The Olympics
Every four years, athletes from around the world come together to compete in events such as sprinting, long jump, discus, snowboarding, and figure skating, as part of the Olympics. Why do they do it?
(1)
Even those that don’t win, go home with the satisfaction of having been to the Olympics, and getting the respect of their fellow countrymen.
Winners didn’t always get a medal, though.
(2)
They competed for the honour rather than wanting to get something of value. The first known Olympics were held in the summer of 776 B.C., at Olympia, which is a site in southern Greece, where people went to pray to their gods.
The Greeks were often at war with each other, because Greece was actually a collection of smaller states, rather than a real country, as it is now.
(3)
It was more important to win the Olympics than to win a war. Unlike today’s games, however, only men were allowed to compete, and they did so naked.
The events included in the Olympics do not stay the same. Many of them, including sprinting and wrestling, are still part of the modern games.
(4)
An event that’s long forgotten, the Pankration, was known as the hardest fighting sport. Competitors fought until one gave up or died, whichever happened first.
The Olympics nearly disappeared for a time because the Romans cancelled the games after Rome won the war against the Greeks.
(5)
They are now very popular, and countries work hard to get the chance of holding the games. In 1924, the Winter Olympics were added to include cold-weather sports.
