Реферат: Olympic Games Essay Research Paper

then threw the discus, and the two best then engaged in a wrestling match to the

finish. The early rewards were "simple crowns of wild olive, but, by the

61st Olympiad, it was permitted in Olympia to erect statues in honor of the

victors"(Gary 72). However, the athletes had to win three times before the

statues could be made in their likeness. Later, it was often the practice to

make "a breach in the walls of the city through which the victorious

athletes returned"(Gary 73). In the fifth century before the Common Era,

the Games reached their climax; and they were already showing their first sign

of decay. Trying for records and specialization claimed the interest of the

crowd. The invasion of the Macedonians put an end to the Greek city-states and,

relieved of the political controversies, they devoted themselves entirely to the

Olympic Games. Instead of training their growing youth like the Greeks, they

merely hired athletes and nationalized them. During the middle of the second

century before the Common Era, Greece came under the domination of the Romans,

who permitted the Games to continue but they had little interest in them.

Centuries passed and the Games still continued but the high Olympic ideals were

entirely discarded and profit alone provided the incentive. In "393 A.D.,

the Emperor Theodosius forbade the Games altogether"(Gorman 102) but they

had survived a period of "nearly 300 Olympiads or approximately 1200

years"(Gary 78). Full credit for the revival of the Olympic Games in the

modern era must go to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who was "born in Paris,

Jan. 1, 1863 and who died at Geneva, Sept. 2, 1937"(Gary 89). Very early in

life he showed a taste for the study of "literature, history, and the

problems of education and sociology"(Gary 90). At the age of 17 he began to

scrutinise the weaknesses of his people who were trying to recover hope and

self-respect following the Franco-Prussian War. He concluded that "three

monarchies, two empires, and three republics during a single century are not

indicative of stability in the French character"(Gary 92). The solution, he

believed rested in the development of the individual. Coubertin had sufficient