MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES

The revival work of the Games was undertaken by Baron Pierre de Coubertin nearly 1,500 years after the last of the ancient Games. He was born into a family of Italian origin which had settled in France. It was on November 25, 1892, during a conference at Sorbonne about the history of physical exercises, that he first pronounced those famous six words in public “The Restoration of the Olympic Games”. He said that the games would ennoble and strengthen amateur sports, to give them strength and lasting quality for an essential role in the world of modern education.

It was at the International Congress for the for the Study of the Propagation of the Principles of Amateurism held in Paris in June 1894 that the delegates led by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and associates unanimously voted to restore the Olympic Games and to create an International Olympic committee to oversee them.The enthusiasm and zeal of the delegates was so great that they insisted the first Games to be held in 1896. Athens was, there fore, the venue for the 1896 Games. Since then these Games are held very four years.The aims of the Olympic Movement are to promote the development of these fine physical and moral qualities which are the basis of amateur sports and to bring together the athletes of the world in a great quadrennial festival of sports. The honour of holding the Olympic Games is entrusted to a city ad not a country or area. The choice of a city for the celebration of an Olympiad is with the International Olympic Committee.

The XXII Olympic Games were held in Moscow from July 19 to August 3, 1980. Only 80 of the 140 member countries of the International Olympic Committee participated due to a Western-sponsored boycott of the Games. The XXIII Games were held in Los Angeles from July 28 to August 12, 1984. The Games were boycotted by the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries except Romania because of security reason. The Games also saw the re-entry of China after an absence of 32 years. It was America’s year at the Games just as it was Russia’s year in the XXII Games in Moscow in 1980 when Americans had boycotted. The XXIV Games were held in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, form September 17 to October 2, 1988. The Soviet Union was the biggest medals winner of the Games which was participated by 160 countries. The XXV Games were held in Barcelona, the second largest city of Spain, in July August 1992. Athletes from 171 countries participated and Olympic medals were awarded to a record 64 nations, breaking the mark of 52 set at the 1988 Seoul Olympic.

The XXVI Modern Olympic Games were held in Atlanta (USA) from July 19 to August 4 in 1996. Over 10,000 athletes from 197 countries participated in the 26 sports and 37 disciplines. The Mascot of the Atlanta Olympics was a computer-generated creative called `Izzy’.