How long modern olympics

In a proud moment for Greeks and an exciting one for spectators, the shotput competition was held at the site of the classical Games in Olympia. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The German air force launches Operation Castigo, the bombing of Belgrade, on April 6, , as 24 divisions and 1, tanks drive into Greece.

The attack on Yugoslavia was swift and brutal, an act of terror resulting in the death of 17, civilians—the largest number of civilian On April 6, , American explorer Robert Peary accomplishes a long elusive dream, when he, assistant Matthew Henson and four Inuits reach what they determine to be the North Pole.

Born in Vermont in , Smith claimed in that he had been Two days after the U. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U. House of Representatives endorses the declaration by a vote of to 50, and America formally enters World War I.

On April 6, , John Tyler is sworn in as president. He was the first vice president to immediately assume the Determined to resist the growing presence of Anglo settlers on traditional tribal lands, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk is drawn into war with the United States. Called Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak by his people, Black Hawk was born in in the village of Saukenuk in the present-day Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. However, he lost his Kubrick, whose Cold War satire Dr. When the powerful, warlike Spartans began to compete, they influenced the agenda. The 18th Olympiad included wrestling and a pentathlon consisting of running, jumping, spear throwing the javelin , discus throwing, and wrestling.

Boxing was added at the 23rd Olympiad, and the Games continued to expand, with the addition of chariot racing and other sports. In the 37th Olympiad B. The growth of the Games fostered "professionalism" among the competitors, and the Olympic ideals waned as royalty began to compete for personal gain, particularly in the chariot events. Human beings were being glorified as well as the gods; many winners erected statues to deify themselves.

The revival of the Olympic Games in , unlike the original Games, has a clear, concise history. Pierre de Coubertin — , a young French nobleman, felt that he could institute an educational program in France that approximated the ancient Greek notion of a balanced development of mind and body.

The Greeks themselves had tried to revive the Olympics by holding local athletic games in Athens during the s, but without lasting success. It was Baron de Coubertin's determination and organizational genius, however, that gave impetus to the modern Olympic movement. Despite meager response he persisted, and an international sports congress eventually convened on June 16, He found ready and unanimous support from the nine countries. De Coubertin had initially planned to hold the Olympic Games in France, but the representatives convinced him that Greece was the appropriate country to host the first modern Olympics.

The council did agree that the Olympics would move every four years to other great cities of the world. Thirteen countries competed at the Athens Games in Nine sports were on the agenda: cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weight lifting, and wrestling. The man U. The Games were a success, and a second Olympiad, to be held in France, was scheduled. Olympic Games were held in and , and by the number of competitors more than quadrupled the number at Athens — from to 2, Beginning in , a Winter Olympics was included — to be held at a separate cold-weather sports site in the same year as the Summer Games — the first held at Chamonix, France.

In about 1, athletes from 38 nations competed at Lake Placid, N. But the Summer Games, with its wide array of events, are still the focal point of the modern Olympics. Among the standard events are basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian arts, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling freestyle and Greco-Roman , and yachting.

New sports are added to the roster at every Olympic Games; among the more prominent are baseball, martial arts, and most recently triathlon, which was first contested at the Games. The Summer and Winter Games were traditionally held in the same year, but because of the increasing size of both Olympics, the Winter Games were shifted to a different schedule after The ideology of nationalism, which swept the world during the early 20th century, left its mark on the Olympics.

Athletic nationalism was brought to a peak by Nazi Germany, which staged the Games in Berlin and used the Olympics to propagandize its cause.

The Germans built a powerful team through nationalized training and scientific advances and dominated the Games in terms of medals won. The political overtones of the Olympics did not lessen with the fall of Nazi Germany.

In the Munich Olympics in , 11 Israeli athletes were massacred by Palestinian terrorists. And in in Montreal, 33 African nations, to be represented by about athletes, boycotted the Games to protest South Africa's apartheid policies. The most serious disruptions to the modern Olympics, however, occurred in and In , under strong pressure from the Carter administration, the U. About 40 nations followed suit, including West Germany, China, and Japan, depriving the Soviets of their chief athletic competition and raising doubts about the future of the Olympic movement.

Fear of an openly hostile environment in Los Angeles was cited by the Soviet Olympic Committee as the reason for nonparticipation, but most commentators believed the reasons to be political: the poor state of recent U. The popularity and financial success of the Los Angeles Games were, however, greater than anticipated.

The Summer Games, in Atlanta, Ga. The and Winter Games transpired without incident. The Summer Games were held in Sydney, Australia, to great acclaim. The Greeks built a new stadium for the competition. Athletes from several countries competed. Then there were Olympics every four years in different cities in Europe and theUnited Statesuntil Each year there were athletes from more nations. The first Winter Olympics were in The athletes compete in skiing and other winter sports.

How long after the founding of the modern Olympics were the. Read the following passage, then choose the item A, B, C or D that best answer each of the question about it: Every four years people all over the world watch the Olympic Games.

Why do we have the Olympic? How did they begin?