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106-579: With the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era, the pentathlon returned in two formats. The athletics pentathlon was a modern variation on the original events, with a competition over five track and field events. The modern pentathlon , invented by Pierre de Coubertin (father of the Modern Olympics), was a variation on the military aspect of the Ancient pentathlon. It focused on

212-478: A Greco-Roman wrestling match. The 1912 Summer Olympics saw the introduction of two new types of the pentathlon. The first was the classic pentathlon , an athletics competition which was a variation on the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, comprising the long jump , javelin throw , 200 metres , discus throw , and a 1500 metres race. The competition featured at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics but

318-473: A discus while competing in the pentathlon. In mythology, Jason is credited with inventing the pentathlon, and he declared his friend Peleus the first winner of the event, after his victory in the wrestling. The wide variety of skills needed to compete meant that pentathletes were held in high esteem as physical specimens: in Rhetoric , Aristotle remarked "a body capable of enduring all efforts, either of

424-473: A unit of distance . The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia , listing the winners of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. For the first thirteen Olympics, the stadion footrace was the only event contested, and victory in that sprint was so valued that the next Olympiad was named after

530-411: A continuous shoot-run race. Competitors are ordered at the start line by their cumulative point standing from the three previous event, making the race a chase event for overall placing. As of 2012, the format of the combined event is a 4x800 run loop, with a 10m air pistol component at the beginning of each loop. Competitors have to hit the target 5 times before continuing on to the next run loop. In 2011,

636-471: A cost overrun of 76%, Sochi 2014 of 289%. It has been documented that cost and cost overrun for the Games follow a power-law distribution , which means that, first, the Games are prone to large cost overruns and, second, it is only a matter of time until an overrun occurs that is larger than the largest to date. In short, hosting the Games is economically and financially extremely risky. The final cost for

742-424: A hit, but the bout is drawn if the minute elapses with both opponents unscathed. The riding discipline involves show jumping over a 350–450 m course with 12 to 15 obstacles. Competitors are paired with horses in a draw 20 minutes before the start of the event. The shooting discipline involves using a 4.5 mm air pistol in the standing position from 10 metres distance at a stationary target. However, in 2009

848-591: A military training method into a five event competition. The five events are: shooting, obstacle running , obstacle swimming , throwing , and cross country running . The sport is governed by the International Military Sports Council (CISM) and an annual world championships has been held since 1950. Aeronautical pentathlon is a sporting event at some multi-sport events, such as the Military World Games . Despite

954-458: A model for future Games. Budget overruns are common for the Games. Average overrun for Games since 1960 is 156% in real terms, which means that actual costs turned out to be on average 2.56 times the budget that was estimated at the time of winning the bid to host the Games. Montreal 1976 had the highest cost overrun for Summer Games, and for any Games, at 720%; Lake Placid 1980 had the highest cost overrun for Winter Games, at 324%. London 2012 had

1060-710: A national Olympic festival held annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France also attempted to emulate the ancient Olympic Games. The competition included several disciplines from the ancient Greek Olympics. The 1796 Games also marked the introduction of the metric system into sport. In 1834 and 1836, the Olympic games were held in Ramlösa, Sweden , and in Stockholm , in 1843, organised by Gustaf Johan Schartau and others. At most 25,000 spectators saw

1166-524: A particular candidate city. After being narrowly defeated in their bid for the 2012 Games, Parisian mayor Bertrand Delanoë specifically accused the British prime minister Tony Blair and the London bid committee , headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe , of breaking the bid rules. He cited French president Jacques Chirac as a witness; Chirac gave guarded interviews concerning his involvement but

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1272-544: A reduced number of disciplines and events. Over 14,000 athletes competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics combined, in 40 different sports and 448 events. The Summer Olympics have grown from 241 participants representing 14 nations in 1896, to more than 11,300 competitors representing 206 nations in 2020 . The scope and scale of the Winter Olympics is smaller; for example, Beijing hosted 2,971 athletes from 91 nations in 2022 . Most of

1378-512: A surplus in part by selling exclusive sponsorship rights to select companies. The IOC sought to gain control of these sponsorship rights. Samaranch helped to establish The Olympic Programme (TOP) in 1985, in order to create an Olympic brand. Membership in TOP was, and is, very exclusive and expensive. Fees cost US$ 50 million for a four-year membership. Members of TOP received exclusive global advertising rights for their product category, and use of

1484-674: A surplus of $ 40 million. This excess revenue was used to create the Utah Athletic Foundation (also known as the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation), which maintains and operates many of the surviving Olympic venues. It was reported in 1999 that the Nagano Olympic bid committee had spent approximately $ 14 million on entertaining the 62 IOC members and many of their associates. The precise figures are unknown since Nagano destroyed

1590-431: A trust to fund future Olympic Games. This trust was used to help finance the 1896 Games. George Averoff contributed generously for the refurbishment of the stadium in preparation for the Games. The Greek government also provided funding, which was expected to be recouped through the sale of tickets and from the sale of the first Olympic commemorative stamp set. Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about

1696-521: A two-city race between Almaty , Kazakhstan and Beijing, China who hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics . The Guardian stated that the biggest threat to the future of the Olympics is few cities or countries want to host them. Bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics became a two-city race between Paris and Los Angeles, so the IOC took the unusual step of simultaneously awarding both the 2024 Games to Paris and

1802-566: A wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece , in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games. Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859, which was held in an Athens city square. Athletes participated from Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Zappas funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium so that it could host all future Olympic Games. The stadium hosted

1908-603: A women's pentathlon contest at the World Indoor Championships in Athletics . The athletes competing in the format are usually heptathlon specialists, as the events are very similar to that combined event. Until 2000, men also contested the indoor pentathlon. The men's pentathlon was added to the IAAF list of indoor world records in 1990, at the same time as the men's heptathlon . The events contested at

2014-437: Is no scholarly consensus as to when the Games officially ended, the most commonly held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I decreed that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated. Another date commonly cited is 426 AD, when his successor, Theodosius II , ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. Various uses of the term "Olympic" to describe athletic events in the modern era have been documented since

2120-670: The 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, the host city for the Olympics has also played host to the Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) signed an agreement in 2001 which guaranteed that host cities would be contracted to manage both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The agreement came into effect at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and at

2226-400: The 2000 Summer Olympics the 300 m freestyle swimming race was reduced to 200 m, and the 4000 m cross country race was reduced to 3000 m. The fencing ( épée ) event is the only one in which competitors face off directly against each other, with each competitor having to fence each of the opponents once. The épée duel lasts up to one minute; the winner is the first to land

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2332-643: The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Two years before the 2012 Games, the LOCOG chairman Lord Coe made the following statement about the Paralympics and Olympics in London: We want to change public attitudes towards disability, celebrate the excellence of Paralympic sport and to enshrine from the very outset that the two Games are an integrated whole. In 2010, the Olympic Games were complemented by

2438-542: The 2020 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics combined, in 40 different sports and 448 events. The first-, second-, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals : gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. The Games have grown to the point that nearly every nation is now represented; colonies and overseas territories are often allowed to field their own teams. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies , including boycotts , doping , match fixing , bribery, and terrorism. Every two years,

2544-428: The 2028 Games to Los Angeles. Both of the bids were praised for high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities. The Olympic Movement encompasses a large number of national and international sporting organisations and federations, recognised media partners, as well as athletes, officials, judges, and every other person and institution that agrees to abide by

2650-565: The Deaflympics and the Special Olympics . The IOC need to adapt to a variety of economic, political, and technological advancements. The abuse of amateur rules prompted the IOC to shift away from pure amateurism , as envisioned by Coubertin, to the acceptance of professional athletes participating at the Games. The growing importance of mass media has created the issue of corporate sponsorship and general commercialisation of

2756-685: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement , which encompasses all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. The Olympic Charter defines their structure and authority. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in numerous changes to

2862-652: The International Olympic Committee . In the United States, this version of the pentathlon was contested as an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship event until 1978. With the breakup of the AAU, as a result of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, track and field came under separate leadership. The Athletics Congress (TAC) (now USA Track & Field ), chose to drop the pentathlon, as well as several other multi-event contests, as national championship events at

2968-561: The Paris Exposition in 1900 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904 failed to attract much participation or notice. Of the 650 athletes in the 1904 Olympics, 580 were American; the winner of the marathon was later disqualified upon discovery of a photograph of him riding in a car during the race. The Games rebounded with the 1906 Intercalated Games (so-called because they were

3074-595: The Stoke Mandeville Games , Guttmann's event became an annual sports festival. Over the next 12 years, Guttmann and others continued their efforts to use sports as an avenue to healing. In 1960, Guttmann brought 400 athletes to Rome to compete in the "Parallel Olympics", which ran in parallel with the Summer Olympics and came to be known as the first Paralympics . Since then, the Paralympics have been held in every Olympic year and, starting with

3180-627: The Summer Paralympics varied according to whether the athletes were visually impaired, amputees or spinal disorders. The events shown on the right are taken from the schedule for the 2004 Summer Paralympics . No pentathlon events were held in the 2012 Summer Paralympics . By the middle of the 20th century, many of the skills in the modern pentathlon were becoming less relevant to the modern soldier (such as fencing and horse riding). A French army officer, Captain Henri Debrus , adapted

3286-486: The summer solstice —usually late August or early September. This "came after the annual harvest but before the picking of the olives." Heralds were sent from Elis to announce the dates. Competition at first was among only "legitimate sons of free-born Greek parents." However, after Macedonia, and then Rome, conquered Greece, the ten Olympic judges loosened the earlier standard and permitted anyone who spoke Greek to participate. Tens of thousands of Greeks would make

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3392-629: The 17th century. The first such event was the Cotswold Games or "Cotswold Olimpick Games", an annual meeting near Chipping Campden , England, involving various sports. It was first organised by the lawyer Robert Dover between 1612 and 1642, with several later celebrations leading up to the present day. The British Olympic Association , in its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, mentioned these games as "the first stirrings of Britain's Olympic beginnings". L'Olympiade de la République ,

3498-561: The 1984 Summer Games by using existing facilities and only two new that were paid for by corporate sponsors. The Organizing Committee led by Peter Ueberroth used some of the profits to endow the LA84 Foundation to promote youth sports in Southern California , educate coaches and maintain a sports library. The 1984 Summer Olympics are often considered until that date, the most financially successful modern Olympics and

3604-529: The American rights. In the following decades, the Olympics became one of the ideological fronts of the Cold War, and the International Olympic Committee wanted to take advantage of this heightened interest via the broadcast medium. The sale of broadcast rights enabled the IOC to increase the exposure of the Olympic Games, thereby generating more interest, which in turn enhanced the appeal of TV air time to

3710-580: The Games. World Wars I and II led to the cancellation of the 1916 , 1940 , and 1944 Olympics; large-scale boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics; and the 2020 Olympics were postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 restrictions . The Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As

3816-472: The IOC took control of sponsorship, the NOCs had responsibility for negotiating their own contracts for sponsorship and use of the Olympic symbols. The IOC originally resisted funding by corporate sponsors. It was not until the retirement of IOC President Avery Brundage , in 1972, that the IOC began to explore the potential of the television medium and the lucrative advertising markets available to them. Under

3922-424: The IOC's decision-making. His resistance to this revenue stream meant the IOC left organising committees to negotiate their own sponsorship contracts and use the Olympic symbols. When Brundage retired, the IOC had US$ 2 million in assets; eight years later the IOC coffers had swelled to US$ 45 million. This was primarily due to a shift in ideology toward expansion of the Games through corporate sponsorship and

4028-875: The IOC, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Although nothing strictly illegal had occurred, it was felt that the acceptance of the gifts was morally dubious. As a result of the investigation, ten members of the IOC were expelled and a further ten sanctioned. Stricter rules were adopted for future bids, and caps were introduced to define how much IOC members could accept from bid cities. Additionally, new term and age limits were put into place for IOC membership, and fifteen former Olympic athletes were added to

4134-519: The Olympic Games. He felt that the Olympics "is worthy of study because it is one of the biggest meetings in a global context and has many political, economic, and other problems associated with it". He began Olympika in 1992, the first peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the Olympic Games. The International Society of Olympic Historians was founded in 1991, which publishes the Journal of Olympic History . Some economists are sceptical about

4240-686: The Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental Games ( Pan American , African , Asian , European , and Pacific ), and the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The IOC also endorses

4346-648: The Olympic symbol, the interlocking rings , in their publications and advertisements. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin were the first Games to be broadcast on television, though only to local audiences. The 1956 Winter Olympics in Italy were the first internationally televised Olympic Games, and the broadcasting rights for the following Winter Games in California were sold for the first time to specialised television broadcasting networks— CBS paid US$ 394,000 for

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4452-443: The Olympics and its media exposure provide athletes with the chance to attain national and international fame. The Games also provide an opportunity for the host city and country to showcase themselves to the world. The Olympic Games have become a significant global event, fostering international cooperation and cultural exchange. At the same time, hosting the Olympic Games can also bring significant economic benefits and challenges to

4558-576: The Olympics displaced more than two million people over two decades, often disproportionately affecting disadvantaged groups. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were the most expensive Olympic Games in history, costing in excess of US$ 50 billion. According to a report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development released at the time of the games, the cost would not boost Russia's national economy, but could attract business to Sochi and

4664-570: The Olympics in 1870 and 1875. Thirty thousand spectators attended that Games in 1870, though no official attendance records are available for the 1875 Games. In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society , Baron Pierre de Coubertin , who aimed to promote international peace and friendship through sports, was inspired to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coubertin built on

4770-565: The Summer Olympics has a positive effect on the philanthropic contributions of corporations headquartered in the host city, which seems to benefit the local nonprofit sector. This effect begins in the years leading up to the Games and might persist for several years afterwards, though not permanently. The Games have had significant negative effects on host communities; for example, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions reports that

4876-660: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics was reported to be JPY 1,423.8 billion (US$ 13 billion). This was achieved by balancing revenues and expenditures through various efforts to increase revenue and continuously review expenditures. The primary sources of revenue included the International Olympic Committee (IOC) contribution of JPY 86.8 billion (US$ 0.8 billion), TOP sponsorship of JPY 56.9 billion (US$ 0.5 billion), local sponsorship of JPY 376.1 billion (US$ 3.4 billion), an insurance payout of JPY 50 billion (US$ 0.5 billion) for

4982-512: The U12 level, the sprint hurdles are 80 metres (30"), the shot put weighs six pounds, and the middle-distance run being 1500 metres for boys and 800 metres for girls. At the U14 level, the sprint hurdles are 100 metres (33" for boys, 30" for girls), and the shot put is 4 kg (about three pounds heavier) for boys. For each event, points are given based on a standard. These points can be calculated at

5088-550: The UIPM introduced laser shooting in the combined event to replace traditional pellets. Given that there are a large number of track and field events, there have been numerous pentathlons featuring a variety of events. The Classic pentathlon was contested in Olympic Games from 1906 through 1924. In the 1912 Olympic Games , Jim Thorpe won both the pentathlon and decathlon titles, only to have them later taken away for professionalism . His titles were restored some 70 years later by

5194-433: The UIPM proposed that the running and shooting events should be combined into a single event, similar to the biathlon . Some commentators have suggested that the sport should be renamed as a "tetrathlon", given the number of competitions, but the sporting body emphasizes that five distinct skills are still applied in the course of the competition. The 'combined' event is the last event of the pentathlon program, and consists of

5300-518: The USATF website. The indoor pentathlon is held over a one-day period. Each athlete completes one event at the same time, then there is a 30-minute break until the next event. Currently, Nafissatou Thiam holds the world record of 5055 points, which occurred on March 3, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body for athletics, has

5406-599: The Youth Games, which give athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 the chance to compete. The Youth Olympic Games were conceived by IOC president Jacques Rogge in 2001 and approved during the 119th Congress of the IOC. The first Summer Youth Games were held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August 2010, while the inaugural Winter Games were hosted in Innsbruck , Austria, two years later. These Games will be shorter than

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5512-522: The advertisers. This cycle allowed the IOC to charge ever-increasing fees for those rights. For example, CBS paid US$ 375 million for the American broadcast rights for the 1998 Nagano Games , while NBC spent US$ 3.5 billion for the American rights to air every Olympic Games from 2000 to 2012. Pistol shooting Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

5618-527: The allegation was never fully explored. Turin 's bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics was also clouded by controversy; a prominent IOC member, Marc Hodler , closely connected to the rival bid of Sion , alleged bribery of IOC officials by members of the Turin Organising Committee. These accusations led to a wide-ranging investigation, and also served to sour many IOC members against Sion's bid which potentially helped Turin to capture

5724-471: The athletes and officials are housed in the Olympic Village for the duration of the Games. This accommodation centre is designed to be a self-contained home for all Olympic participants, and is furnished with cafeterias, health clinics, and locations for religious expression. The IOC has allowed the formation of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to represent individual nations. These do not meet

5830-655: The auspices of the IOC would take place in Athens in 1896. The IOC elected the Greek writer Demetrius Vikelas as its first president. The first Games held under the auspices of the IOC were hosted in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896. The Games brought together 14 nations and 241 athletes who competed in 43 events. Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas had left the Greek government

5936-417: The back of an unfamiliar horse allocated in a draw, and a cross country run . Competitors score points based on their performance in each event and the winner is the one with the highest total points at the end of the fifth competition. The men's individual competition has been held at every Olympic Games since 1912, and a women's competition was introduced in the 2000 Summer Olympics . Also, a men's team event

6042-561: The budget announced in December 2020, and JPY 29.2 billion (US$ 0.3 billion) from the estimated budget in December 2021. This successful financial management resulted in a balanced budget for the Tokyo 2020 Games. Seeking a scholarly institution to independently research the Games, Bob Barney led efforts to establish the International Centre for Olympic Studies in 1989, endeavouring to write about sociocultural impacts of

6148-464: The commercialisation of the Olympic Games, even as these attitudes came to be seen as incongruous with the realities of modern sports. The advent of state-sponsored athletes from the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur , as it placed self-financed amateurs of Western countries at a disadvantage. Brundage was accused of antisemitism and of racism in resisting

6254-419: The committee. Nevertheless, from sporting and business standpoints, the 2002 Olympics were one of the most successful Winter Games in history; records were set in both the broadcasting and marketing programs. Over 2 billion viewers watched more than 13 billion viewer-hours. The 2002 Games were also a financial success, raising more money with fewer sponsors than any prior Olympic Games, leaving SLOC with

6360-538: The decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, and organises and funds the Games according to the Olympic Charter . The IOC also determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag , torch , and opening and closing ceremonies . Over 14,000 athletes competed at

6466-403: The difficult journey to attend the festival. Some sources say as many as 40,000 attended. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration , horse and chariot racing events. It has been widely written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities

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6572-400: The economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games, emphasising that such "mega-events" often have large costs while yielding relatively few tangible benefits in the long run. Hosting (or even bidding for) the Olympics appears to increase the host country's exports, as the host or candidate country sends a signal about trade openness when bidding to host the Games. Research suggests that hosting

6678-511: The establishment of new NOCs to represent nations that qualify as "an independent State recognised by the international community". Consequently, the IOC did not allow the formation of NOCs for Sint Maarten and Curaçao when they gained the same constitutional status as Aruba in 2010, although the IOC had recognised the Aruban Olympic Committee in 1986. Since 2012, athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles have had

6784-662: The exclusion of South Africa . Under the Samaranch presidency, the office was accused of both nepotism and corruption. Samaranch's ties with the Franco regime in Spain were also a source of criticism. In 1998, it was reported that several IOC members had taken gifts from members of the Salt Lake City bid committee for the hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics . There were soon four independent investigations underway: by

6890-434: The experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris. After the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation which threatened its survival. The Olympic Games held at

6996-552: The festival's second day. (Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis . ) The winners of the events were admired and immortalised in poems and statues. Although a wreath made from the sacred olive tree in the precinct of Zeus was the only official prize at the Olympic Games, winners' fame brought them economic wealth, too, in the form of subsidies from their hometowns and wealthy sponsors. See, e.g., Finley and Pleket, and Perrottet The Games were held every four years, and this period, known as an Olympiad ,

7102-417: The final event. Unlike modern athletics , the first three events did not appear as individual events outside the pentathlon format. Other variations on the format included boxing or pankration instead of the stadion race. The pentathlon made its return as an Olympic event at the 1906 Games in Athens, consisting of a standing long jump , discus throw (ancient style), javelin throw , 192-metre run, and

7208-445: The financial records after the IOC requested that the entertainment expenditures should not be made public. In July 2000, when the Los Angeles Times reported on the tangled nature of how the IOC redistributes profits from sponsorships and broadcasting rights , Olympic historian Bob Barney stated that he had "yet to see matters of corruption in the IOC", but noted there were "matters of unaccountability". He later noted that when

7314-427: The first to be wholly amateur in nature and international in outlook, although only 'gentlemen amateurs' could compete. The programme of the first modern Olympiad in Athens in 1896 was almost identical to that of the Liverpool Olympics. In 1865 Hulley, Brookes and E.G. Ravenstein founded the National Olympian Association in Liverpool, a forerunner of the British Olympic Association . Its articles of foundation provided

7420-469: The five pentathlon events. The first documented pentathlon occurred in 708 BC in Ancient Greece at the Ancient Olympic Games , and was also held at the other Panhellenic Games . The name derives from Greek words for "five competitions". The event proved popular and lent itself to illustrations on ancient Greek pottery . It also featured in Greek mythology ; the mythical hero Perseus fulfilled an oracle's prophecy by accidentally killing Acrisius with

7526-426: The framework for the International Olympic Charter . In 1866, a national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organised at London's Crystal Palace . Greek interest in reviving the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833. Evangelos Zappas ,

7632-597: The games. In 1850, an Olympian Class was started by William Penny Brookes at Much Wenlock , in Shropshire , England. In 1859, Brookes changed the name to the Wenlock Olympian Games . This annual sports festival continues to this day. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded by Brookes on 15 November 1860. Between 1862 and 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival. Devised by John Hulley and Charles Pierre Melly , these games were

7738-538: The host city nomination. The Olympic Games have been commercialised to various degrees since the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, when a number of companies paid for advertising, including Kodak . In 1908, Oxo , Odol  [ de ] mouthwash, and Indian Foot Powder became official sponsors of the London Olympic Games . Coca-Cola first sponsored the Summer Olympics in 1928 , and has remained an Olympic sponsor ever since. Before

7844-468: The host city, affecting infrastructure, tourism and local communities. The Ancient Olympic Games ( Ancient Greek : τὰ Ὀλύμπια , ta Olympia ) were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece . The date of the festival was determined according to a complicated formula whereby the midpoint of the festival would occur during the second full moon after

7950-484: The host country is an English or French speaking country: French is always spoken first, followed by an English translation, and then the dominant language of the host nation (when this is not English or French). The IOC has often been accused of being an intractable organisation, with several life members on the committee. The presidential terms of Avery Brundage and Juan Antonio Samaranch were especially controversial. Brundage fought strongly for amateurism and against

8056-541: The ideas and work of Brookes and Zappas with the aim of establishing internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years. He presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created International Olympic Committee. This meeting was held from 16 to 23 June 1894, at the University of Paris . On the last day of the Congress, it was decided that the first Olympic Games to come under

8162-432: The leadership of Juan Antonio Samaranch , the Games began to shift toward international sponsors who sought to link their products to the Olympic brand. During the first half of the 20th century, the IOC ran on a small budget. As president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, Avery Brundage rejected all attempts to link the Olympics with commercial interest. He believed that the lobby of corporate interests would unduly impact

8268-763: The most expensive Winter Games were Sochi 2014 at US$ 51 billion. As of 2016, costs per athlete were, on average, US$ 599,000 for the Summer Games and $ 1.3 million for the Winter Games; for London 2012, the cost per athlete was $ 1.4 million, and the figure was $ 7.9 million for Sochi 2014. Where ambitious construction for the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow had burdened organisers with expenses greatly in excess of revenues, Los Angeles strictly controlled expenses for

8374-489: The name, the sport has six events: shooting , fencing , orienteering , basketball skills, obstacle course , and swimming. The idea is to prepare athletes for evading enemy soldiers. It is generally only participated by military Air Forces, and its first appearance at the Military World Games was in 2010. Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games ( Olympics ; French : Jeux olympiques, ) are

8480-422: The official languages of the Olympic Movement. The other language used at each Olympic Games is the language of the host country (or languages, if a country has more than one official language apart from French or English). Every proclamation (such as the announcement of each country during the parade of nations in the opening ceremony) is spoken in these three (or more) languages, or the main two depending on whether

8586-538: The option to represent either the Netherlands or Aruba . The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 found that, since 1960, sports-related costs for the Summer Games were on average US$ 5.2 billion and for the Winter Games $ 3.1 billion. These figures do not include wider infrastructure costs like roads, urban rail, and airports, which often cost as much or more than the sports-related costs. The most expensive Summer Games were Beijing 2008 at US$ 40–44 billion, and

8692-421: The postponement of the Games, and other sources including licensing. The expenditures included JPY 195.5 billion (US$ 1.8 billion) for venue-related costs and JPY 444.9 billion (US$ 4 billion) for service expenditures. The total cost also accounted for COVID-19 countermeasures amounting to JPY 35.3 billion (US$ 0.3 billion). Despite initial estimates, the total costs were reduced by JPY 220.2 billion (US$ 2 billion) from

8798-545: The progenitors of the Games. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. The myth continues that after Heracles completed his twelve labours , he built the Olympic Stadium as an honour to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a " stadion " (Ancient Greek: στάδιον , Latin : stadium , "stage"), which later became

8904-400: The racecourse or of bodily strength ... This is why the athletes in the pentathlon are most beautiful". 1912 Olympic gold medal winner Ferdinand Bie referenced that story after completing the events. By the 77th Olympics, the athletic event was usually ordered into the triagmos ( long jump , javelin throw , and discus throw ), followed by the stadion foot race, and wrestling as

9010-475: The rules of the Olympic Charter. As the umbrella organisation of the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for selecting the host city, overseeing the planning of the Olympic Games, updating and approving the Olympic sports programme, and negotiating sponsorship and broadcasting rights. The Olympic Movement is made of three major elements: French and English are

9116-456: The sale of television rights. When Juan Antonio Samaranch was elected IOC president in 1980, his desire was to make the IOC financially independent. The 1984 Summer Olympics became a watershed moment in Olympic history. The Los Angeles-based organising committee, led by Peter Ueberroth , was able to generate a surplus of US$ 225 million, which was an unprecedented amount at that time. The organising committee had been able to create such

9222-449: The second Olympics to take place within the third Olympiad), which were held in Athens. These Games attracted a broad international field of participants and generated a great deal of public interest, marking the beginning of a rise in both the popularity and the size of the Olympics. The 1906 Games were officially recognised by the IOC at the time (although not any longer), and no Intercalated Games have been held since. The Winter Olympics

9328-583: The senior Games; the summer version will last twelve days, while the winter version will last nine days. The IOC allows 3,500 athletes and 875 officials to participate at the Summer Youth Games, and 970 athletes and 580 officials at the Winter Youth Games. The sports to be contested will coincide with those scheduled for the senior Games, however there will be variations on the sports including mixed NOC and mixed gender teams as well as

9434-528: The senior level, although it is recognised at the 11–12 and 13–14 age groups as national championship events. The last National AAU Pentathlon Championships was held in Honolulu , Hawaii in 1978. Pentathlons are used at high school athletics and in other one-day meetings for time constraints. The events are separated by age and sex, but the five events are the same for both – sprint hurdles , long jump , shot put , high jump , and middle distance run . At

9540-404: The skills required by a late-19th-century soldier, with competitions in shooting, swimming, fencing , equestrianism , and cross country running . A prominent aspect of modern pentathlons is the point system, whereby each competitor is awarded a certain number of points based on their performance in each specific event. The overall winner is the competitor with the highest point total at the end of

9646-430: The southern Krasnodar region of Russia as a result of improved services. But by December 2014, eight months after the games The Guardian stated that Sochi "now feels like a ghost town", citing the spread-out nature of the stadiums and arenas and the still-unfinished infrastructure. At least four cities withdrew their bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics , citing the high costs or lack of local support, resulting in only

9752-420: The spotlight is on the athletes, it has "the power to eclipse impressions of scandal or corruption", with respect to the Olympic bid process. An August 2004, a BBC documentary, Panorama : Buying the Games , reported the results of an investigation into bribes allegedly used in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The documentary claimed that it was possible to bribe IOC members into voting for

9858-405: The strict requirements for political sovereignty that other international organisations demand. As a result, colonies and dependencies are permitted to compete at Olympic Games, examples being territories such as Puerto Rico , Bermuda , and Hong Kong , all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country. The current version of the Olympic Charter allows for

9964-405: The winner, e.g. "the third year of the eighteenth Olympiad when Ladas of Argos won the stadion." The Ancient Games varied over time, but they came to feature running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration , and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus , a cook from the city of Elis ,

10070-442: The world's leading international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions . The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition, with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. By default, the Games generally substitute for any world championships during

10176-485: The year in which they take place (however, each class usually maintains its own records). The Olympics are staged every four years. Since 1994 , they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad . Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games , held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded

10282-620: Was actually 11 days) was held in 1924 in Chamonix , France, in connection with the Paris Games held three months later; this event became the first Winter Olympic Games . Although, it was intended that the same country host both the Winter and Summer Games in a given year, this idea was quickly abandoned. The IOC mandated that the Winter Games be celebrated every four years in the same year as their summer counterpart. This tradition

10388-497: Was created to feature snow and ice sports that were logistically impossible to hold during the Summer Games. Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice hockey (in 1920) were featured as Olympic events at the Summer Olympics. The IOC desired to expand this list of sports to encompass other winter activities. At the 1921 Olympic Congress in Lausanne , it was decided to hold a winter version of the Olympic Games. A winter sports week (it

10494-423: Was discontinued thereafter. The second type of pentathlon introduced at the 1912 Olympics was the modern pentathlon , a sport invented by Pierre de Coubertin and modeled on the Ancient Olympic ideal of testing skills required by a soldier. Working from the template of a 19th-century soldier fighting behind enemy lines, the contest comprises épée fencing , pistol shooting , freestyle swimming , show jumping on

10600-561: Was generally around 190 metres long, the length of the Stadium at Olympia . The sport is governed by the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) and, in addition to the contests held at the Olympics, a world championships is held in non-Olympic years. For much of its history, the modern pentathlon remained largely unchanged from the original events featured at the 1912 Olympics. However, in

10706-426: Was held between 1952 and 1992. An athletics pentathlon event for women was introduced at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, featuring the 80 metres hurdles , shot put and high jump on the first day, with long jump, and 200 metres on the second day. The 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics versions changed the format from 80 to 100 metres hurdles , and 200 to 800 metres . The event was discontinued in 1984, when it

10812-503: Was known as the Olympic peace or truce. This idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were traveling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus. See also Finley and Pleket. The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend; one of the most popular myths identifies Heracles and his father Zeus as

10918-452: Was replaced by the heptathlon . The format for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon varied in schedule and events. The stadion event was occasionally replaced by boxing or pankration . The discus throw was competed in the Greek style—the athletes would throw the discus from a raised platform. The long jump was aided by the use of halteres ; stone weights which athletes would hold and swing to help propel themselves further. The stadion race

11024-400: Was the first Olympic champion, which indicates that the competition was not limited to the aristocracy. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, and the sporting events, which were held alongside ritual sacrifices honouring both Zeus (whose famous statue by Phidias stood in his temple at Olympia ) and Pelops (divine hero and mythical king of Olympia), did not start until

11130-483: Was upheld through the 1992 Games in Albertville , France; after that, beginning with the 1994 Games , the Winter Olympics were held every four years, two years after each Summer Olympics. In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann , determined to promote the rehabilitation of soldiers after World War II , organised a multi-sport event between several hospitals to coincide with the 1948 London Olympics . Originally known as

11236-773: Was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Games were part of a cycle known as the Panhellenic Games , which included the Pythian Games , the Nemean Games , and the Isthmian Games . The Olympic Games reached the height of their success in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. While there

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