Added: 11/29/2007 |
Olympic facts and figuresOlympic Games epitomize camaraderie and sportsmanship. The games that began in 1896 represent the ideal of struggle in life and not triumph and the importance of struggling to win. The games stand as the testimony of the human spirit’s aspiration to excel it. Olympic Games extol the spirit of sportsmanship and humanity.
The Olympic Games began in 776 B.C. but the International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 by Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin. Athens in Greece became the venue for the first Olympics that held in the year 1896. Modern Olympic is divided into Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Olympic Games are held once in every four years. The recent 2004 Summer Olympics was held in Athens, while the 2006 Winter Olympics was in Turin.
Olympic facts show that the Olympic Games, which began with the participation of 241 athletes in 1896 from 14 nations has grown to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Number of participants in the Summer Olympics is more than that of the Winter Olympics. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy nearly 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competed. Olympic facts state that 203 countries participate in the Games currently.
Olympics facts prove that it is one of the greatest media events. In the Olympic Games held at Sydney in 2000, 16,000 broadcasters and journalists covered the function and about 3.8 billion viewers watched the Games on TV.
Olympic facts show that there are a few organizations that function together to organize Olympic Games. They form the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Charter provides a set of rules and guidelines to be followed by these organizations. The International Olympic Committee is the governing body that decides the venue of the Olympic Games and makes prominent decisions involved in governing.
Olympic facts also state that International Federations, the governing bodies of a sport and the international governing body combine their efforts towards the functioning of Olympics. Olympic facts also show that the National Olympic Committees co-ordinate the Olympic Movement within each country and Organising Committees for the Olympic Games organizes specific celebrations of the Olympics. Currently 202 National Olympic Committees and 35 International Federations are part of the Olympic Movement.
Best known symbol of Olympics is the five intertwined rings that represent unity of five continents and the colours red, white, blue, green, yellow and black are found in the flags of all the nations of the world. Olympic facts state that the official Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, a Latin phrase that means “Swifter, Higher, and Stronger”. Olympic facts show that the Olympic Creed epitomized the ideal of Pierre De Coubertin. According to him, “the most important thing in Olympics is not winning but participation and the most important thing in life is struggle not triumph”.
Olympic facts explicate that the tradition of the Olympic flame being lit in Olympia and being brought to the host nation has been existing from 1928. The Olympic mascot representing the cultural heritage of the host nation came into existence in the year 1968.
In the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the Head of the state of the host country declares the games open. In the closing ceremony the head of the International Olympic Committee declares the Olympics closed.
According to the Olympic facts and figures the Summer Olympic consists of 28 sports with 30 disciplines. The Winter Olympics comprises 7 sports and 15 disciplines.
Olympic facts state that Larissa Latynina and Nikolai Adrianov of Russia; Paavo Nurmi of Finland; Mark spitz, Carl Lewis, Matt Biondi, Ray Ewry and Jenny Thompson of USA; Birgit Fischer of Germany and Sawao Kato of Japan have reaped titles in events like gymnastics, swimming, canoeing and athletics etc. They are considered the greatest athletes of Olympics.
The Olympic facts show that the top ten countries that appear in the medal tallies since 1996, in Summer Olympics are Russian Federation, USA, China, France, Germany, Australia and Italy. The countries that have appeared in the top 10 medal tallies since 1994, Winter Olympics have been Norway, the Russian Federation, USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and Italy. Norway has the highest medal count for Winter Olympics over the years.
Olympic is a celebration of sportsmanship and will continue to inspire human to excel in sports and develop camaraderie among nations. All over the world, Olympics to be held in Beijing, in 2008 is awaited with bated breath.
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