The document provides an overview of the history and evolution of the Olympic Games from ancient to modern times, highlighting some of the key events and controversies associated with different host cities and Games over the years. It discusses the origins of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece and the revival of the modern Games by Pierre de Coubertin. It then summarizes some of the political controversies and issues faced by Olympic hosts Berlin 1936, Mexico City 1968, Munich 1972, Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, and Atlanta 1996.

1. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• Objectives
• In the two lessons on the Olympics you should learn
about:-
• The History of the Ancient Games and modern games
• The advantages and disadvantages of hosting this event.
• The controversies surrounding various Games in the
modern era.
• The importance of The Olympic games as an
international event.

2. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• A N C I E N T O LY M P I C GA M E S
• The first recorded Ancient Olympic Games were in 776BC. They lasted for approximately
1000 years. Then in 394AD they were banned by the Roman Emperor, Theodosius.
He forbade any pagan festivals, which included the Olympic Games.
• The Games were held in Olympia. A village in a sacred fertile valley, approximately 500km
south west of Mount Olympus, after which it is named. Originally, organised as a religious,
sporting and cultural festival, the Ancient Olympic Games were held in honour of Zeus, the
father of the gods.
• The Ancient Greeks believed that both the body and mind needed discipline. They believed
that those who practiced this discipline could best honour Zeus. The perfect human would
come from a “marriage of mind and muscle”.
• The name “Olympic” is derived from Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. The Games
of Olympia were held in honour of Zeus. They were held every four years. This time span has
become known as an Olympiad. Only Greek citizens were allowed to compete. For centuries
Greece was divided into independent states. These states were often at war with one another.
However, during the Olympic festival there was a guaranteed official truce, called the Ekecheiria.
This allowed athletes to travel safely from their cities, across the Greek Empire, to take part in the
Games. A violation of this truce was punishable by death. And yes they
had to compete naked!!!!

3. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• THE BIRTH OF THE NEW GAMES
• It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France who dreamt up this ambitious
project. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games, plus from Much
Wenlock! Coubertin decided to create the modern Olympics and founded the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 in Paris. This new committee
set itself the objective of organising the first modern games.
• The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 featured many references to the
original Greek Games
• They were held in Athens as a reminder that the Olympic Games originated in
Greece.
• Most of the sports on the programme of the ancient Olympic Games were
echoed in the modern Games. The organisers even went as far as to invent the
marathon

4. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• De Coubertin liked the way that sport was organised in Britain and visited lots of
events including the Henley Regatta – this combined with the discovery of the ruins of
the original stadium in Olympia gave him the push to start the Olympics.
• He believed that the games would promote world peace and harmony as
seen in his quote which is still displayed on the scoreboards at each games.
• “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to
take part. Just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the
struggle”
The IOC which was originally chosen by the Baron is now huge and has representatives
from all the countries who take part. They decide where the games will take part and
chose the city 6 years before the event.
• At first not many cities wanted the ‘honour’ as the games are extremely expensive and
usually made a loss. This changed after 1984 when because of marketing and
sponsorship the games resulted in a ‘surplus’
• It now costs nearly as much to make a bid as host the games!

5. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• Rings, motto and flame —Transmitting • The Motto
the values of Olympism through symbols • The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin
: universality, excellence, peace and words :
openness to others.
• The Rings
• Five interlacing rings to illustrate the
universality of the Olympic Movement • Which means :
and the Olympic Games — Rings and
• FASTER — HIGHER — STRONGER
flag proposed by Pierre de Coubertin in
1914 — Presence of the rings and flag at
the Olympic Games — Symbol • The Flame
recognised all over the world. • Link between the Games of antiquity
and the modern Games — Message of
peace and friendship — Lighting of the
flame and organisation of the relay.
• Rings represent the five continents and
the colours are in every flag in the world.

6. THE OLYMPIC GAMES
• The Olympic games were the first major international
sporting event and they are still the most important and
successful of all the events that take place.
• However, things have not always run smoothly and
nearly all of the recent one have been affected by
problems of one sort or another.

7. THE BERLIN GAMES 1936
• This was a games dominated by politics
– Hitler was in power and wanted the
games to be a propaganda exercise for
his ideals and beliefs. One of these was
that the Aryan master race – that people
who were blond, fair and true Germans
– were superior to all others.
• However Jesse Owens a black USA
athlete won 4 gold medals and this along
with many other black athletes winning
medals foiled Hitler's plans.
• The USA team nearly hadn’t gone to the
games because they were concerned
about what was happening to Jews and
Black people in Germany under Hitler
but this ended up being the best way to
counteract his ideas to the world at
large.
• It did make the IOC think much more
carefully about who to let host the
games from then on.

8. THE MEXICO GAMES -1968
• Mexico was a very controversial games
for several reasons. Firstly it was the first
one to be held at high altitude – helps
athletes who train at altitude and those
in short explosive events.
• Secondly Mexico was a very poor
country and people worried that they
would not be able to afford the games –
they were still paying the money off
many years later.
• There were also several black American
athletes who gave a black power salute
during their medal ceremonies. This was
to protest at the way black people were
treated in America. Two athletes were
sent home by the American team.

9. THE MUNICH GAMES - 1972
• On the morning of September 5, with six
days left in the Games, the worst tragedy in
Olympic history hit. Eight Arab terrorists
stormed into the Olympic village and
raided the apartment building that housed
the Israeli contingent. Two Israeli athletes
were killed and nine more were seized as
hostages. They demanded the release of
over 200 Palestinians serving time in Israeli
jails, along with two renowned German
terrorists.
• After a day of unsuccessful negotiations,
the terrorists collected the hostages and
headed for the military airport in Munich
for a flight back to the Middle East. At the
airport, German sharpshooters opened fire,
killing three of the Palestinians. A
horrifying gun battle ensued, claiming the
lives of all nine of the hostages, along with
one policeman and two terrorists.

10. THE MUNICH GAMES - 1972
• Athletic competition was suspended for 24
hours. During a day of mourning, a
memorial service was held at the main
stadium in front of 80,000 spectators. In a
controversial decision, IOC president
Avery Brundage declared, "the Games
must go on." And so they did, with the
Olympic and national flags flying at half-
mast.
• The most memorable footage from
Munich should have been that of
American swimmer Mark Spitz winning
his seventh gold medal or 17-year-old
Russian gymnast Olga Korbut wowing
the world on the balance beam. Instead,
we're left with disturbing photos of
terrorists in ski masks and of a policeman
standing on the roof of the compound
waiting to pounce with a semi-automatic
weapon. And ultimately we're left with the
video of ABC announcer Jim McKay
uttering his fateful words, "They're all
gone."

11. THE MONTREAL GAMES 1976
• South Africa had been banned from Tokyo
Olympics because of apartheid.
• A New Zealand rugby team had toured
South Africa and therefore upset African
Nations.
• A total of 30 nations , mostly African,
boycotted the Montreal Games as a
consequence.
• This was the start of a long period of
boycotts for various political reasons.
• The other reason that Montreal was
notable was the cost of the games –
because of increased security after the
Munich Games. It took Montreal many
years to pay off the debt.

12. THE MOSCOW GAMES - 1980
• The choice of Moscow was controversial due
to a poor human rights record.
• The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan
prior to the Games and when the games were
due to begin they were still occupying the
country.
• Many countries demanded that the Soviets
withdrew but they refused – many countries
boycotted the games as a protest.
• As a result a total of 52 nation, including the
USA and Canada boycotted and also
individuals from many other teams decided
that their consciences would not allow them
to go.
• Many people felt that this devalued the
Moscow Games particularly as the American
team was always very strong – i.e. that the
standard wasn’t as high.

13. THE LOS ANGELES GAMES - 1984
• As the venue is chosen 6 years in
advance the IOC could not avoid
America staging the Games after they
had boycotted the Moscow Games.
• The Soviet Union along with 14 other
nations retaliated in turn by
boycotting the Los Angeles Games.
Security was the excuse but in reality
it was tit for tat.
• Another excuse was that the Games
were over commercialised and for the
first time ever the Games ran at a
large profit for the host city.
• This was against Communist ideals
and thus was a perfect excuse to
boycott.

14. THE SEOUL GAMES - 1988
• Seoul is in S Korea and there had been • The most famous was Canadian
a war between them and N Korea – Ben Johnson who won the 100m
situation was still bad in 88. but was stripped of his title 2 days
• The IOC was criticized for awarding later.
Seoul the games – there was a lot of
tension that the facilities wouldn’t be
ready and that N Korea would interfere.
• In the end there was little disruption
and the games were quite successful.
• There were 5 boycotts including N
Korea and Cuba but new rules meant
that the countries who boycotted would
not be involved in future decisions.
• The biggest controversy was drug
related – in all ten athletes were banned
after testing positive.

15. THE BARCELONA GAMES - 1992
• After all the previous controversial
events the 1992 were just about
incident free.
• This is basically because the old
Soviet Union had ceased to exist
and the E. European Communist
countries had collapsed and all
these countries could now compete
individually.
• South Africa were also welcomed
back to fold as they had ended
apartheid and entered a mixed race
team.
• There were over 12,000 athletes
competing in 257 medal events.
• Drugs were still an issue and 3
Britons were sent home when they
tested positive.

16. THE ATLANTA GAMES - 1996
• Controversy raged before the games • On day 9 there was a tragedy – a
even started – it was considered that pipe bomb blast in Centennial Park
the time of the games would result in (right next to the stadium) killed 1
potential danger for the athletes person and injured 11. This
because of high humidity and brought new fears about the games
temperatures but Atlanta had spent 6 being a terrorist target so security
yrs getting ready for the biggest games was greatly increased.
yet – so it was decided to carry on.
• Measures were taken to help the
athletes – fans blowing fine mists of
water – particularly used in the
equestrian events and marathons.
• There were problems due to the large
numbers of media and spectators
which meant crushes at many of the
venues – athletes were often held up
getting to their event.
• Drugs were a problem – Michelle
Smith won 3 gold medals but insisted
it was not due to drugs – 1997 tested
positive and eventually banned in
1999.

17. THE NAGANO GAMES - 1998
• These winter Olympics were the first
ones in which technological
developments created big controversy.
• Dutch skaters used revolutionary
skates with hinged mechanisms and a
one piece body suit therefore much
more aerodynamic.
• They presented the innovations to the
International Speed skating Union for
approval 48hrs before the races so no
one could copy them. They went on
to win the first 4 places in the 5000m
race.
• The USA and Canadian teams also
protested when the winner of the luge
Georg Hackle wore aerodynamic
boots which shaved 300th of a second
off his time.

18. THE SYDNEY GAMES - 2000
• Thought to be one of the most
successful and friendly games of recent
times. Very little in the way of
controversy or major incident.
• The biggest controversy was the
withdrawal of 27 athletes and 13 team
officials from the Chinese team just
before the games. People thought that
this was because they didn’t want to risk
drugs tests finding positive results.
• Drug testing at the games were the
strictest ever and also the most
advanced ever and low levels of
performance particularly in the
marathon was evidence that less
cheating had taken place.
• Steve Redgrave also won his 5th Gold
medal in rowing – a record in an
endurance event.

19. Hosting the Games
• There is never a shortage of volunteers to host the
Olympics, or other international events, as the
advantages are seen to outweigh the disadvantages.
• ADVANTAGES
• A likelihood of making a profit through sponsorship, media
rights and marketing/merchandise.
• The provision of updated or new facilities that can be used again
later.
• Raising the profile and reputation of the hosts in the eyes of the
rest of the world.

20. Hosting the Games
• Disadvantages.
• Security risk and the threat of a terrorist attack.
• Boycotts and protests for political reasons.
• High costs and expenses to provide facilities and
security.
Security bill for London's 2012 Olympics to hit £1.5bn - triple the original estimate
Security costs 'will send 2012 bill over £10bn'