Olympics

There were 14 nations competing at the first Modern Olympics in 1896: 1) Australia

2) Austria

3) Bulgaria

4) Chile

5) Denmark

6) France

7) Germany

8) Great Britain

9) Greece

10) Hungary

11) Italy

12) Sweden

13) Switzerland

14) United States

Because it represents each region.
The Olympic rings are those colours because every country's flag has at least one colour in common with the logo.
To represent all of the countries colors. Each countries flag has at least one of the colors.

In the 1904 Games in St. Louis, George Lyon of Canada defeated Chandler Egan of the United States, 3&2, to win the gold medal. The 1904 Games was the last time golf was an event in the Olympics.

The Olympics started and originated in Greece. There are many Greek myths and legends that surround the idea of the Olympic games. Among them was the legend that it revolved around Hercules and his father, Zeus. In the legend, it said that Zeus held sporting events in honor of his defeat of Cronus, and his succession to the throne of heaven. Hercules, his oldest son, defeated his brothers in a running race and was crowned with a wreath of wild olive branches. It was Hercules who called the games the Olympics and established them to take place every four years. And then the legend branches off into several other versions at this point. One version said after Hercules completed his twelve labors, he went on to build the Olympics stadium in honor of Zeus. After finishing the stadium, he walked two hundred strides in a straight line and then called this distance a "stadion", which also later became a unit of measurement. Another myth associates the first games with the ancient Greek concept of Olympic truce. And in 776 BC, the ancient Olympic games began. In modern times, though, the Olympic games were brought back in 1894 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in the initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Courbetin. He had a vision to bring together amateur athletes from around the world to compete in a variety of events. The IOC has become the governing body of the "Olympic Movement". Every nation is represented in the games. It is a tradition to start an Olympic game by the lighting of the Olympic torch that would travel from Greece (the place where they first light it, seeing as Greece was the foundation of the Olympic games) and would be sent off to all over the world on foot and different modes of transportation, but mostly on foot, in honor of Hercules' race with his brothers in which he won and was crowned with the wreath of wild olive branches. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games

Through the 2008 Games, four athletes have won medals in both the Summer and Winter Games:

1) Eddie Eagen of the United States

Winter Games - gold in four man bobsled in 1932.

Summer Games - gold in light-heavyweight boxing in 1920

2) Jacob Thams of Norway

Winter Games - gold in ski jumping in 1924

Summer Games - silver in sailing in 1936.

3) Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany

Winter Games - gold in speed skating in 1984 and 1988, silver in speed skating in 1988, bronze in speed skating in 1992

Summer Games - silver in cycling in 1988.

She is the only athlete to have won medals at a Winter and Summer Games in the same year.

4) Clara Hughes of Canada

Winter Games - gold, silver (both in 2006) and bronze (2002) in speed skating.

Summer Games - 2*bronze in cycling in 1996.

The difference between modern and ancient olympics is the technology that was used. Ancient olympics used olden day technology or none at all. No high quality equipment was available and each athlete did not have spikes, skins, leotards, and fancy goggles. In contrast, modern day olympians have all this which effects their performance in the pool, track, field or stadium. Also, modern olympics have cameras and technology that enables the whole world to watch and cheer their country on.

Hope this helps xo

there were no Olympics held in 1974

The summer Olympics were held in Munich Germany

The modern Olympic Games were started in 1894 when Pierre Fredi, Baron de Coubertin wanted to have an international understanding through sporting competition. I think the olympic games are cool to watch.

I am a differrent person then the ones who mad and edited it. The Olympics are dangerous, someone died in training. And training is usually so much work. What's wrong with just watching sports?

Also the olympic games was made up to train the army for war.

Possibly due to ideological differences, but as a protest against the Soviet military involvement in Afghanistan, much like the USA is doing now. Japan and West Germany also boycotted the games. The USSR reciprocated four years later and the entire Soviet Bloc (except Romania) boycotted the Los Angeles games in 1984.

That was Marion Jones of the United States. Jones had that medal, and all of her Olympic medals, stripped in 2007 after she admitted taking performance enhancing substances prior to the 2000 Olympics.

The first Olympic medalist for Japan was Ichiya Kumagae who won silver in men's singles tennis at the 1920 Summer Games in Amsterdam.

The IOC has a bid in which cities apply and the IOC announces the wining city about seven years before the Olympics are held there.

That is Oscar Swahn of Sweden who won gold in the 100 meter team running deer shooting event at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. At 64 years of age he became the oldest person to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Swahn is also the oldest person to win a medal in the Olympics, having won silver in the same event eight years later in Antwerp at the age of 72.

According to Wikipedia.com:

" The Olympic Torch today is ignited several months before the opening celebration of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven women, representing the roles of priestesses, perform a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. "

The Summer 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia.

Through the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Canadian athlete that has won the most Olympic medals is speed skater Cindy Klassen who won 6 Winter Olympic medals. Gold - 1) 2006 - 1500 meters Silver - 1) 2006 - 1000 meters, Team pursuit Bronze - 1) 2002 - 3000 meters

2) 2006 - 3000 meters, 5000 meters

The Canadian athlete with the most Summer Olympic medals is Phil Edwards who won 5 medals in athletics, all bronze: 1) 1928 - 4x400 meter relay

2) 1932 - 4x400 meter relay, 800 meter run, 1500 meter run

3) 1936 - 800 meter run

The most widely held estimate for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC, although scholars' opinions diverge between dates as early as 884 BC and as late as 704 BC. The Modern Olympics under the IOC were held first in Athens in 1896. The Winter Games were first held in Chamonix, France in 1924 Wikipedia has this to say on the subject of the Revived Olympics Although the revival of the Olympic Games began in the mid-19th Century, many sports events with titles such as "Olympick" or "Olympian" Games were held before that and as early as the 16th Century. These sports events should not be confused with the re-establishment of the Olympic Games in modern times. These included an "Olympick Games" sports festival that was run for several years at Chipping Campden in the English Cotswolds. The present day local Olympick Games trace their origin to this festival. In 1833, the poet Panagiotis Soutsos mentions a revival of the ancient Olympic Games in modern times in his poetry. In 1850, an "Olympian Class" was begun at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England. This was renamed "Wenlock Olympian Games" in 1859 and continues to this day as the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded in 1860. A national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organised by their founder, William Penny Brookes, at Crystal Palace in London, in 1866. This national Olympic Games was the first games to actually resemble an Olympic Games to be held outside of Greece. Meanwhile Evangelos Zappas, a wealthy Greek philanthropist, sponsored the first modern revival of the Olympic Games.[3] The first modern international Olympic Games was held in an Athens city square in 1859. Zappas paid for the refurbishment of the ancient Panathenian Stadium. This first modern international Olympic Games to be hosted in a stadium was hosted there in 1870, followed by a second 1875. The same stadium was refurbished a second time and used for the Athens 1896 Games. The revival of the Olympic Games, sponsored by Zappas was a dedicated Olympic Games composed of athletes from two countries: Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The interest in reviving the Olympics as an international event grew further when the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archaeologists in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and desired to improve this. Coubertin also sought a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war. In 1890 he attended the "Olympian Games" of the Wenlock Olympian Society, and decided that the recovery of the Olympic Games would achieve both of his goals. Baron Pierre de Coubertin built on the ideas of Brookes and the foundations of Evangelis Zappas. His aim was to globalize the Olympic Games and to that end he established the International Olympic Committee. In a congress at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, France, held from June 16 to June 23, 1894 he presented his ideas to an international audience. On the last day of the congress, it was decided that the first IOC Olympic Games would take place in 1896 in Athens, in the country of their birth. To organise the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established, with the Greek Demetrius Vikelas as its first president. The Panathenian Stadium used for the Olympic Games of 1870 and 1875 was refurbished a second time in readiness for the 1896 Games. The total number of athletes at the the first IOC Olympic Games, was less than 250, which is minuscule by modern standards, but at that time the games were the largest international sports event ever held. This first Modern Olympics had only nine disciplines: Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. The Greek officials and public were very enthusiastic about hosting the inaugural games, and at one point offered to host the Olympic Games permanently. The IOC decided differently, however, and the second Olympic Games took place in Paris, France. It was at the Paris Games that women were allowed to compete.

Atlanta Georgia.

they began in order to honour particular gods and goddesses.

Rebecca Romero.

Romero won silver in women's quadruple sculls rowing (with partners Debbie Flood, Francis Houghton, and Alison Mowbray) at the 2004 Games in Athens and won gold in women's 3000 meter individual pursuit cycling at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

The opening ceremony of the 1966 was held on February 6, 1968, in Grenoble, France. The Olympics were opened by President Charles de Gaulle. There were 1,160 participants from 37 countries.