Where were the Olympic Games created? Olympic Games

15.10.2019

December 6th, 2013

The first Winter Olympic Games took place in 1924 in the French city of Chamonix.

Strictly speaking, these were not games at all. Officially, the event, held in the French city of Chamonix, was called: “International Sports Week on the occasion of the VIII Olympics.”

There was still about six months left until the eighth Olympiad; it started on July 5 in Paris. As for those sports competitions that took place in Chamonix, they were only related to the games by the participation of the IOC, under whose patronage the competitions were held.

The IOC members themselves must have had no idea how successful the sports week would be. The competition received wide publicity and aroused public interest, which is what the founder of the Olympic movement, Baron de Coubertin, actually counted on. The sports week, as a result, began to be called the first Winter Olympics, although the first White Games officially took place four years later, in 1928, in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Background.

Baron de Coubertin had been nurturing the idea of holding the Winter Games for many years. However, bringing it to life turned out to be difficult. The main obstacle, oddly enough, turned out to be those countries in which winter sports are especially popular. That is, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The Scandinavian countries organized their own competitions and did not want to hand them over to the Olympic Committee. From 1901 to 1926, the so-called Nordic Games were held in Stockholm.

Official opening ceremony of the Games in Chamonix

Their participants competed in speed skating and skiing, as well as biathlon and ski jumping. In the alpine countries, in turn, alpine skiing was cultivated, but the masters of these competitions were also not eager to compete at the Olympics. For the time being, Coubertin was unable to break through the wall with which the Alpine and Scandinavian states surrounded their favorite sports disciplines. At the same time, there was a very clear logic in the regular refusals that the IOC received: what kind of Olympics could there actually be if the ancient Greeks did not compete in either speed skating or alpine skiing.

And yet, skates were included in the Olympic program. True, it was not about running, but about skating. The first sets of awards (4 pieces) were awarded in 1908 at the Olympics in London. Typically, the games themselves were summer, but the skating competitions took place in October. Among the winners, by the way, was our compatriot Nikolai Kolomenkin, who competed under the name Panin. He won the free skating event, becoming at the same time the first Olympic champion in Russian history.

Figure skating in 1924, The first medalists in figure skating (from left to right): Herma Szabo (Hungary, gold), Efel Makelt (Great Britain, silver), Beatrice Loughran (USA, bronze).

However, this was only one discipline. And at that time Coubertin could only dream of large-scale winter games. In 1912, despite all the efforts of the baron, they did not take place. Sweden, which hosted the summer games, said a resounding no, and that was it. Then Coubertin’s plans were disrupted by the First World War, during which time he had to forget not only about the winter, but even about the summer Olympics. And yet, in the early 20s, the baron tirelessly managed to lobby for the idea of holding a winter sports week. The tiny Alpine town of Chamonix was chosen as the location.

Its mayor, by the way, did not share the IOC’s enthusiasm. Preparation for the competition went through the roof. The decisive role was apparently played by French Prime Minister Gaston Vidal, who unexpectedly announced that he was going to speak at the opening ceremony. Here city officials had nowhere to go. And on January 24, the week of the Winter Games began, later called the first White Olympics.

Competitions.

293 athletes (280 men, 13 women) gathered in Chamonix. The opening ceremony, despite Vidal's performance, was very modest. The Olympic flame was not lit, and the IOC flag was flown at only a few competitions. The week itself, in the end, lasted for 14 days and ended only on February 5th. 17 countries, including Scandinavian countries, delegated their teams to France. The Soviet Union was not among those invited. Germany, the instigator of the world war, also did not participate in the games.

However, its allies – Austria and Hungary – were still represented in Chamonix. The winners of the games were, of course, Norway and Finland. The teams from these countries each won four gold medals, but the Norwegians finished higher in the overall standings. According to the results of the games, their treasury totaled 17 awards, the Finns received 11. The main star of the Suomi team was speed skater Klaus Thunberg, who won three gold awards. He excelled in the all-around, as well as at distances of 5 thousand meters and one and a half kilometers.

Only at a distance of 10 kilometers did Thunberg fail to become first; he was content with silver, losing the victory to compatriot Julius Skutnabb. The Norwegians could not compete with the Finns in skating, but they had no equal in skiing. This team also found its hero Turnleif Haug, he also brought from Chamonix three gold medals, won in biathlon and two cross-country skiing. Haug won a short race of 18 kilometers and, most importantly, a marathon (50 kilometers), which is now often called the royal race.

The Swiss won in bobsleigh, and the Canadians excelled in ice hockey. By the way, the Swiss also won another gold in an interesting discipline called the military patrol race. It was a competition of skiers who competed not only in speed, but also in accuracy. The military patrol race became the ancestor of biathlon, which was included in the Olympic program only in 1960.

Chamonix did not receive any benefit from the games, but went down in history as the first host city of the White Olympics. The local mayor's office, however, over time learned to benefit from this. After all, many tourists really want to see the city where the first Winter Games took place. There is even a small monument erected in their memory in Chamonix.

A total of 16 countries took part in the 1st Winter Games in Chamonix. 16 sets of awards were raffled off. The Norwegian team has the most medals (17): 4 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze awards.

The phenomenon of 1924

Norwegian Sonja Henie came to the Olympics in Chamonix at the age of 11.
In France, Sonya took last place, but at the 2nd and 3rd Winter Games she invariably took gold.

Curling 1924

Only four teams participated in the curling tournament. Moreover, 2 teams represented Sweden. And the British won the first Olympic gold in this sport.

The 1924 Canadian hockey team was made up of players from the Toronto Granites amateur club. At the games in Chamonix, the “maple leaves” won their second Olympic gold (their first was won at the Summer Games in Antwerp in 1920).

Opening Ceremony 1924

No, this is not a fascist greeting. The German national team did not participate at all in the 1924 games, and the Germans had no thoughts about the superiority of the Aryan race at that time (well, maybe except for one person). What you see in the photo is the traditional Olympic greeting of French athletes.

In 1924, there was no main symbol of the Olympic Games - the Fire. Now the lighting of the Olympic flame is the culmination of the Opening Ceremony.

Bobsleigh 1924

The Great Britain Olympic team, without helmets, races towards their silver medal. The Swiss team won gold in 1924

Hockey. Team Canada vs Team USA in 1924

The 1924 Canadian hockey team was made up of players from the Toronto Granites amateur club. At the games in Chamonix, the Maple Leaves won their second Olympic gold.

In 1924, the Canadian team defeated the US team with a score of 6:1.

Total.

The public, athletes and the Olympic Committee were very pleased with the competition. Coubertin really managed to organize a holiday for everyone... except the financiers.

For the organizers of the Games, the results were disastrous. Despite Coubertin’s assurances that the competition of skiers and skaters would attract over 30 thousand spectators, only 10,044 people paid for tickets (the only source of income for the organizers at that time) - a disaster for financiers. And yet, in Chamonix, the IOC managed to achieve the main thing: public opinion reacted positively to the idea of the Winter Games.

In May 1926, in Lisbon, it was decided to hold the Second Winter Games in St. Moritz, and the Winter Sports Week was renamed the First Winter Olympics - this was the result of the difficult diplomatic mission of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, whose genius gave humanity another sports festival.

Monument to the 1st Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix

What else can I remind you about sports, well, for example: for example, and here. Look also in GIFs The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

In Paris, a commission to revive the Olympic Games met in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne. Baron Pierre de Coubertin became its general secretary. Then the International Olympic Committee - the IOC - was formed, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.

The first modern Olympic Games were originally planned to be held in the same stadium in Olympia that hosted the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece. However, this required too much restoration work, and the first revived Olympic competitions took place in the Greek capital, Athens.

On April 6, 1896, at the restored ancient stadium in Athens, the Greek King George declared the first Olympic Games of modern times open. The opening ceremony was attended by 60 thousand spectators.

The date of the ceremony was not chosen by chance - on this day, Easter Monday coincided with three directions of Christianity at once - Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. This first opening ceremony of the Games established two Olympic traditions - the opening of the Games by the head of state where the competition is taking place, and the singing of the Olympic anthem. However, such indispensable attributes of modern Games as a parade of participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the recitation of the Olympic oath did not take place; they were introduced later. There was no Olympic village; invited athletes provided their own housing.

241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the Games of the 1st Olympiad: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary (at the time of the Games, Hungary was part of Austria-Hungary, but Hungarian athletes competed separately), Germany, Greece, Denmark, Italy , USA, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden.

Russian athletes were quite actively preparing for the Olympics, but due to lack of funds, the Russian team was not sent to the Games.

As in ancient times, only men took part in the competitions of the first modern Olympics.

The program of the first Games included nine sports - classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, shooting, tennis, weightlifting and fencing. 43 sets of awards were drawn.

According to ancient tradition, the Games began with athletic competitions.

Athletics competitions became the most popular - 63 athletes from 9 countries took part in 12 events. The largest number of species - 9 - were won by representatives of the United States.

The first Olympic champion was American athlete James Connolly, who won the triple jump with a score of 13 meters 71 centimeters.

Wrestling competitions were held without uniform approved rules for conducting fights, and there were also no weight categories. The style in which the athletes competed was close to today's Greco-Roman, but it was allowed to grab an opponent's legs. Only one set of medals was played among five athletes, and only two of them competed exclusively in wrestling - the rest took part in competitions in other disciplines.

Medals were awarded in four events, all swims were held “freestyle” - you were allowed to swim in any way, changing it along the course. At that time, the most popular swimming methods were breaststroke, overarm (an improved way of swimming on the side) and treadmill style. At the insistence of the Games organizers, the program also included an applied swimming event - 100 meters in sailor's clothing. Only Greek sailors took part in it.

In cycling, six sets of medals were awarded - five on the track and one on the road. The track races took place at the Neo Faliron velodrome, specially built for the Games.

Eight sets of awards were competed for in the artistic gymnastics competitions. The competition took place outdoors at the Marble Stadium.

Five sets of awards were awarded in shooting - two in rifle shooting and three in pistol shooting.

Tennis competitions took place on the courts of the Athens Tennis Club. Two tournaments were held - singles and doubles. At the 1896 Games there was no requirement that all team members represent the same country, and some pairs were international.

Weightlifting competitions were held without division into weight categories and included two disciplines: squeezing a ball barbell with two hands and lifting a dumbbell with one hand.

Three sets of awards were competed for in fencing. Fencing became the only sport where professionals were allowed: separate competitions were held among “maestros” - fencing teachers (“maestros” were also admitted to the 1900 Games, after which this practice ceased).

The highlight of the Olympic Games was the marathon running. Unlike all subsequent Olympic marathon competitions, the marathon distance at the Games of the First Olympics was 40 kilometers. The classic marathon distance is 42 kilometers 195 meters. The Greek postman Spyridon Louis finished first with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds, who became a national hero after this success. In addition to the Olympic awards, he received a gold cup established by the French academician Michel Breal, who insisted on including marathon running in the program of the Games, a barrel of wine, a voucher for free food for a year, free tailoring of a dress and the use of a hairdresser throughout his life, 10 centners of chocolate, 10 cows and 30 rams.

Those who took third place were not taken into account at that time, and only later the International Olympic Committee included them in the medal standings among countries, but not all medalists were determined accurately.

The Greek team won the largest number of medals - 45 (10 gold, 17 silver, 18 bronze). Team USA came second with 20 medals (11+7+2). The third place was taken by the German team - 13 (6+5+2).

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

BAKU, April 6 – Sputnik. One hundred and twenty years ago, the first modern Summer Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece. The 1896 Olympic Games were held from April 6 to 15 in Athens, Greece.

On June 23, 1894, a commission to revive the Olympic Games met in the Great Hall of the Sorbonne in Paris. Baron Pierre de Coubertin became its general secretary. Then the International Olympic Committee - the IOC - was formed, which included the most authoritative and independent citizens of different countries.

Already on April 6, 1896, at the restored ancient stadium in Athens, the Greek King George declared the first Olympic Games of our time open. The ceremony was attended by 60 thousand spectators.

The date was not chosen by chance - on this day, Easter Monday coincided in three directions of Christianity at once - Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. This first opening ceremony of the Games established two Olympic traditions - the opening of the Games by the head of state where the competition is taking place, and the singing of the Olympic anthem. However, there were no such indispensable attributes of modern Games as a parade of participating countries, the ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame and the recitation of the Olympic oath; they were introduced later. There was no Olympic village; invited athletes provided their own housing.

Russian athletes were quite actively preparing for the Olympics, but due to lack of funds, the Russian team was not sent to the Games.

As in ancient times, only men took part in the competitions of the first modern Olympics.

The program of the first Games included nine sports - classical wrestling, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, shooting, tennis, weightlifting and fencing. 43 sets of awards were drawn.

According to ancient tradition, the Games began with athletic competitions. Athletics competitions became the most popular - 63 athletes from 9 countries took part in 12 events. The largest number of species - 9 - were won by representatives of the United States.

The first Olympic champion was American athlete James Connolly, who won the triple jump with a score of 13 meters 71 centimeters.

Since there were no artificial swimming pools in Athens, swimming competitions were held in an open bay near the city of Piraeus; the start and finish were marked by ropes attached to the floats. The competition aroused great interest - by the start of the first swim, about 40 thousand spectators had gathered on the shore. About 25 swimmers from six countries took part, most of them naval officers and sailors of the Greek merchant fleet. Medals were awarded in four events, all swims were “freestyle” - you were allowed to swim in any way, changing it along the course. At that time, the most popular swimming methods were breaststroke, overarm (an improved way of swimming on the side) and treadmill style. At the insistence of the organizers of the Games, the applied swimming event was also included in the program - 100 meters in sailor's clothing. Only Greek sailors took part in it.

In cycling, six sets of medals were awarded - five on the track and one on the road. The track races took place at the Neo Faliron velodrome, specially built for the Games.

Eight sets of awards were competed for in the artistic gymnastics competitions. The competition took place outdoors at the Marble Stadium.

Five sets of awards were awarded in shooting - two in rifle shooting and three in pistol shooting.

Weightlifting competitions were held without division into weight categories and included two disciplines: squeezing a ball barbell with two hands and lifting a dumbbell with one hand.

The culmination of the Olympic Games was the marathon running. Unlike all subsequent Olympic marathon competitions, the marathon distance at the Games of the First Olympics was 40 kilometers. The classic marathon distance is 42 kilometers 195 meters. The Greek postman Spyridon Louis finished first with a result of 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds, who became a national hero after this success. In addition to the Olympic awards, he received a gold cup established by the French academician Michel Breal, who insisted on including marathon running in the program of the Games, a barrel of wine, a voucher for free food for a year, free tailoring of a dress and the use of a hairdresser throughout his life, 10 centners of chocolate, 10 cows and 30 rams.

The winners were awarded on the closing day of the Games - April 15, 1896. Since the Games of the First Olympiad, the tradition of singing the national anthem and raising the national flag in honor of the winner has been established. The winner was crowned with a laurel wreath, given a silver medal, an olive branch cut from the Sacred Grove of Olympia, and a diploma made by a Greek artist. Second place winners received bronze medals. Those who took third place were not taken into account at that time, and only later the International Olympic Committee included them in the medal standings among countries, but not all medalists were determined accurately.

The Greek team won the largest number of medals - 45 (10 gold, 17 silver, 18 bronze). Team USA was second - 20 awards (11+7+2). The third place was taken by the German team - 13.

In time immemorial, Hercules organized it in the 1210s. They were held once every five years, but then for unknown reasons this tradition was interrupted and was revived under King Ifite.

The first Olympic Games in Greece were not numbered, they were called solely by the name of the winner, and in the only type of competition at that time - running over a certain distance.

Ancient authors, based on materials, began counting the competition from 776 BC. e., it was from this year that the Olympic Games became known by the name of the athlete who won them. However, there is an opinion that they simply failed to establish the names of the earlier winners, and therefore the holding itself could not be considered a valid and reliable fact in those days.

The first Olympic Games took place in Olympia, a town located in Southern Greece. Participants and tens of thousands of spectators from many cities of Hellas traveled to the place by sea or by land.

Runners, as well as wrestlers, discus or spear throwers, jumpers, and fist fighters took part in competitions in agility and strength. The games were held in the hottest month of summer, and at this time wars between policies were prohibited.

Throughout the year, heralds spread the news throughout the cities of Greece that the sacred peace had been declared and that the roads leading to Olympia were safe.

All Greeks had the right to participate in the competition: the poor, the noble, the rich and the ignorant. Only women were not allowed to attend them, even as spectators.

The first, like the subsequent ones, in Greece were dedicated to the great Zeus; it was an exclusively male holiday. According to legend, one very brave Greek woman in men's clothing secretly entered the city of Olympia to watch her son perform. And when he won, his mother, unable to restrain herself, rushed to him in delight. According to the law, the unfortunate woman should have been executed, but out of respect for her victorious son she was pardoned.

Almost ten months before the start of the Olympic Games, everyone who was going to participate in them was required to begin training in their cities. Day after day, for ten months in a row, the athletes continuously trained, and a month before the opening of the competition, they arrived in Southern Greece and there, not far from Olympia, continued their preparation.

Typically, most of the participants in the games were usually wealthy people, because the poor could not afford to train for a whole year and not work.

The first Olympic Games lasted only five days.

On the fifth day, a table made of ivory and gold was installed in front of the temple of the main god Zeus, and awards for the winners - olive wreaths - were placed on it.

The winners approached one after another to the supreme judge, who placed these award wreaths on their heads. In front of everyone, he announced the name of the athlete and his city. At the same time, the audience exclaimed: “Glory to the winner!”

The fame of the Olympic Games has survived many centuries. And today, every inhabitant of the planet knows the five rings that signify the unity of the continents.

The first Olympic Games of modern times marked the beginning of a tradition: taking an oath. There is another wonderful tradition: to light the Olympic flame in Greece, as in ancient times, and then carry it as a relay across countries in the hands of people devoted to sports, to the site of the next Olympics.

And although as a result of a strong earthquake all the Olympic buildings of antiquity were wiped off the face of the earth, in the 18th century, as a result of excavations in ancient Olympia, many attributes of the then games were found.

And already at the end of the 19th century, the permanent and first Baron de Coubertin, inspired by the works of the archaeologist Curtius, revived the games and also wrote a code defining the rules for their conduct - the “Olympic Charter”.

The first Olympic Games took place in Olympia in 776 BC. This date has survived to this day thanks to the custom of the ancient Greeks to engrave the names of Olympic champions (they were then called Olympians) on marble columns that were installed on the banks of the Alpheus River. The marble retained not only the date, but also the name of the first winner. He was Korab, a cook from Elis. The first 13 games involved only one type of competition - running one stage. According to Greek myth, this distance was measured by Hercules himself, and it was equal to 192.27 m. This is where the well-known word “stadium” comes from. Initially, athletes from two cities took part in the games - Elisa and Pisa. But they soon gained enormous popularity, spreading to all Greek states. At the same time, another wonderful tradition arose: throughout the Olympic Games, the duration of which was constantly increasing, there was a “sacred truce” for all the fighting armies.

Not every athlete could become a participant in the games. The law prohibited slaves and barbarians from performing at the Olympics, i.e. to foreigners. Athletes from among free-born Greeks had to register with the judges a year before the opening of the competition. Immediately before the opening of the Olympic Games, they had to provide evidence that they had been preparing for the competition for at least ten months, keeping in shape with daily exercise. Only exceptions were made for the winners of previous Olympic Games. The announcement of the upcoming Olympic Games caused extraordinary excitement among the male population throughout Greece. People were heading to Olympia in droves. True, women were prohibited from attending the games under penalty of death.

Program of the ancient Olympics

Gradually, more and more new sports were added to the games program. In 724 BC. Diaul was added to the race of one stage (stadiodrome) - a race over a distance of 384.54 m, in 720 BC. – dolichodrome or 24-stage run. In 708 BC. The program of the Olympic Games included the pentathlon, consisting of running, long jump, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing. At the same time, the first wrestling competitions took place. In 688 BC. The program of the Olympics included fist fighting, after two more Olympics - a chariot competition, and in 648 BC. – the most brutal type of competition is pankration, which combines wrestling and fist fighting techniques.

The winners of the Olympic Games were revered as demigods. Throughout their lives, they were given all kinds of honors, and after their death, the Olympian was ranked among the host of “small gods.”

After the adoption of Christianity, the Olympic Games began to be perceived as one of the manifestations of paganism, and in 394 BC. Emperor Theodosius I banned them.

The Olympic movement was revived only at the end of the 19th century, thanks to the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin. And, of course, the first revived Olympic Games took place on Greek soil - in Athens, in 1896.