Synonyms
Olympics, Summer Olympics, Winter OlympicsThe Olympic Games take place every 4 years. Popularly known as the Olympics (period of 4 years), the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are regularly held competitions. The Olympic games of the modern times were brought back to life for the first time by their founder Pierre de Coubertin in the year 1896.
The international Olympic committee is responsible for awarding the Olympic Games to a city. Following the Olympic Games of antiquity, the first Olympic Games of modern times took place in Athens under the then appointed IOC president Dimitrios Vikelas. It was not until 1924 that the first Winter Olympics were held.
In 1992 the last Olympic Summer Games and Winter Games took place in the same year. In 1994 the first Winter Games were held separately from the Summer Games. The venue was Lillehammer.
Since then the Summer Games and Winter Games alternate in a rhythm of 2 years. On June 23, 1894, the philanthropist Pierre de Coubertin founded the international Olympic committee and thus brought the idea of the Olympic Games of modern times to life. As the biggest sports event of modern times, the first Olympic Games of modern times were a great success.
The Greek officials were so enthusiastic about the success of the games that they suggested that the following Olympic Games should always be held in Athens. The International Olympic Committee, however, decided on a rotation principle of the participating countries. However, after the initial success in Greece, the first crisis of the Olympic Games quickly arose.
The games in Paris in 1900 and in St. Louis in 1904 were held parallel to the World Exposition and lasted several months. The consequences were disinterested spectators. As a result, the 1906 Olympic Games were held in Athens.
The International Olympic Committee approved this event under the name of Olympic Games, but never recognized competition results. While at the first games of modern times almost 260 athletes from 13 countries were represented, at the summer games in Athens 2004 there were over 10,000 athletes from over 200 nations. A total of 301 competitions took place.
The Winter Olympic Games do not have a great popularity compared to the Summer Games. In Turin in 2006, for example, with almost 2500 athletes, significantly fewer athletes took part in the competition than in the Summer Games. Even if the idea Coubertin was based in the world-wide peace, also the olympic plays did not come around numerous crises.
So the Olympic Games of 1916 were cancelled because of the First World War and 1940 and 1944 because of the Second World War. Furthermore, the National Socialists used the 1936 Olympic Games for propaganda purposes. One of the crises culminated in the 1972 Games in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists captured 11 members of the Israeli team and all hostages, as well as one police officer and five terrorists, lost their lives in the failed attempt to free them at the Fürstenfeldbruck airfield.
Another tragedy occurred during the 1996 Summer Games, when a bomb explosion killed two people and injured 111. One of the main problems of the recent Olympic Games is the illegal increase in performance through targeted doping. As early as 1967, the IOC issued a doping ban for Olympic Games.
In 1990, numerous documents uncovered the doping scandal of numerous GDR athletes. The WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) tries to curb doping abuse through stricter and targeted controls. Investigations into the recent games in Beijing are currently underway.
