Every two years, millions of people around the world turn on their TV sets and watch the greatest athletes in the world compete for the greatest achievement any athlete can reach… The bronze, silver, and gold medals of the summer and winter Olympics. Those millions of people cheer mostly for their country and wear their favorite athlete’s jersey. They plan parties for their favorite events and make memories with every game. With all the hustle and bustle, people don’t stop to think about how the Olympics affect the town, city, state, and even world around it. How does it benefit? What does it cause? What does it leave behind? Who does it impact? So many questions can be thought up about how the Olympics impact the world. The two most talked about topics are the affects it has economically and socially. To find out where the entire hubbub began, one must travel back to the 6th century B.C. in ancient Greece.
What other culture to be the history of games where people compete athletically for medals in front of tons of people other than the Greeks and their magnificent gods? That’s right. The history of the Olympics is rumored to start with the famous Hercules and the mortal woman Alcmene founding the games. However, the first written records were in 776 B.C. when a cook won the 192 meter footrace and became the first Olympic champion. The games, known as the ancient Olympics, were held between August 6 and September 19 every four years while a religious festival was held honoring the great Zeus. The games became so popular that the people of Greece started measuring time by the four years between each Olympics. A set of the four years was called an Olympiad. The name “Olympics” came from the town that the games took place, which wa...
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...dal in his country's history.” (Coles)
Works Cited
“After The Party: What happens when the Olympics leave town?” The Independent. n.p. 19 Aug. 2008. Web. 29 March 2014.
Chernyshenko, Dmitry, and V. Sadovnichy. “The Olympic Games Impact.” OGI Digest. 2013. Print.
Coles, Terri. “Famous Olympic Quotes To Get Inspired About The Games.” Huffington Post. 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 31 March 2014.
History.com Staff. ”The Olympic Games.” History.com. A+E Networks, 2010. Web. 28 March 2014.
Malfas, Maximos, B. Houlihan, and E. Theodoraki. "Impacts of the Olympic Games as mega-events." ICE, 2004. Print.
Rishe, Patrick. “How Does London's Olympics Bill Compare to Previous Games?” Forbes. n.p. 5 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 March 2014.
Wilson, Stephen. “Size, scale and cost of Sochi Olympics pose challenge for future Winter Games.” Fox News. Associated Press. 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 29 March 2014.
Since 776 BCE, the Olympics have been a way for people of different cultures to come together and compete in friendly competition. In 1892 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, although it had been over a thousand years since the last game it still had brought together an assortment of different religions and ethnic groups together. Many factors shaping the Olympic Games reflect the changes that have taken place in our world since the last game in 393 CE in Greece such changes include woman’s suffrage, global economy, world wars, and proving competency.
Sutherland, Mary, and Michael T. Wise, eds. Chronicles of the Olympics. New York, NY: D.K. Pub., 1998.
As the base of this essay is on how the Olympics have been used in the
ABSTRACT: The purity of the Olympics has been smeared by scandal, corruption, boycotts, political disputes and even acts of terrorism. Sadly, politics have taken control of the Olympics and turned it into a political and money-making extravaganza. Olympic boycotts became a way for countries to protest each other. Hitler tried to use the Games to prove his belief of racial superiority. Wars interfered with the Olympics. Bloodshed even covered the Olympics, in the 1972 Munich Games where terrorists killed eleven Israeli Olympic members. Unfortunately, throughout Olympic history, politics have overshadowed the true focus of the Games. They were "intended to unite the countries of the world through friendly competition" not segregate them through politics (Siggers 1).
The Olympic Games are held every four years with the main intent to “promote people’s physical and psychological level, likewise to promote different country’s people, have more communication and to help maintaining world peace” (official website of Olympic movement). However, there are many risks in hosting the Olympic Games, for example the effects of an economic downturn after the closure of a host country’s
The Olympic Games, hosted in Olympia, Greece, reflected and represented many of Greece 's traditional values in their culture, politics, and social institutions. With the Olympics being the biggest event in Greece at the time, the occasion brought many new ideas and showed what the traditions and customs of Greece were really about. Through this big spectacle people learned about their own culture and went through many experiences ranging from listening to poets and praying at the Temple of Zeus to spectating the sport of “Pankration”, a combination of boxing and wrestling. They would even compete in the nude as a time-honored tradition. “...the practice [competing in the nude] also symbolically stripped away social rank, an extraordinary gesture toward a democratic sporting ideal in the status-obsessed ancient world.”(pg. 7) The Olympics
Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.
With over two hundred countries participating, the Olympic Games is easily considered as one of the largest multisport event known to history. The Olympics are held at a different country, and even more rarely at the same city. For a country to be chosen to host the Olympics, the country’s National Olympic Committee (the country’s representatives for the Olympics) nominates a city (from the country they represent) that they think has potential in hosting the Olympics nine years prior to when they wish to host the Olympics. It is a two year process that consists of: Application Phase, Candidate Phase and the Election of the Host City. The country that wins the election is given seven years to prepare for the Olympics. (International Olympic Committee, n.d., p. xx-xx) The hosting country expends billions of dollars, usually money they don’t have, preparing for the Olympics. Then the question is raised 'why would a country go through so much trouble and spend an outrageous amount of money to host this event?' Throughout this discussion paper it will address all the pros and cons for a country to host the Olympics. It will also see if a smaller sports event can produce the same benefits the Olympic offers with less cost and risk.
The Olympic Games are the leading worldwide sport event that held every 4 years, featuring thousands of international athletes from more than 200 nations participating in a variety of sports competitions. Although the Games are about winning the sports competitions, they also provide a platform for the nations throughout the world to learn different cultures and share uniqueness. The Games are important, and have to be held because they transmit a message of friendship and peaceful between nations.
The Olympic Games. The biggest international sports competition in which the worlds’ best athletes compete from all around the world to win medals for their countries. The Olympics have been a worldwide tradition since the eighth century BC, but it has hardly benefited us as a species. Every time we have the Games, our resources are abused in order to create the Olympics we desire. Huge amounts of money are used to build venues and make medals, only leading up to the countries who host the Games going into debt afterwards. There are only rare cases in which the countries earn money from hosting the Olympics, but most of the time the debt that they get themselves into take years, or even decades to pay off. You might ask yourself, why do we even host the Olympics, if it has these huge disadvantages? The answer is because we want pride for our countries, no matter how temporary it is. Knowing this, we can safely say, that the Olympic Games do not help us grow as a species.
Firstly, being the host of a major sporting event such as the Olympics could actually benefit the hosting countries’ economic and cultural benefits of the Olympics. The Olympics have a very wide reach in this modern day with. This is a plus especially with the existence of today’s social media and the Internet. In the economic side, it could actually be a very powerful marketing and publishing tool for the host country. With all the present technology that is available nowadays, it actually is a good way to promote a certain country to the world. This eventually increase the economic level of the country that is hosting it, as they will receive visitors from all over the world and they will eventually spend their money to the host countries, thus improving their economics. Winbey (2014) states that the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics are somet...
... able to be the competitors of the Olympic Games, this is an internationally recognized action for them. If the IOC did not co-ordinate this event well, believe that the development of Olympic Games may not be as well as today.
Introduction Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. Well-known throughout the world the games have been used to promote understanding and friendship among nations, but have also been a hotbed of political disputes and boycotts. The Olympic games started thousands of years ago and lasted over a millennium.. The symbolic power of the Games lived on after their demise, and came to life again as the modern Olympic Games being revived in the last century. Both the modern and Ancient Olympics have close similarities in there purpose and in there problems.
Having been thoroughly depressed by my observations, I decided to get back to the Olympic Spirit. I met some friends at a bar in Yaletown to watch the Canada vs. Switzerland game. Our seats were in the back of the bar, with a partially obstructed view of a tiny television, but that did not dissuade our enthusiasm towards the game. The bar was filled with excitement, people were cheering with drunken fervor. The beer was expensive, the television was small, all the while the excitement was invigorating. Following Canada’s narrow overtime victory, the patrons of the bar cleared out and filled the streets in celebration.
The Olympic Games were a vital part of Greek culture which was heavily influenced by athletics. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest presentation of athletic skill and competitive spirit. Thousands of athletes and spectators participate in this universal event. Revived in 1896, the Olympic Games had their beginnings in ancient Greece, and since then the event is very much comparable to modern Olympic events.