tradução

history of Olympics

The Olympic Games were created by the Greeks around 2500 BC as a tribute to Zeus, the greatest of the gods according to Greek mythology. Greeks in several cities joined in the sanctuary of Olympia (hence the term appeared "Olympics") to compete in sports competitions; The event was so important, that were sealed ceasefire agreements and truces between enemy cities prior to the games.

They could participate in competitions only free citizens, disputing evidence athletics, wrestling, boxing, horse racing, and pentathlon. The winners were girded by a crown woven by laurel leaves, single award and symbol of the greatest victory; the first winner was the athlete Coroebus. The Olympic Games united the Greeks to the year 394 A.D., when the Emperor Theodosius II, converted to Christianity, he banned all pagan festivals, including the Olympic Games.

After more than 1500 years asleep, the games were raised through the initiative of the French Pierre de Fredy (1863-1937), the Coubertin Baron. Based on the claim that the games are a source of inspiration for the improvement of the human being, the same proposed on June 23, 1894, the creation of an international competition among amateur athletes. In the first edition of the Olympic Games in the modern age participated 285 athletes from 13 countries, in athletics, fencing, wrestling, gymnastics, weightlifting, cycling, swimming and tennis.

The Olympic Games have served as a stage for various political demonstrations throughout history, such as the fact that Adolf Hitler not have been for the award of the black American athlete Jesse Owens or the US boycott of the Moscow Games (1980) in full context of the Cold War, for example.