A Brief History of The Olympics
The first Olympic Games of record were held in 776 B.C. and consisted of one event; a great foot race of about 200 yards held on a plain by the River Alpheus (now the Ruphia) just outside the little town of Olympia in Greece. It was from that date the Greeks began to keep their calendar by “Olympiads,” the four-year spans between the celebrations of the famous games.
The modern Olympic Games, which started in Athens in 1896, are the result of the devotion of a French educator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, to the idea that, since young people and athletics have gone together through the ages, education and athletics might go hand-in-hand toward a better international understanding.
The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”—“Faster, Higher, Stronger.” The Olympic symbol is five interlocking circles colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red, on a white background, representing the five continents. At least one of those colors appears in the national flag of every country. In Feb. 1998 the IOC announced that new sports added to the games must include women’s events. Beginning in 1994, the IOC decided to change the format of having both the Summer and Winter Games in the same year. Summer and Winter Olympics now alternate every two years.
