Olympiakoi Agones

The modern Olympic Games was inaugurated in Athens, Greece in 1896. It is a multi-sport event. It was first organized as a SUMMER sports event through 1920 and the WINTER Olympic games began in 1924. Today, we also have the Paralympics, also a multi-sport event for athletes with physical, mental and sensorial disabilities.

Summer and Winter Olympics were held at the same year until 1992. Since then, the summer games are held during the first year of an Olympiad, the winter games during the third year. Paralympics are held after the summer games.

In many occasions, politics has interfered with the games, and the most well-known incident was during the Berlin Summer Olympics, where the games were used as propaganda by the German Nazis, claiming they have the superior race. Another attestation of political interference, the Soviet Union didn’t participate in the Olympics until 1952, instead, they organized their own international sports event called SPARTAKIADS, with athletes from communist nations participating.

Despite every effort to bring “World Peace’ thru games, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics due to WAR.

Violent incidents occurred during the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay due to protests held by pro-Tibet/pro-Human Rights groups.

Terrorism has also become a recent threat to the Olympic Games.

There are many symbols used during these games, the most widely used symbol is the Olympic Rings. It represents the unity of five ‘inhabited’ continents. The colors of the rings : White, Red, Blue, Yellow & Black were chosen such that each nation has at least one of these colors in their national flags.

The Olympic Flame also play an important role in the opening ceremonies. The Olympic Mascot represents the cultural heritage of the host country.

“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 essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”