The Beginning Of The Modern Olympic Games — страница 2

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buried. It would remain buried for centuries after century until 1875. There was a man that had played a really big role in reviving the Olympic Games. His name was Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The Baron was born in Paris, France on January 1, 1862. He had the idea of reviving the ancient Olympic Games on a world-wide basis. He had decided that education and athletics might go hand-in-hand toward a better international understanding. He also helped to found the A.S.U., Athletic Sports Union. This sought to increase physical education in French schools and universities. He was considered to be the driving force behind the Olympic Games; he revived it and kept it going. Though Olympia was out of the question, the people organizing the Olympics wanted to revive it on the Greek soil;

and Athens was the perfect spot. The Baron died on September 2, 1937. The people that must deal with the problems of running and organizing the Games is the International Olympic Committee. This committee was created by the Congress in Paris on June 23, 1894. It was created to be the “final authority on all questions concerning the Olympic movement”.(Grolier Inc. 29) The first Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in the year of 1896. All of the teams in Athens of 1896 were: Greece, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Greece had the largest number of spectators and competitors, since that the games were held on its own soil. The spectators that watched the marathon was

about one hundred thousand. This is a lot considering Athens has a total population of about one hundred and thirty five thousand. The total of athletes in the 1896 Games was three hundred and eleven. The winning country of the Games was the United States. Since the very beginning, women could not compete or even watch the Games. They would be put to death in the ancient days if they were caught competing or watching. The first women to ever be allowed to compete in the Olympics was in 1912. The winter Olympics came to be in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Winter Olympics were excepted in the VIII Olympiad. It was suggested that the Baron did not like the idea of having a separate meet for winter and summer events. He felt it would weaken the Olympic movement. The Baron was

wrong.(Grolier Inc. 85) The first Olympics to be held in the United States was in 1904 at St. Louis, Missouri. For the first time the United States had a real team, selected by an American Olympic Committee, headed by President, Theodore Roosevelt of 1906. One reason for the rise in competition was because people were going to the United States and learning their way of coaching then going back into their homeland and coaching the “American Way”.(Kieran 72) The United States easily took the winning position of the 1896, 1900, 1904, and 1908 Olympic Games. By 1912, the Olympics were well-known throughout the world and other countries were getting involved. The United States will probably always be a competitor in anything that is competitive throughout the world.(Kieran 20-62)