You Olympic Games have this name because they refer to a city in Ancient Greece called Olympia, in which sports games were practiced in moments of truce between one war and another. This practice was also associated with religious rituals.
With the decline of Greek civilization, sporting competitions became sparse in subsequent civilizations. The proposal to rescue the practice of olympics and its main meaning, the celebration of peace – or truce – between nations through sport, only happened at the end of the 19th century, through a unique historical character, the Baron de Coubertin.
Pierre de Fredy (1863-1937), birth name of Baron de Coubertin, was a member of the French aristocracy and intended to establish a international sports games committee, the body that would periodically hold competitive events on the continent European. Coubertin lived a time of intense industrial and political competitiveness of the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century, which culminated in the First World War
in 1914. One of the reasons for the creation of an international sports games committee was precisely the creation of a friendly atmosphere between the European nations.Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Coubertin's proposal was presented at the Union of French Societies for Athletic Sports (USFSA) in 1892. In this proposal, there was the intention of creating an international Olympic committee directly inspired by the old games held in the city of Olympia. However, the actual creation of the committee took place only two years later, on June 23, 1894. This committee had as general secretary Coubertin and, as president, the Greek Demetriusvikelas.
Through Vikelas, the first Olympic Games were held in Antenas, Greece, between the 6th and 15th of 1896. Despite the many interruptions due to the consequences generated by wars, the Olympic Games ended up consolidating throughout the 20th century, generating a specialization of sportsmen never before View. This fact made the Olympics one of the most expressive mass events in the world.
*Image credits: Ververidis Vasilis/ Shutterstock
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
