The Olympic Games are an international sports festival that began in ancient Greece. The original Greek games were staged every fourth year for several hundred years, until they were abolished in the early Christian era. The revival of the Olympic Games took place in 1896 and since then they have been staged every fourth year, except during World War I and World War II (1914, 1940, 1944).
Perhaps the basic difference between the ancient and modern Olympics is that the former was the ancient Greeks' way of saluting their gods, whereas the modern games are a manner of saluting the athletic talents of citizens of all nations. The original Olympics featured competition in music, oratory and theatre performances as well. The modern games have a more expansive athletic agenda, and for two and a half weeks they are supposed to replace the rancor of international conflict with friendly competition. In recent times , however, that lofty ideal has not always been attained.
Although the Olympic Games have been increasingly politicised, the ideal of the world's best athletes competing against each other in the arena of so-called pure sport has been at least partially realised, especially from the athletes' point of view. And even though skill and courage are manifested by most Olympic participants, the great gold medalists are the ones who are most often remembered.
Almost all athletes who take part in the Olympic Games stress that, for them, the rites of Olympic passage are apolitical - that while there is, of course, a great sense of pride in competing for one's country, the camaraderie shared by the athletes is the most rewarding of Olympic experiences.
The ideology of nationalism, which swept the world during the early 20th century, left its mark on the Olympics. The most serious disruption to the modern Olympics, however, occurred in 1980 and 1984. In 1980 the U.S. government led a boycott of the Summer Games in Moscow to protest the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, the Summer Games held in Los Angeles, were undercut by an eastern-bloc boycott led by the ex USSR.
Today lots of things have changed. In recent Olympic Games - both in Athens and Beijing - there was a lot of doping. Some athletes were disqualified. But this is not the issue. What I sadly see as a Greek is a degrading of the Olympics. The means justify the end : the gold medal above all and all the finamcial benefits PLUS the fame and publicity. The means justify the end. And considering hooliganism in football...is there any fair play today?
