奧運歷史(english)

圖片參考：http://www.inglewoodcarecentre.com/images/Clipart/olympic/montage_2.jpg

In a fertile valley of Ancient Greece, at a place called Olympia, the first Olympic Games were held at 776 BC. This games were held every four years, for a thousand years. The Games, like all Greek Games, were an intrinsic part of a religious festival held in honor of Zeus.

Hippias of Elis, at ca. 400 BC, compiled a list of Olympic victors, and according to him, the only event at the beginning was a stadium-length foot race (stade). The distance of the race came from the legend, that Hercules, the god of Physical Strength, run the same distance in one breath.


圖片參考：http://www.inglewoodcarecentre.com/images/Clipart/olympic/awards_2.jpg

It has been speculated, that the games at 776 BC were not the first games conducted, but rather the first organized games. It is believed, that this lead from the peace agreement between the city-states Elis and Pisa. The Eleans traced the founding of the Olympic Games back to their King Iphitos. King Iphitos was told by the Delphic Oracle to plant an Olive Tree from which the victor' wreaths for the Olympic Games was cut. Another legend says, that the Games were founded by Heracles, son of Alcmene.

In Ancient Greece it was thought that the first Games held in Olympia was organized by heroes and gods.


圖片參考：http://www.inglewoodcarecentre.com/images/Clipart/olympic/spirit_2.jpg

PELOPS: In his first Olympian Ode dated to the fifth century BC, Pindar tells us about Pelops, the founder of the games. Pelops, the son of Tantalus, came from Asia Minor to participate in a chariot race organized by Oinomaos, the king of Pisa in the Peloponnese. Oinomaos was told of an oracle according to which the marriage of his daughter, Hippodameia, would cause his death. Thus, he had killed all the suitors who came to participate in the race. Pelops came to Pisa, killed Oinomaos during the race, and married Hippodameia. As a king of the area, he first organized the games in order to purify himself. According to another version of the myth, he held the games in order to thank the gods for his victory. In the same way, Hippodameia instituted the Heraean Games for the same reason. The organization of the chariot-race was illustrated in the eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus in the 5th century BC.

HERACLES: Heracles from Ida is another heroic figure associated with the first Games. Heracles came with his brothers Curetes from Crete, defined the length of the stadium at Olympia, organized a foot race with his brothers and crowned the victor with a wreath of wild olive leaves. Pindar also records that it was Theban Heracles, the son of Zeus who brought the wild olive from the Hyperborean countries, founded the foot race, introduced the cult of Zeus and determined the boundaries of the Sacred Altis.


圖片參考：http://www.inglewoodcarecentre.com/history/coin_small.gif


Click to enlarge
HERAKLEIDAI: finally, Strabo provides us with the first historical scenario. He reports that the games were first organized by the Herakleidai, after the spread of the Aitolo-dorian groups to Pisa. According to this interpretation, the Aetolian groups, who conquered Pisa and settled there under their leader Oxylus in the post-Mycenean period, ca. 1200-1100 BC , introduced the cult of Zeus. This occupation led to conflicts with the indigenous people, as indicated by the later antagonism between Eleans who migrated from Aetolia, and Pisatans. According to an Elean myth, Zeus took control of the sanctuary and founded the games. The myths refer to other cults too, probably associated with other groups which settled the area.

It is recorded that Coroebus of Elis, a cook, won the first race, and therefore was the first Olympic Champion, but scholars estimate that by that time the games were already 500 years old.
Every four years, trading suspended and the continuously warring states and the fighting tribes laid down their arms, and the people went forth in peace to py tribute to the manhood of it's nation.

I hope these mgith help you

Hope this helps you:

The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) were a series of athletic competitions held between various city-states of Ancient Greece. They began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were celebrated until 393 AD.

The historical origins of the Ancient Olympic Games are unknown, but several legends and myths survive. One of these involved Pelops, king of Olympia and eponymous hero of the Peloponnesus, to whom offerings were made during the games. The Christian Clement of Alexandria asserted that "[The] Olympian games are nothing else than the funeral sacrifices of Pelops." That myth tells of how Pelops' overcame King Oenomaus and won the hand of his daughter Hippodamia with the help of Poseidon, his old lover, a myth linked to the later fall of the house of Atreus and the sufferings of Oedipus.

Another myth tells of the hero Hercules, who won a race at Olympia and then decreed that the race should be re-enacted every four years, while another claims that Zeus had instated the festival after his defeat of the Titan Cronus. Yet another tells of King Iphitos of Elis, who consulted the Pythia – the Oracle of Delphi – to try and save his people from war in the 9th century BC. The prophetess advised him to organize games in honour of the gods. The Spartan adversary of Iphitos then decided to stop the war during these games, which were called Olympic, after the sanctuary of Olympia where they were held. Had they been named after Mount Olympus, the mountain on which the Greek gods were said to live, they would have been called Olympian games rather than Olympic. The favorite story is that Heracles celebrated cleaning the Augean Stables by building Olympia with help from Athena. Whatever the origin, the games were held to be one of the two central rituals in Ancient Greece, the other being the Eleusinian Mysteries.


The Games first started in Olympia, Greece, a sanctuary site for the Greek gods near the towns of Elis and Pisa (both in Elis on the peninsula of Peloponnesos). The Sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia housed a 12 meter high statue in ivory and gold of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods, sculpted by Phidias. This statue was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.

The Olympic Games were held in four year intervals, and later the Greek method of counting the years even referred to these Games, using the term Olympiad for the period between two Games. The historian Ephorus who lived in the 4th century BC is believed to have invented the use of Olympiads to count years, much as we today use AD and BC. Previously every Greek state used its own dating system, something that continued for local events, which led to confusion when trying to determine dates. "Diodorus states that there was a solar eclipse in the third year of the 117th Olympiad, which must be the eclipse of 310 BC. This gives us a date of (mid-summer) 776 BC for the first year of the first Olympiad". Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars whether the games truly began at this time or not The only competition held then was, according to the Greek traveller Pausanias, the stadion race, a race over about 190 meters, measured after the feet of Hercules. The word stadium is derived from this foot race.

The early Olympics were also held to be the place where the Greek tradition of athletic nudity was first introduced in 720 BC, either by the Spartans (and Acanthus in particular) or by the Megarian Orsippus.

The Beginning of the Modern Olympics
The Olympic Games is a big sporting event that is held every 4 years (every 2 years there is either a winter or summer one). Athletes from all around the world compete to do their best and represent their country. The very old Olympics were inspired by the Ancient Olympics, and there was a gap of at least 1500 years between the two! A Frenchman, who felt very strongly that the Modern Olympics should be started, held a meeting with 79 ambassadors representing 9 different countries. He then pitched his ideas about beginning the Olympics to the people at the meeting. Apparently, this Frenchman, by the name of Pierre de Coubertin, was so gifted with words, and the ambassadors were so tough, by a unanimous vote, the people at the meeting decided to hold the Olympics. Then, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) was formed. This committee would make certain decisions such as where the first Olympics were to be held. So, in 1896 the first Modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece. However, these Olympics were not well organised, or publicised. So, the athletes who did hear about these Olympics came as individuals and wore their athletic club warm-ups, rather than as a country. Some of the competitors were even tourists who had happened to be in the area! The events in the first Olympics included pole vaulting, sprints, shot put, weight lifting, swimming, cycling, target shooting, tennis, marathon and gymnastics.


Olympic Imperfections
Like many things, the Olympics weren’t perfect or easy to maintain, although since 1896 we've held them faithfully ALMOST every four years. Due to World War I, we were unable to hold the Olympics of 1916, and because of World War II, we were unable to hold the Olympics of 1940, and 1944. There were also several boycotts in the history of the Games. In 1980, the biggest boycott in the history of the Olympics took place. The Games were scheduled to take place in Moscow. But, the Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan, so the United States and 61 other countries boycotted the Games. In return, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics that took place in Los Angeles, United States. During the Great Depression in 1932, no one thought that any countries would participate in the Olympics in Los Angeles. Six months before the Olympics were scheduled to be held, not one country had responded to their official invitations. The costs of flying an Olympic team all the way to Los Angeles seemed very expensive. But then, the replies began to trickle in, and many countries ended up participating.


Olympic Firsts
The Olympics have continued to improve and evolve into what you see today, although it has taken a lot of work. There have been many Olympic firsts, including, the first Olympic Village, in 1932, at Los Angeles, during the Great Depression. There was also the first Olympics with the Torch Relay, the Olympics of 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Women weren't allowed to compete in the Games until the 1912 Olympics. The first winter Olympics were held in 1924 at Chamonix, France. Until the late 20th century, the Olympics was open only to amateurs. The Unofficial Games in 1906 was when the United States first had an official team.

Try this lah.

http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/ancient/index_uk.asp