Olympic Games

The Games were first held in honour of the Greek god, Zeus in 776 BC in the plain of the kingdom of Elis, nestled in a lush valley between the Alpheus River and Mount Kronion, 15 km from the Ionian Sea. The oldest sanctuary of Greece was there, the altar of the Great Mother of Gods, Rhea (Earth).

Olympic Symbol: It comprises five rings or circles, linked together to represent the sporting friendship of all people. The rings also symbolise the continents-Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America. Each ring is of a different colour, i.e., blue, yellow, black, green and red. The rings are meant to represent five continents viz., Africa (black), America (red), Asia (yellow), Australia (green) and Europe (Blue).

Olympic Flag: The Olympic flag, created in 1913 at the suggestion of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was solemnly inaugurated in Paris in June 1914 but it was riased over an Olympic stadium for the first time at the Antwerp Games (Belgium) in 1920. There is also a second Olympic flag, which is used for the Winter Games. These flags are made of white silk and contain above mentioned five interwined rings. From left to right the rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red.

Olympic Flame: It was at the Amsterdam Games in 1928 that for the first time an Olympic flame was ceremonially lighted and burned in a giant torch at the entrance of the stadium. The modern version of the flame was adopted in 1936 at the Berlin Games. The Olympic flame symbolises the continuity between the ancient and modern Games. The torch, used to kindle the flame, is first lit by the sun’s rays at Olympia, Greece, and then carried to the site of the Games by relay of runners. Ships and planes are used when necessary. On July 15, 1976, space age technology was used to transport the flame from one continent to another.

Olympic Motto: The Olympic motto is “Citius-AltiusFortius” (faster, higher, stronger). Rev. Father Didon (18401900), headmaster of a school near Paris and a great promoter of sports in the French Catholic colleges first used the motto and had it embroidered on the pennants of his school clubs. This succinct definition of the philosophy of sport appealed to father Didon’s friend, Baron Pierre de Coubertin who was responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games nearly 1,500 years after the last of the ancient Games. It was adopted at his suggestion at the International congress for the “Study and Propagation of the Principles of Amateurism” on June 23, 1894, the same day on which the restoration of the Olympic Games and the creation of the International Olympic Committee were also decided.

Olympic Prizes, Medals and Certificates: While in ancient times the Olympic heroes received a crown of olive branches for their exploits, modern Olympic champions are rewarded with medals and certificates. The winning athlete now receives a Gold medal, the athlete in the second place is awarded a Silver medal and the third placed athlete wins a Bronze medal. In addition, all athletes ranking from first to sixth receive a certificate. Each medal is 60 mm in diameter and 3 mm thick. The first and second place medals are made of 92.5% silver and the medals for the first winner is then plated with 6 gram of fine gold. Thus this medal is not of full gold. The third place medal is of bronze.

Olympic games were started in 776 B.C. on Mount Olympus in the honour of Greek God ‘Zeus’.

The modern Olympic games started in Athens, the capital of Greece on 6th April, 1896 with great efforts made by Pierre de Coubertin of France.

The Olympic games are organised after every four years. In the flag of Olympics, there is a symbol of five coloured circles joining each other. The flag of Olympic Games was recognised in the year 1913 and was hoisted first time in the Antwerp Olympic Games in 1920.

The tradition to lit the Olympic flame was started in Amsterdom Olympic Games in 1928. The Head Office of International Olympic Committee is in Lusane (Switzerland).

Participation of women in the Olympic games started in the Second Olympic Games in 1900.

First Indian player who participated in the Olympic games was an Anglo Indian ‘Norman Prichard’. Nilima Ghose was the 1st Indian woman participant in the Olympic games. She participated in the 15th Olympic Games in 1952 at Helsinki.

International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 at “Chakhon”. Generally, in the inaugural ceremony of Olympic games the team of Greece got first place and host team is placed in the last in March Past parade. The teams of other places are placed in the alphabetical order of English alphabets.

The first woman referee in the football was a Canadian lady Sonia Denancord in (Atlanta Olympics). The maximum gold medal winner sports woman is Larina Lavyanina. She won 18 medals including 9 gold medals.

The maximum gold medal winner sports woman is Christina Otty. She got 6 gold medals in swimming in Seoul Olympic of 1986.

The maximum gold medal winner male player in an Olympic is Michael Phelps of USA. He won 8 gold medals in swimming in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

London is the first city in the world to stage Olympic Games thrice, after the 1908 and 1948 Summer Olympics.

The inaugural ceremony of the London Olympic 2012 also had an Indian flavour in the form of music composers Ilayaraja and A. R. Rahman.

American swimmer Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time with his record 28 Olympic Medals, out of which 6 each are from London and Rio Olympics. Michael Phelps also holds the all time records for Gold Medals (23). He has won 5 Gold and 1 Silver in Rio Olympics 2016.

India was represented for the first time at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Sprinter Norman Pritchard, the country’s only athlete at the 1900 Games. won two silver medals in the men’s 200m and 200m hurdles.

Indian athletes are probably best known at the Olympic Games for their performances in hockey. The men’s team have won eight gold medals in the sport-more than any other NOC- which includes an incredible run of six consecutive gold medals at the Games between 1928 and 1956.

KD (Khashaba Dadasaheb) Jadhav had won the country’s first medal in Wrestling in 1952 Olympics at Helsinki.

In men’s Hockey India had to settle for silver at the 1960 Games in Rome, losing to Pakistan in the final, but the team reclaimed its title four years later at Tokyo 1964. India won bronze in both 1968 and 1972, and missed out on the podium altogether at Montreal 1976, but the team secured its eighth hockey gold medal at the 1980 Games in Moscow. Performances have reached a low point at London 2012 where the Indian team lost all five of its group games.

The Indian women’s hockey team has only competed at the Olympic Games on two occasions. The team placed fourth on its debut in a round-robin style tournament at the 1980 Games in Moscow, and then finished bottom of Group B at Rio 2016. Until then shooter Abhinav Bindra was the only Indian athlete to have won Olympic gold in a sport other than hockey, claiming gold in the men’s 10m air rifle at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Bindra finished fourth in the same event at Rio 2016 on what was his fifth time competing at the Games. The Olympic appearance record for India is held by tennis player Leander Paes, who participated in seven consecutive editions of the Games between 1992 and 2016. Paes’ best result was a bronze medal in men’s singles at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

India’s shutler Pusarla V. Sindhu, a silver medalist in Rio Olympics, bagged the Bronze medal in Badminton in Tokyo 2020 games. She has become the first Indian women athlete to bag the silver medal in Olympicsever.

In Rio Olympics 2016, the Oldest Indian athlete:Leander Paes (43 years) and the Youngest Indian athlete : Jisna Mathew (17 years).

India ranked 48th in the medals tally with a total of 7 medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze) in the 32nd Olympics in Tokyo.

Tokyo Olympic Games were inaugurated by the IOC President Thomas Bach and the Emperor of Japan on July 23, 2021.

Miraitowa, a type of robot was the mascot of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games 2020. It was designed by Fukuoka – based illustrator Taniguchi Ryo. The name Miraitowa is a combination of two Japanese words –  ‘mirai’, meaning ‘future’ and ‘towa’, meaning ‘eternity’,  representing the wish that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will lead to a future of everlasting hope in the hearts of everyone around the world.

Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 also known as 32nd Tokyo Summer Olympic Games 2020 were successfully organized in Tokyo, the Japanese capital from July 23 to August 08, 2021.

Naomi Osaka of Japan was the final bearer of the Olympic torch and lighted up the Olympic cauldron to officially open the Games. The Tokyo Games were declared open by IOC president Thomas Bach and the Emperor of Japan.

This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled.

Indian contingent performed the athletes parade in Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony with Mary Kom and Manpreet Singh as the flagbeares.

India gave its best performance in Olympic events in 32nd Summer Olympics 2020 in terms of number of medals by wining seven medals including a gold medal. India won its seventh medal in Tokyo Olympics on August 7, 2021 when javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra clinched a gold medal, helping India surpass its previous best haul of six Olympic medals achieved in the 2012 London Games.

With 126 athletes across 18 sports disciplines India had sent its biggest – ever contingent to Tokyo Olympics. Indian athletes participated in 69 cumulative events across, highest ever for the country.

Mirabai Chanu won India’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics with a silver in women’s 49 kg weightlifting on luly 24. Chanu lifted a total of 202 kg to finish second to China’s Hou Zhihui who won the gold with an Olympic record total of 210 kgs.

Neeraj Chopra clinched a gold medal with a stunning throw of 87.5 m in the men’s javelin throw final at the Tokyo Olympics. His first throw of 87.58 was enough for him to earn a gold medal in javelin throw final. Chopra became the first ever Indian athlete to win an Olympic title in athletics.

Follow on Facebook page – Click Here

Google News join in – Click Here

Read More Asia News – Click Here

Read More Sports News – Click Here

Read More Crypto News – Click Here