Olympics - Information and History of Olympic Sports

This is an international sports festival, which originated in the city of Olympia, an ancient city of Greece.

Ancient Olympics

These games were held at Mount Olympus in Greece in honour of Zeus from 776 BC to AD 394. From AD 394, games started degenerating and by AD 580, they altogether vanished and were banned by the Roman emperor, Theodosius.

Modern Olympics

It was French nobleman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who revived Olympic games (almost 1500 years after the last ancient Olympics) in 1894. The modern series of the Olympic Games started in 1896 in Athens and since then are held every four years. Separate winter Olympic Games began in 1924. Women have been competing in the Olympics since 1912. India officially participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1920 when four athletes and two wrestlers were sent to participate in the sixth Olympic Games at Antwerp, Belgium.

The Olympic Flag is made up of white silk and contains fine intertwined rings as the Olympics Emblem. From right to left the rings are Blue (for Europe), Yellow (for Asia), Black (for Africa), Red (for America) and Green (for Australia). In 1897, Father Didon composed the games motto ’Citius, Altius, Fortius’ in Latin, which means ’Swifter, Higher and Stronger’. However, it was introduced as Olympic motto only in 1920 games.

Olympics - Where and When

* Games were not held due to World War I
** Games were not celebrated due to World War II. In 1940, the Games were retracted from Tokyo and were awarded to Helsinki by the IOC.