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| Saturday, 21 August 2004 |
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Flashback to 108 years : Olympic Games - A peep into the past by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe Olympic Games is a sports gathering, held in every four years (known as Quadrennial International Athletic Games), by athletes from all over the world, each celebration taking place at different venues. The first was held in 1896 at Athens in Greece. Altogether, there have been 27 venues in different countries.
The first Olympic Games were held near the village by the Mount Alpheus in old Greece. The Games were originally held to celebrate the Greek God Zeus (the greatest of the national deities of Greece, the son of Kronos (Saturn) and Rhea, and his supreme seat being atop Mount Olympus in Thessaly, by making blood sacrifices to the deity. People who came to witness the grand ceremony, fixed up tents and sheltered themselves closer to the Mount and erected stalls for commercial purposes. Olympic Games evolved from the ancient Greek Games held at Olympia about 771 BC. Olympia is an ancient Greek sanctuary in West Peloponnese on Mount Alpheus, the scene of the original Olympic Games. Other than God Zeus, there were other temples on the Mount dedicated at Greek Gods and Goddesses, such as Hera (the wife of Zeus), Jupiter (synonymous with Zeus), Hades (god of the dead), Apollo (the Sun-God), Pluto (God of the Underworld). Plutus (God of Wealth) etc. in whose honour the games were held. The events of the games were contained in the Stadium (for foot-racing, boxing, wrestling etc.) and in the Hippodrome (for chariot and horse-racing). At the beginning, women were forbidden to participate in events, and the contestants were only men of Hellenic descent. In later years, Romans were admitted to participate in the events of the Olympic Games. The modern Olympic Games cover a wider range of events including swimming, skating, football, boxing, wrestling, rowing and equestrian events (horse-racing). The Olympic Games were banned in 393 AD by the Christian Emperor Theodicies, because of the pagan practices of honouring the Greek Gods. However, the taboo imposed was revived by Lord Pierre de Fredi, Baron de Coubertin (1863-1937), with Athens as the first venue. The champion of orthodox Christianity, the Great Theodicies, held the view that such practices were harmful to the dogmatic theology of Christianity which believes in the existence of one God, the Creater. After the interregnum, the holding of Olympic Games was held for the first time on April 4, 1896 and it was opened by King George I of Greece, when 13 countries participated in the events. The first prize was a silver medal and a crown made of olive (Olea Europaea) leaves, and the second was a bronze medal with crown made of laurel (Laurus nobilis) leaves. The venues, in chronological order, where Games were held, after 1896, were Paris in France (1900), St. Louis, United States (1904), London, United Kingdom (1908), Stolkholm in Sweden (1912), Antwerp in Belgium (1920), Paris in France (1924), Amsterdam in Holland (1928), Los Angeles, United States (1932), Berlin in Germany (1936), London in UK (1948), Helsinki in Finland (1952), Melbourne in Australia (1956), Rome in Italy (1960), Tokyo in Japan (1964), Mexico City in Mexico (1968), Munic in West Germany (1972), Montreal in Canada (1976), Moscow in USSR (1980), Los Angeles, US (1984), Seoul in South Korea (1988), Barcelona in Spain (1992), Atlanta in US (1996), Sydney in Australia (2000). Winter Games were held in Chamonix in France (1924), St. Moritz in Switzerland (1928), Lake Placid, New York, US (1932), Garmische -Partenkirchen (1936), St. Moritz in Switzerland (1948), Oslo in Norway (1952), Cortina in Italy (1956), Squaw Valley, California, US (1960), Innsbruck in Austria (1964), Grenoble in France (1968), Sapporo in Japan (1972), Innsbruck in Austria (1976), Lake Placid in New York, US (1998), Sarajevo in Yugoslavia (1984), Calgary in Canada (1988), Albertiville in France (1992), Lillehammer in Norway (1994), Nagano in Japan (1988), Albertville in France (1992), Lillehammer in Norway (1994), Nagano in Japan (1998) and Salt lake City, US (2002). This year (2004), it is held in Athens, Greece, as Summer Games. Today, more than 6,000 competitors, from all over the world, compete at each game. Since 1900, women were allowed to participate in events, when the Olympic Games were held in Paris, France. In 1956, horse-racing events were held at Stolkholm, Sweden, due to quarantine laws in Australia. Sri Lanka participated in Olympic Games for the first time in 1948, when it was held in London, England, after the Second World War. During the War period (1940-1945), Olympic Games were not held. In 1940, it was to be held in Japan, but with the dropping of the two atomic bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, and with Japan involving in the war, the games were held in England in 1948. Of the 8 Sri Lankan's participated in the Olympic Games in 1948, Duncan White became the best athlete (an honour to Sri Lanka) by winning a place in the 440 metres race. He was awarded the silver medal. Among the others who participated from Sri Lanka were John de Saram, Albert Perera, Edward Grey, Alex Abeysekera, Leslie Handunge and H.P. Jayasuriya. The only woman to receive the bronze medal was Susanthika Jayasinghe, in the year 2000, at the Olympic Summer Games held in Sydney, Australia. Olympiad, is the period of 4 years, as known in ancient Greece, being the interval from one celebration of Olympic Games to another, used in reckoning time, the traditional date, chronologically, being 776 BC. The Olympic Games reached its zenith in 2000, when 199 countries participated and over 10,600 competitors participated in the events numbering over 300. |
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