eight times. There are three such flags, differing from all other copies in that they have a six-coloured fringe around the flag, and are tied with six coloured ribbons to a flagstaff. The Antwerp flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, Belgium, and was passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics until the Games of Seoul 1988. The Oslo flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1952 Winter Olympics by the city of Oslo, Norway, and is passed on to the next organising city of the Winter Olympics. The Seoul flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, The Republic of Korea (South Korea) as a replacement for the Antwerp flag that is passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics.

This tradition posed a particular challenge at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. The flag was passed from Sergio Chiamparino, the mayor of Turin, to Sam Sullivan, the mayor of Vancouver, Canada. Mayor Sullivan, who is a quadriplegic, waved the flag by holding it in one hand and swinging his motorized wheelchair back and forth eight times.

After these traditional elements, the next host nation introduces itself with artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country. This tradition began with the 1976 Games.

The president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president, who at the end of his speech formally closes the Olympics, by saying:

I declare the Games of the [ordinal number] Olympiad/Olympic Winter Games closed and, in accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in [name of host city] to celebrate the Games of the [subsequent ordinal number] Olympiad/Olympic Winter Games.

The Olympic Flame is extinguished, and while the Olympic anthem is being played, the Olympic Flag that was hoisted during the opening ceremonies is lowered from the flagpole and carried horizontally from the stadium.[citation needed]

Medal presentation

After medals are awarded and presented for a particular event, the flags of the nations of the three medalists are raised. The flag of the gold medalist's country is in the center and always raised the highest while the flag of the silver medalist's country is on the left facing the flags and the flag of the bronze medalist's country is on the right, both at lower elevations to the gold medalist's country's flag. The flags are all raised while the national anthem of the gold medalist's country plays.

This format of medal presentation is also seen in other multi-sporting events such as the Southeast Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, as well as some motor racing events including Formula 1 and MotoGP.

Olympic sports

Currently, the Olympic program consists of 35 different sports, 53 disciplines and more than 400 events. The Summer Olympics includes 28 sports with 38 disciplines and the Winter Olympics includes 7 sports with 15 disciplines. Nine sports were on the original Olympic programme in 1896: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling. If the 1896 rowing events had not been cancelled due to bad weather, they would have been included in this list as well.

At the most recent Winter Olympics, 15 disciplines in seven sports were featured. Of these, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been featured on the programme at all Winter Olympics. In addition, figure skating and ice hockey also have been contested as part of the Summer Games before the introduction of separate Winter Olympics.

In recent years, the IOC has added several new sports to the programme to attract attention from young spectators. Examples of such sports include snowboarding and beach volleyball. The growth of the Olympics also means that some less popular (modern pentathlon) or expensive (white water canoeing) sports may lose their place on the Olympic programme. The IOC decided to discontinue baseball and softball beginning in 2012. Cricket[citation needed] and Rugby union[citation needed] used to be in the Olympic Games but were discontinued; a revival[citation needed] is now seen as possible.

Rule 48.1 of the Olympic Charter requires that there be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports at each Summer Games. Following its 114th Session (Mexico 2002), the IOC also decided to limit the programme of the Summer Games to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes. The Olympic sports are defined as those governed by the International Federations listed in Rule 46 of the Olympic Charter. A two-thirds vote of the IOC is required to amend the Charter to promote a Recognised Federation to Olympic status and therefore make the sports it governs eligible for inclusion on the Olympic programme. Rule 47 of the Charter requires that only Olympic sports may be included in the programme.

The IOC reviews the Olympic programme at the first Session following each Olympiad. A simple majority is required for an Olympic sport to be included in the Olympic programme. Under the current rules, an Olympic sport not selected for inclusion in a particular Games remains an Olympic sport and may be included again later with a simple majority. At the 117th IOC Session, 26 sports were included in the programme for London 2012.

Until 1992, the Olympics also often featured demonstration sports. The objective was for these sports to reach a larger audience; the winners of these events are not official Olympic champions. These sports were sometimes sports popular only in the host nation, but internationally known sports have also been demonstrated. Some demonstration sports eventually were included as full-medal events.

Further information: Amateurism

The ethos of English public schools greatly influenced Pierre de Coubertin. The public schools had a deep involvement in the development of many team sports including all British codes of football as well as cricket and hockey. The English public schools of the second half of the 19th century had a major influence on many sports. The schools contributed to the rules and influenced the governing bodies of those sports out of all proportion to their size. They subscribed to the Ancient Greek and Roman belief that sport formed an important part of education, an attitude summed up in the saying: mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a healthy body. In this ethos, a gentleman was one who become an all-rounder, not the best at one specific thing. Class prejudice against "trade" reinforced this attitude. Apart from class considerations there was the typically English concept of "fairness," in which practicing or training was considered as tantamount to cheating; it meant that you considered it more important to win than to take part. Those who practiced a sport professionally were considered to have an unfair advantage over those who practiced it merely as a "hobby."

The International Olympic Committee invited a representative of the Headmasters' Conference (the association of headmasters of the English public schools) to attend their early meetings. The Headmasters' Conference chose the Reverend Robert Laffan, the headmaster of Cheltenham College, as their representative to the IOC meetings. He was made a member of the IOC in 1897 and, following the first visit of the IOC to London in 1904, he was central to the founding of the British Olympic Association a year later.

In Coubertin's vision, athletes should be gentlemen. Initially, only amateurs were considered such; professional athletes were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. A short-lived exception was made for professional fencing instructors. This exclusion of professionals has caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics.

1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion Jim Thorpe was disqualified when it was discovered that he played semi-professional baseball prior to winning his medals. He was restored as champion on compassionate grounds by the IOC in 1983. Swiss and Austrian skiers boycotted the 1936 Winter Olympics in support of their skiing teachers, who were not allowed to compete because they earned money with their sport and were considered professionals.

It gradually became clear to many that the amateurism rules had become outdated, not least because the self-financed amateurs of Western countries often were no match for the state-sponsored "full-time amateurs" of Eastern bloc countries. Nevertheless, the IOC, led by President Avery Brundage, held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism. In the 1970s, after Brundage left, amateurism requirements were dropped from the Olympic Charter, leaving decisions on professional participation to the international federation for each sport. This switch was perhaps best exemplified by the American Dream Team, composed of well-paid NBA stars, which won the Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1992. As of 2004, the only sports in which no professionals compete is boxing (though even this requires a definition of amateurism based on fight rules rather than on payment, as some boxers receive cash prizes from their National Olympic Committees); in men's football (soccer), the number of players over 23 years of age is limited to three per team.

Advertisement regulations are still very strict, at least on the actual playing field, although "Official Olympic Sponsors" are common. Athletes are only allowed to have the names of clothing and equipment manufacturers on their outfits. The sizes of these markings are limited.

Olympic champions and medalists

The athletes (or teams) who place first, second, or third in each event receive medals. The winners receive gold medals. (Though they were solid gold until 1912, after which they were made of gilded silver, though nowadays plated silver. However, every gold medal must contain at least 6 grams of pure gold. The runners-up receive silver medals, and the third-place athletes bronze medals. In some events contested by a single-elimination tournament (most notably boxing), third place might not be determined, in which case both semi-final losers receive bronze medals. The practice of awarding medals to the top three competitors was introduced in 1904; at the 1896 Olympics only the first two received a medal, silver and bronze, while various prizes were awarded in 1900. However, the 1904 Olympics also awarded silver trophies for first place, which makes Athens 1906 the first games that awarded the three medals only. In addition, from 1948 onward athletes placing fourth, fifth and sixth have received certificates which became officially known as "victory diplomas;" since 1976 the medal winners have received these also, and in 1984 victory diplomas for seventh- and eighth-place finishers were added, presumably to ensure that all losing quarter-finalists in events using single-elimination formats would receive diplomas, thus obviating the need for consolation (or officially, "classification") matches to determine fifth through eighth places (though interestingly these latter are still contested in many elimination events anyway). Certificates were awarded also at the 1896 Olympics, but there they were awarded in addition to the medals to first and second place. Commemorative medals and diplomas—which differ in design from those referred to above—are also made available to participants finishing lower than third and eighth respectively. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the first three were given wreaths as well as their medals.

Because the Olympics are held only once every four years, the public and athletes often consider them as more important and valuable than world championships and other international tournaments, which are often held annually. Many athletes have become celebrities or heroes in their own country, or even world-wide, after becoming Olympic champions.

The diversity of the sports, and the great differences between the Olympic Games in 1896 and today make it difficult to decide which athlete is the most successful Olympic athlete of all time. This is further complicated since the IOC no longer recognises the Intercalated Games which it originally organised. When measuring by the number of titles won at the Modern Olympic Games, the following athletes may be considered the most successful.

The IOC does not publish lists of medals per country, but the media often do. A comparison between countries would be unfair to countries with fewer inhabitants, so some have made calculations of medals per number of inhabitants, such as for the 2004 Olympics and for a few more. A problem here is that for a very small country, gaining just one medal could mean the difference between the very top and the very bottom of the list (a point illustrated by the Bahamas' per capita number one position in 2004). On the other hand, a large country may not be able to send a number of athletes that is proportional to its size because a limit is set for the number of participants per country for a specific sport.

A comparison of the total number of medals over time is further complicated by the fact that the number of times that countries have participated is not equal, and that many countries have gained and lost territories where medal-winning athletes come from. A case in point is the USSR, which not only participated relatively rarely (18 times, versus 45 times for the UK), but also ceased to exist in 1991. The resulting Russian Federation is largely, but not entirely, equal to the former USSR. Also, one would have to use population statistics at the time.

The IOC medal tally chart is based on the number of gold medals for country. Where states are equal, the number of silver medals (and then bronze medals) are counted to determine rankings. Since 1996, the only countries that have appeared in the top 10 medal tallies for all three subsequent Summer Olympics have been the Russian Federation, United States, China, France, Germany, Australia and Italy. Since 1994, the only countries that have appeared in the top 10 medal tallies for the subsequent Winter Olympics have been Norway, the Russian Federation, the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, South Korea, Switzerland, France and Italy.

Olympic Games host cities

By 2010, the Olympic Games will have been hosted by 41 cities in 22 countries. The 2008 Summer Olympics have recently concluded in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver. The number in parentheses following the city/country denotes how many times that city/country had then hosted the games, with said exclusions.

This table does not include the "Olympic Games" organized by Evangelos Zappas prior to the IOC's creation in 1894. It does list the "Intercalated Games" of 1906, but the IOC no longer considers them to be official Olympic Games.

NOTE: The bracketed numbers listed beside the cities and nations are the number of times it has hosted the Games.

1 Originally awarded to Chicago, but moved to St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair

2 Cancelled due to World War I

3 Cancelled due to World War II

4 Equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm had to bid for the equestrian competition separately; it received its own Olympic flame and had its own formal invitations and opening & closing ceremonies, just like the regular Summer Olympics.

5 Equestrian events held in China's Hong Kong SAR. Although Hong Kong's separate NOC conducted the equestrian competition, it was an integral part of the Beijing Games; it was not conducted under a separate bid, flame, etc., as was the 1956 Stockholm equestrian competition. The IOC website lists only Beijing as the host city.

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