The Olympic Games

The origin of the games :

The Olympic Games have the traditions of more than thousands of years. The Olympic Games were named after the city of Olympia in Greece. The Olympic Games were commenced long before the birth of Christ. Greece was divided into many cities in those days. People of those cities were not in harmony. They used to fight with each other. From the history of Olympic Games, it is seen that a man named Iphitos founded the games. Iphitos was concerned about the strife among the people. He hit upon a plan. He invited the best athletes to participate in athletic contests to the valley of Olympia from the nearby cities. His plan suited well. The Greek people who were fond of wars, instead of fighting their neighbors tried to undo their rivals in athletic contests.

The ancient Olympic Games :    

The contests included sprints, leaping, boxing, throwing discuss and the javelin and wrestling at the beginning. Afterwards, horse race was added to the contests. The Greek forgot to fight each other. But in 394 A.D. the Roman emperor stopped the game. Since then for over fifteen hundred years no contests were held.

The Olympic Games revived in 1895. Olympic Games were held in Greece. It is known as the first modern Olympic Games. It was held in Athens the capital city of Greece.

The modern Olympic Games :

The modern Olympic Games are held in every four years in different cities of the world. The remarkable fact is that the Olympic flames are lit from the city of Olympic where the first contests were held. Nowadays, Olympic Games have become every popular worldwide. Many new events have been added. The 29^th Olympic Games held at Beijing in China in 2008. About 10,000 competitors of different countries contested in 302 events.