Scuola secondaria di 1° grado di Ovaro (UD)  3a B    2004-05

The Olympic Games in modern times

Mariano Fiorencis

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896 whit the participation of thirteen countries. They were organised by the International Olympic Committee and they were very different from today’s games: there were no victory podium, flags or national anthems and medals were made of silver or bronze… no gold!
Prizes were given on the last day of the games, when many of the competitors had already go home.
Baron de Coubertin said: “the important thing in not winning but taking part”; this phrase express the spirit of the games.
Since 1896, the Olympics have been held every four years in different cities of the world with just a few interruptions in times of war.
The Winter Olympics were added in 1924.
The Olympic Games have two symbols: the Olympic flag and the flame.
The Olympic flag is white with five interlocked rings representing the five continents. The colour of the rings are blue, black, red, yellow and green.
The other symbol of the Olympics is the flame, which is carried to the host city by runners in relays from Olympia in Greece. This journey takes place four weeks before the opening of the games.
The opening ceremony is usually very impressive. Athletes of Greece march into the stadium first, followed by the others in alphabetical order. Athletes from the host country enter last.
Athletics, Swimming, Gymnastic, etc. are some of sports practised in the Olympics; on the contrary Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Nordic skiing, etc. are some of sports practised in the Winter Olympics.

Biathlon

The boycotted Olympic Games

Since 1976, the boycotted Olympic Games started.
In this year the Olympics were held in Montreal (Canada). The African states boycotted those games because a New Zealand rugby team had played a match with a South African team; but the South African Republic practised the apartheid. The African states asked the exclusion of New Zealand from the Olympic Games but the IOC didn’t accept their request and the African states decided to withdraw their teams from the Olympic Games.
In 1980 the Olympics were held in Moscow (USSR). The USA and other western states boycotted the Games because the USSR had invaded Afghanistan on Christmas day 1979.
In 1984 happened the opposite of 1980: the USSR and other socialist countries, boycotted the Olympics of Los Angeles because the USA were the host country and the enemy of USSR in the Cold War.

The Olympic Games in History

• 1968: Città del Messico (Messico). Contestazione giovanile, massacro di giovani messicani che protestano, uccisione Martin Luther King e di Robert Kennedy, primavera di Praga, Black Power, inizio Gay Lib.
• 1972: Monaco (Germania). Strage di atleti israeliani da parte di palestinesi.
• 1976: Montreal (Canada). Inizio olimpiadi boicottate, boicottaggio africano, vittorie della Comaneci.

Nadia Comaneci

• 1980: Mosca (URSS). Boicottaggio statunitense ed alleati.
•1984: Los Angeles (USA). Boicottaggio sovietico e paesi satelliti.
• 1988: Seul (Corea del Sud). “Boicottaggio” da parte della Corea del Nord.
• 1992: Barcellona (Spagna).
• 1996: Atlanta (USA).
• 2000: Sidney (Australia).
• 2004: Atene (Grecia).