Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (commonly referred to as the Olympics), which began in Athens in 1896, are quadrennial sporting extravaganzas which currently exist in both a Summer games version and a Winter games version. The Summer Games are held every leap year and recent such events have featured over 10000 athletes from nearly 200 countries competing in 300 sports events in 28 different sports. The Winter Games are held in the even numbered years between the Summer event and typically approximately 2400 athletes from nearly 80 countries competing in 80 events in 7 different sports.
The Games are organized and governed by the International Olympic Committee which determines which sports are to be included and where the Games are to be held. The modern games began as a revival of the ancient Olympics through the organizing efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
Over the years since its inception, the Games have come to occupy a position of increasing significance not only in a sporting sense, but also in terms of their function in society. And they have also shared in the general problems of society as a whole, which includes political exploitation (the Berlin games of 1936) and boycotts, political catastrophe (Munich 1972), and issues such as amateurism, the role of women in sports, commercialization, and doping in sports.
The next Summer Games are scheduled for Beijing, China begining in August of 2008 while the next Winter Games are scheduled for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada beginning in February of 2010.
Genesis of the modern Games
The 19th century witnessed a boom in organized sports of all kinds. New sports came into being, older sports were streamlined, and for all sports, increased popularity was the norm and the first continuous, organized competitions were held while at the same time the first sports clubs and associations were founded. Sport in this era was, however, mainly an upper class, aristocratic phenomenon as here was the only element of society with the leisure time to pursue such activities.
In the late 19th century, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games was, a century after it had first been discovered, finally unearthed by the German archaeologist Ernst Curtius. Inspired by this event, as well as by his idealization of physical activity as part of a well-rounded education, Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman with a lengthy noble heritage, resolved to revive the Ancient Games in modern form.
When he first proposed such a plan in a lecture in 1892, he met with little success, but two years later, he convened an invitational sports congress in Paris (June 1894) at which time the participants founded the International Olympic Committee and set about to organize the first modern Olympic Games which they scheduled for Athens, Greece, two years later, planning to hold similar events every 4 years thereafter.
Those first games featured the participation of ca 200 athletes (all male) from 14 countries participating in 43 events in 9 different sports.