Olympic GamesA brief history

The modern Olympics were the idea of pierre de coubertin,a French aristocrat. They began in 1896

and, excepting the two World Wars, have been held every four years since.

According to the Olympic Charter, established by Pierre de Coubertin, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

1896 ATHENS245 men from 14

nations competed. The Marathon was born. American

students dominated the

Athletics.

1900 PARIS1319 people

from 22 countries

entered. The Games were

eclipsed by the great exhibition.

Women competed for the first time.

•

1904 St.LOUIS687Competitors from 13 nations took

part.525 of the USA .

1908 LONDON2035 Men and women from 22 countries took part.

1912 STOCKHOLM

2547 Athletes from 28 countries

took part. Swimming and

Pentathlon included for the

first time. Electronic timing

devices were used for the first time.

1920 ANTWERPGermany, Austria , Bulgaria, Hungary

and Turkey were not invited.

• 1924 PARISOlympic motto was coined.Faster,higher and Stronger.

1924 PARISOlympic motto was

coined.Faster,higher and Stronger.

1928 AMSTERDAM3014 Athletes from 46 countries took part.

• 1932 LOS ANGELES• Automatic timing devices and the Photo finish Camera

were introduce.

1932 LOS ANGELESAutomatic timing devices and the Photo finish

Camera were introduce.

1936 BERLINJesse Owens USA won Four Gold Medals.

1948 LONDONGermany and Japan were not invited and

USSR did not sent a team.• 1952 HELSINKI• USSR Competed for the first time.

1952 HELSINKI

USSR Competed for the first time.

1956 MELBOURNEFirst Olympics held in the Southern

Hemisphere.• 1960 ROME• This was the last Games to which South Africa was

invited for 32 years.

1960 ROME

This was the last Games to which South Africa was

invited for 32 years.

1964 TOKYOFirst Olympics held in Asia, Judo and

Volleyball were introduce.

•

1968 MEXICO CITY

Mexico was controversial

because of the high altitude.

1972 MUNICHFull Scale drug testing began,USA lost the Basket ball final to USSR for the first time. Eleven members of the Israeli team were

murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

1976 MONTREAL The Games were boycotted by African Nations in

protest at the IOC’s refusal to bar New Zealand after a rugby tour of South Africa by its All Blacks team.

1980 MOSCOWUSA,Canada,West Germany and Japan

boycotted the Games.

1984 LOS ANGELESUSSR boycotted the Games as a revenge for the Moscow boycott. Daley Thompson UK won the

decathlon gold for the second Olympics in succession.

1988 SEOULFlorence Griffith Joyner won three gold and a silver for

the USA,Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100m in a world record time but was stripped of his gold three

days later after testing positive for steroids.

1992 BARCELONAFormer Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team under Olympic Flag. South Africa returned to Olympic

competition following the ending of apartheid.

1996 ATLANTA10744 Athletes from 197 countries participated.

Michael Johnson of USA completed an unprecedented double by winning the 200M and 400M sprint. He won

200M with a world record.

2000 SYDNEY10651 athletes from 199 countries took part. The

Triathlon was held for the first time.

2004 ATHENS11000 Athletes from 199 countries took part.

2008 BEIJING

HISTORIC OLYMPIC EMBLEMS

LONDON 2012

PHOTO GALLARY

0

50

100

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

East

West

North

Each new dawn brings the possibility of a new progress.

J.Jayakrishnan

END