Olympics Continuation

Continued...

REVIVAL:
After their banning, the Olympic games were not held for 1500 years, until revived in 1896 by Pierre de Coubertin, a young French nobleman. For the 1896 Olympics, held in Greece, Greek poet Costis Palamas wrote the Olympic Anthem, while Greek musician Spiros Salamas composed it.
Since then, they have been staged every four years. Throughout the years, the Olympic games have traveled from country to country, coming into contact and embracing a varied range of cultures and peoples.

The Olympic Creed:
"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."
-Pierre de Coubertin

The Olympic Oath:

"In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

Did you know?

All wars would seize during the ancient Greek Olympic games. However, in modern times this is not the case: the Olympics were not held during World War I, and II (1916,1940, 1944).

Women were banned from watching or participating in the ancient Olympic games.

In ancient Greece, Nike was the goddess of victory who supposedly watched over all athletes.

Winners in ancient Greece of three or more competitions often had statues of themselves made.

During the original games, there were also competitions in public speaking, music and theater as well.

In ancient Greece, if a player was caught cheating during the Olympic games, he had to pay for an expensive statue of the god Zeus, to be made. Because of this rule, there was a large amount of expensive Greek statues at Mount Olympus, before the Greek Olympics ended.

For more information, please visit the official Athens Olympics website: