Clarendon Learning explorers Olympic
history
if you are living 3,000 years ago in
ancient Greece and a citizen of Greece
and you could run like the wind and you
were male you just might have competed
in the first Olympic Games the Olympiad
was held every four years from 776 BC to
396 AD and if you do the math that's
about 293 Olympic celebrations for the
first 13 Olympic festivals the only
event was a 200 meters sprint and then
over the years other races and other
events were added events like boxing
wrestling long jump javelin discus
throwing and my favourite event the
chariot races and in case you were
wondering javelin catching is not an
Olympic sport the pentathlon was an
event that included 5 events a
combination of long jump discus throw
javelin throw a footrace and wrestling
oh and just so you know athletes
competed naked remember it was 3,000
years ago and Under Armour athletic wear
wasn't a thing boxing and wrestling
became events and there was no winner
until summon cried uncle winners were
heroes and didn't win medals but were
awarded a wreath of olive leaves married
rich women ate free meals went to all
the cool parties and had the best seats
to all the cool plays the ancient
Olympic Games were held in Olympia
Greece which is where Mount Olympus is
and where the gods of Greek mythology
were believed to reside the games were
held in honor of Zeus the mythical king
of the gods the first Olympic marathon
was a modern event and was not run
anciently but it was inspired by an
event in Greek history in 490 BC Fey
dipa T's was a day runner and messenger
and he ran from Athens to Sparta and
then onto the battlefield near the town
of Marathon Greece so that's where the
race called Marathon comes from
then back to the city of Athens to
announce the defeat of the Persians in
two days
he ran about a hundred and fifty miles
they dip ''tis does all this running
returns to Athens and he delivered the
message victory and with that fate
dippity x' killed over dead yeah he
probably should a train better the
Olympics continued to be celebrated
every four years and even after Rome
conquered Greece in 146 BC and asserted
control of the entire region the
Olympics was still the place to test
toughness and Durance and strength until
396 AD when the Roman Emperor Theodosius
spoiled all the fun and declared that
the Olympics would no longer be
celebrated they would be halted and
stopped forever what a downer think of
all those athletes who trained for so
long so that was it end of Olympic
history period right nope it was about
1500 years later when it was proposed by
a Frenchman that the Olympic Games begin
again to foster world peace and friendly
competition so the IOC was formed the
International Olympic Committee and in
1896 the first Olympiad was held in
Athens Greece 241 male athletes from 14
nations competed in events like swimming
tennis cycling shooting gymnastics and
fencing and the first marathon was run
through marathon Greece since then the
Olympic Games have been held in
countries all over the world and new
events are being added all the time
competitors include men and women
finally the relay of the Olympic torch
begins with the lighting of the flame in
Olympia Greece the torch is handed off
and travels the world until it reaches
its destination the host nation of the
Olympics some very cool tricks are used
for lighting the Olympic Cauldron
the rings of the Olympic symbol
represent the five continents blue for
Europe black for Africa red for the
Americas yellow for Asia and green for
Australia gold silver and bronze medals
are awarded to the top competitors in
each event the Olympic mascots are
always fun to look at and now even
celebrate the athletes of the Winter
Olympics the Paralympics and the Special
Olympic Games fabulous if you could
compete in an Olympic event what would
it be
weightlifting wrestling table tennis hey
it's not just ping-pong
how about breakdancing the Olympic Games
are an achievement of what the world can
do together to foster peace through
sport there are winners and losers but
we celebrate all the competitors so what
are you waiting for start training now
would be a good time to check out the
Clarendon learning activity pages
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