With the improvement of satellite communications and global telecasts of the events, the Olympics are consistently gaining supporters. After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris and St. Louis were overshadowed by the World's Fair exhibitions in which they were included. The Intercalated Games so-called because of their off-year status, as is not divisible by four were held in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics.
Although originally the IOC recognised and supported these games, they are currently not recognised by the IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were intended to mark the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics. From the participants from 14 nations in , the Games grew to nearly 11, competitors from countries at the Summer Olympics in Athens. The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at the Summer Games; at the Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2, athletes from 80 countries competed in 84 events.
The Olympics are one of the largest media events. In Sydney in , there were over 16, broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3. The growth of the Olympics is one of the largest problems the Olympics face today. Although allowing professional athletes and attracting sponsorships from major international companies solved financial problems in the s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics.
Even if sponsorships do lighten the load in terms of the debt that these countries take on, one of the biggest problems faced is how their economies will cope with the extra financial burdens put on them. Despite the Olympics usually being associated with one host city, most of the Olympics have had events held in other cities, especially the football and sailing events.
There were two Olympics where some events were held in a different country: during the Antwerp Olympics two sailing races were held in the Netherlands; and during the Melbourne Olympics equestrian events were held in Sweden. The Beijing Olympics marked the third time that Olympic events have been held in the territories of two different NOC 's: at the Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong which competes separately from mainland China.
This is a noticeably higher number than the number of countries belonging to the United Nations, which is only The International Olympic Committee allows nations to compete which do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that many other international organizations demand. As a result, many colonies and dependencies are permitted to host their own Olympic teams and athletes even if such competitors hold the same citizenship as another member nation.
Examples of this include territories such as Puerto Rico , Bermuda , and Hong Kong , all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country.
Also, since , Taiwan has competed under the name " Chinese Taipei ", and under a flag specially prepared by the IOC. Prior to that year the People's Republic of China refused to participate in the Games because Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China". The Youth Olympic Games YOG [10] are planned to be a "junior" version of the Games, complementing the current "senior" Games, [11] and will feature athletes between the ages of 14 and The Youth Games versions will be shorter: the summer version will last at most twelve days; the winter version will last a maximum of nine days.
The sports contested at these games will be the same as those scheduled for the traditional Games, [13] but with a limited number of disciplines and events, and including some with special appeal to youth. Education and culture are also key components for this Youth edition. The Melbourne Olympics were the first Olympics to be boycotted. The IOC conceded in the first two cases, but refused in because the boycott was prompted by a New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa, and rugby was not an Olympic sport.
The countries withdrew their teams after the games had started; some African athletes had already competed. A lot of sympathy was felt for the athletes forced by their governments to leave the Olympic Village; there was little sympathy outside Africa for the governments' attitude.
Twenty-two countries Guyana was the only non-African nation boycotted the Montreal Olympics because New Zealand was not banned. The Republic of China refused and as a result did not participate again until , when it returned under the name " Chinese Taipei " and used a special flag. In and , the Cold War opponents boycotted each other's games. Sixty-five nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but 16 nations from Western Europe did compete at the Moscow Olympics.
The boycott reduced the number of nations participating to only 81, the lowest number of nations to compete since The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners except Romania countered by skipping the Los Angeles Olympics in , arguing the safety of their athletes could not be guaranteed there and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States". There have been growing calls for boycotts of the Olympics in Beijing in protest of China's poor human rights record and response to the recent disturbances in Tibet, Darfur, and Taiwan.
There are also campaigns calling for Chinese goods to be boycotted. One of the main problems facing the Olympics and international sports in general is doping, or performance enhancing drugs. In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to enhance their performance.
For example, the winner of the marathon at the Games , Thomas J. Hicks , was given strychnine and brandy by his coach, even during the race. As these methods became more extreme, gradually the awareness grew that this was no longer a matter of health through sports. In the mids, sports federations put a ban on doping, and the IOC followed suit in The first and so far only Olympic death caused by doping occurred in At the cycling road race in Rome the Danish rider Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died.
A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines. The first Olympic athlete to test positive for doping use was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall , a Swedish pentathlete at the Summer Olympics , who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use. Seventy-three athletes followed him over the next 38 years, several medal winners among them. The most publicised doping-related disqualification was that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson , who won the m at the Seoul Olympics , but tested positive for stanozolol.
Despite the testing, many athletes continued to use doping without getting caught. In , documents were revealed that showed many East German female athletes had been unknowingly administered anabolic steroids and other drugs by their coaches and trainers as a government policy.
The recent Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics have shown that this battle is not nearly over, as several medalists in weightlifting and cross-country skiing were disqualified due to doping offences.
Test results indicated the presence of the banned-stimulant pseudophedrine which had been prescribed to her by an Olympic doctor. Raducan had been unaware of the presence of the illegal substance in the medicine that had been prescribed to her for a cold she had during the games. During the Winter Olympics , only one athlete failed a drug test and had a medal revoked.
The only other case involved 12 members with high levels of haemoglobin and their punishment was a five day suspension for health reasons. The International Olympic Committee introduced blood testing for the first time during these games. Politics interfered with the Olympics on several occasions, the most well-known of which was the Summer Olympics in Berlin, where the games were used as propaganda by the German Nazis.
At this Olympics, a true Olympic spirit was shown by Luz Long , who helped Jesse Owens a black athlete to win the long jump, at the expense of his own silver medal. Instead, the Soviets organized an international sports event called Spartakiads, from onward.
Many athletes from Communist organizations or close to them chose not to participate or were even barred from participating in Olympic Games, and instead participated in Spartakiads. A political incident on a smaller scale occurred at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Two American track-and-field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos , performed the Black Power salute on the victory stand of the meter track and field race. The USOC opted for the former.
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran specifically orders its athletes not to compete in any Olympic heat, semi-final, or finals that includes athletes from Israel. At the Olympics, an Iranian judoka who had otherwise earned his place, did not compete in a heat against an Israeli judoka. Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world.
In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the Games were cancelled, and the summer and winter games of and were cancelled because of World War II. During the Summer Olympics in Munich, a massacre of 11 members from the Israeli Olympic team occurred. The team members were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer, by the Palestinian group Black September. During the Summer Olympics in in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured others.
The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an conservative American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence. Olympic Games since then have required an extremely high degree of security due to the fear of possible terrorist activities. A number of organizations are involved in organizing the Olympic Games. Together they form the Olympic Movement.
The rules and guidelines by which these organizations operate are outlined in the Olympic Charter. It can be seen as the government of the Olympics, as it takes care of the daily problems and makes all important decisions, such as choosing the host city of the Games, and the programme of the Olympics. OCOGs are dissolved after the celebration of each Games, once all subsequent paperwork has been completed.
More broadly speaking, the term Olympic Movement is sometimes also meant to include everybody and everything involved in the Olympics, such as national sport governing bodies, athletes, media, and sponsors of the Olympic Games. Most Olympic Games have been held in European and North American cities; only a few games have been held in other places, and all bids by countries in South America and Africa have failed.
Many believe the games should expand to include locations in poorer regions. Economists point out that the massive infrastructure investments could springboard cities into earning higher GDP after the games. The exciting sport of snowboard cross was included in the Olympic program for the first time in Competitors race against each other in groups of four on a course that includes banked turns, jumps and difficult terrain.
Results Highlights. Originals Bobsleigh Highlights Replay Expanding Coverage For the first time, live video coverage of the Games was available on mobile phones. Turin Olympic Games Legacy Discover the lasting legacy that this edition of the Olympic Games created for its hosts.
Debuts and Firsts Albania, Madagascar and Ethiopia were all represented for the first time. NOCs: 80 Athletes: 2, women, 1, men Events: 84 Volunteers: 18, Media: 9, 2, written press, 6, broadcasters Gold for Sweden The Turin Olympic Games were particularly satisfying for Sweden, which had not won a gold medal at either of the previous two Winter Games.
Oldest Athlete Duff Gibson of Calgary, Canada, switched from bobsleigh to skeleton in and qualified for the Canadian team in , finishing tenth in Salt Lake City.
Joey Cheek U. The Tallest The Torino cauldron is reported to be the tallest cauldron in the history of the Olympic Games. Jean-Pierre Vidal Jean-Pierre Vidal missed one-and-a-half years of competition after sustaining a major injury in a fall in March Tanja Poutiainen Prior to the Turin Olympic Games, Finland had won 71 medals in cross-country skiing, but not a single one in Alpine skiing. Curling in Italy Curling was not exactly a popular sport in Italy, which qualified for the Olympic tournament only because it was the host country.
Tajikistan won its first medals thanks to Rasul Boqiev in judo and Yusup Abdusalomov in wrestling; Afghanistan stepped up on to the podium thanks to Rohullah Nikpai in taekwondo. Badar-Uugan Enkhbat in boxing and Tuvshinbayar Naidan in judo were the first athletes from Mongolia to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games; just like Bahrain with Rachid Ramzy in athletics.
There were many memorable champions, but it was Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt who stole the headlines. Phenomenal U. The 10km swimming marathon and BMX. In , in the m final, Rebecca Adlington improved on the previous time by more than two seconds, with a new time of In Beijing, almost 50 years separated the oldest from the youngest athlete: Japanese horse rider Hiroshi Hoketsu took part in his third Olympic Games at the age of 67, whilst Cameroon swimmer, Antoinette Joyce Guedia Mouafo participated in the Games for the first time at the tender age of Thirty-seven venues, six of which were outside Beijing, hosted the competitions: namely Hong Kong for the equestrian events and Qingdao for the sailing; and Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang for the football matches.
Results Highlights.
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