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This year, the Olympic Games will be held in the place where it all began more
than 2,700 years ago – Greece. Named after the City of Olympia, and held in a
site dedicated to Zeus, the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece celebrated human
potential, based on the philosophy that to achieve a complete whole, it is
necessary to combine the qualities of body, will and mind. The Games in Ancient
Greece also gave citizens an opportunity to put down their weapons and instead
compete against each other with the power of athleticism and their intellect.
The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece welcomed not only athletes, but also poets,
writers, artists, public speakers and others to try for the coveted crown of
olive leaves that would elevate them to a privileged position in their sport,
art or profession. The ideals of the Olympic Games represented the values of
Greek civilization – noble competition, athletics, peace, culture and education.
The first Olympic Games were held, approximately, in 776 BC and repeated every
four years for almost 1200, years until 393 CE, when, concerned with the pagan
influences on the Games, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, abolished them.
The rebirth of the Olympic Games in the Modern era is attributed to an
enterprising Frenchman, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, who is also known
as le Rénovateur and the father of the Modern Olympics. If not the first
one to propose the revival of the Olympic Games, Coubertin was surely the most
enthusiastic proponent of their revival. At a meeting of the Union des Sports
Athlétiques in Paris, on November 25, 1892, Coubertin moved his colleagues
to action:
“Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That
is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe
the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to
touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you
have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to
realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the
splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.”
Since that time, the Olympic Games have traveled around the world, hosted in
various cities and thousands of athletes from many of the world’s countries have
competed in its venues. The Modern Olympic Games were interrupted only twice,
both times due to a war (WWI and WWII).
Host Cities of the Olympic Games
The honor of hosting the Olympic Games is given by the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) to a city, not a country. Since they began in Athens in 1896,
the following cities have been selected to host the Modern Olympic Games:
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SUMMER OLYMPICS |
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YEAR |
CITY
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COUNTRY |
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1896 |
Athens |
Greece |
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1900 |
Paris |
France |
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1904 |
St. Lois |
United States of
America |
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1908 |
London |
England |
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1920 |
Antwerp |
Belgium |
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1928 |
Amsterdam |
Netherlands |
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1936 |
Berlin |
Germany |
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1952 |
Helsinki |
Finland |
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1960 |
Rome |
Italy |
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1968 |
Mexico City |
Mexico |
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1972 |
Munich |
Germany |
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1976 |
Montreal |
Canada |
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1980 |
Moscow |
Russia |
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1984 |
Los Angeles |
United States of
America |
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1988 |
Seoul |
Korea |
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1992 |
Barcelona |
Spain |
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1996 |
Atlanta |
United States of
America |
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2000 |
Sydney |
Australia |
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2004 |
Athens |
Greece |
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WINTER OLYMPICS |
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YEAR |
CITY
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COUNTRY |
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1924 |
Chamonix |
France |
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1928 |
St. Moritz |
Switzerland |
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1932 |
Lake Placid |
United States of
America |
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1936 |
Garmisch |
Germany |
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1944 |
St. Moritz |
Switzerland |
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1952 |
Oslo |
Norway |
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1956 |
Cortina |
Italy |
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1960 |
Squaw Valley |
United States of
America |
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1964 |
Innsbruck |
Austria |
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1968 |
Grenoble |
France |
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1972 |
Sapporo |
Japan |
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1976 |
Innsbruck |
Austria |
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1980 |
Lake Placid |
United States of
America |
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1984 |
Sarajevo |
Yugoslavia |
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1988 |
Calgary |
Canada |
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1992 |
Albertville |
France |
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1994 |
Lillehammer
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Norway |
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1998 |
Nagano |
Japan |
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2002 |
Salt Lake City |
United States of
America |
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2006 |
Turin |
Italy |
Other interesting Olympic Facts
Opening Ceremony: At the time of the writing of this newsletter, the
Olympic torch is making its way around the world. On August 13, the Olympic
Torch Relay will culminate in Athens, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer
Olympic Games. Traditionally, the procession of athletes at the Opening Ceremony
is led by the Greek team and followed by all the other teams, in alphabetical
order in the language of the host country, except for the team of the hosting
country, which traditionally marches in last.
Olympic Flag: The flag that presides over the Olympic Games was created
by Coubertin in 1914. It has five rings representing each of the five
continents. The rings are interconnected to symbolize the spirit of unity that
the Games are intended to promote. The colors of the rings (blue, black, red,
yellow and green) were carefully chosen to include at least one of the colors in
the flag of every country in the world. The Olympic flag flew for the first time
over the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920. Traditionally, the flag is
carried into the venue of the Opening Ceremony of every Olympic Game. When the
Games are over, the mayor of the host city hands over the Olympic flag to the
mayor of the city that will be hosting the next Olympic Games.
Official languages: According to the Olympic Charter, the official
languages of the Olympic Games are French and English. Therefore, all
announcements during and after athletic events must be made in both languages,
all signs in the Olympic village must be posted in both languages and so on.
However, there have been exceptions to the official language rule. For
example, the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway and Nagano, Japan, and the
Summer Games, in Atlanta, United States of America, were opened using only the
local language.
France vigorously defends the use of French in the Olympic Games. For example,
France urged the IOC to “protect the spirit and letter of the Olympic Charter”
by ensuring that French be used alongside English as one of the Games’ official
languages in the Sydney Olympic Games of the year 2000.
The Greek Language
In these Olympic Games, as in the Olympics of ancient times and the first Modern
Olympics of 1896, the language of the host city and country will be Greek.
Greek is an Indo European language. At one time, it was spoken not only in
Greece, but also along the coast of Asia Minor and in Southern Italy. In
Classical times, there were a variety of spoken Greek dialects. The most
important ones were Ionic, Doric, and Attic.
Modern Greek (Ελληνικά) (Ellinika) has about 14 million speakers. It is spoken
mainly in Greece and Cyprus.
It is one of the richest surviving languages, with approximately 600,000 words.
Modern Greek differs from Classic Greek in vocabulary and grammar.
In the 19th Century, Katharevousa (καθαρεύουσα) /kaTa'revusa/, a “purified form”
of the Greek language, was created by Adamantios Korais, who spent most of his
life living in exile in Paris, France. It was intended to serve as a bridge
between the Ancient and Modern forms of the language,that would please the
‘archaists’ and the modernists. Katharevousa also “purified” the language by
eliminating words imported from other European languages and from Turkish. It
included archaicised forms of Modern Greek words and a simplified grammar.
However, the Greek Government adopted Demotiki (“speech of the people” or
informal language) instead of Katharevousa to be the ‘de facto’ official
language of Greece, after 1976. Katharevousa remains as an archaic literary
dialect.
Greek is highly inflected, like most Indo-European languages. Nouns have five
cases: Nominative (subject), Genitive (possessive), Accusative (direct object),
Dative (indirect object) and Vocative (address); although the Dative case has
all but been eliminated from Modern Greek. It also has three genders: Feminine,
Masculine and Neuter. Verbs have three moods, three voices, three persons and
three numbers. The alphabet is among the few linguistic elements that have
remained essentially unchanged between the Classic and Modern Greek languages.
References:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com
http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000a.htm
http://www.olympics.org.uk/olympicmovement/datesandcities.asp
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=GRK
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