Speaker's Contribution: History, Culture, spirit of the Olympics

In 2008, the Beijing Summer Olympic Games were a complete success; the Opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is imminent. Beijing has become a veritable "City of The Two Olympics". This report will start from the history of Olympic development, the cultural charm of the modern Olympic movement, and the integration of multiculturalism called for by the Olympics, and lead everyone to approach the Olympic Games and understand the Olympic Games.

I. The history of the development of the Olympic Games

The history of the Olympic movement is very long. Greek city-states gradually formed in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, with more than 200 city-states at most. These city-states often fought each other, and in order to protect their territories, the city-states actively trained soldiers to deal with war. The Ilyus occupied Olympia, while the Spartans had always wanted to annex the holy land. The Iris stubbornly resisted, and the Spartans could not break through for a long time. The protracted war has left the people yearning for peace and nostalgia for sacrifices and celebrations. Thus, the kings of Elis and Sparta reached an agreement to hold regular gatherings in Olympia. The agreement stipulates that during the assembly, anyone who carries a weapon into Olympia is considered a traitor to God and should be punished; those who have the power not to punish such an act of betrayal are also considered a betrayal of God.

In 776 BC, Iphitus, the ruler of the Peloponnes, worked to unite religion and sports competition. It not only innovated religious ceremonies, but also organized large-scale sports competitions and decided to hold them every 4 years. The time is set after the summer solstice in a leap year. Therefore, the ancient Olympic Games in 776 BC officially entered the annals of history and became the first ancient Olympic Games.

For this grand sporting event, the city-states trained their team members. Unlike the modern Olympic Games, ancient athletes had to be not only male, but also naked. Why did athletes at that time compete naked? Ancient Greece, located at the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula, was the birthplace of European civilization. The geographical environment here is superior, surrounded by the sea on three sides, the Aegean Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea in the west, the Mediterranean Sea in the south, and the sea on three sides, which is conducive to the spread of culture and the exchange between cultures.

Cultures need to collide and communicate to better nourish themselves. In addition to being accessible by sea, the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula is also very suitable for people to spend outdoors.

In addition to natural conditions, social conditions also determined the direction of development of ancient Greek culture. Ancient Greece, for example, was a maritime culture. This culture advocates the spirit of challenge, fitness, transcendence, and hard work. In addition, ancient Greece formed a trade culture due to land and sea access. This culture promotes fair trade, and in turn they develop a spirit of fairness. It is precisely because of these cultures in ancient Greece that they paid great attention to competition and fairness in competitive sports.

There is also a theory that the ancient Olympic Games were regular sports competitions held in the worship of Zeus. Therefore, from a cultural point of view, the ancient Olympic Games are also a cultural innovation.

With the continuous increase of competition items in the ancient Olympic Games, starting from the 22nd Ancient Olympic Games, the organizers decided to change the competition time to 3 days, plus the opening ceremony, closing ceremony and celebration activities, the entire duration of the session was 5 days, and the number of competition items increased: pentathlon, boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, horse racing, etc.

Olympia is located in a hilly region 300 km southwest of the Greek capital Athens, in the western Peloponnese, on the north bank of the Alfios River (16 km from the mouth of the cave). Since the 18th century, successive groups of scholars have come to Olympia to investigate and search for ancient Olympic sites. In 1766, the Englishman Chandler first discovered the ruins of the Temple of Zeus. Since then, a large number of German, French, british archaeologists and historians have carried out large-scale systematic exploration and excavation of the Olympia site, and by 1881, a large number of precious cultural relics and historical materials related to the ancient Olympic Games have been obtained. After the 11th Olympic Games in 1936, due to some surplus funds, the International Olympic Committee decided to use this money to continue the excavation of the Olympia site, and the stadium was discovered and restored.

Second, the cultural charm of the modern Olympic movement

There is a difference between modern Olympic culture and ancient Olympic culture. The ancient Olympic Games were competitive races between city-states and ceremonies dedicated to the gods. The modern Olympic Games are global games.

Of course, the development of the modern Olympic movement has not been smooth. Coubertin was a famous French educator, international sports activist, educationalist and historian, and the initiator of the modern Olympic movement. He was born into an aristocratic family in Paris, France. From 1896 to 1925, he was President of the International Olympic Committee and designed the Olympic emblem and the Olympic flag. For his immortal contribution to the Olympic Games, he is internationally known as the "Father of the Modern Olympic Games". Coubertin grew up enjoying aristocratic sports such as fencing, rowing, horseback riding, and boxing. From 1875 to 1881, the site of the ancient Olympic Games was continuously excavated, which aroused Great Interest from Coubertin. In 1892, he called for the resumption of the Olympic movement. In the process, Coubertin encountered many difficulties and setbacks, but his will to restore the Olympic movement was very strong. In 1894, the International Olympic Committee was formally established, with the Greek writer Viqueiras as president of the IOC and Coubertin as its secretary-general. Coubertin served as the second president of the International Olympic Committee from 1896 to 1925. Coubertin has made outstanding contributions from advocating the restoration of the Olympic Movement to promoting the development of the Olympic Movement.

In addition to his contribution to the development of the Olympic movement, Coubertin also contributed greatly to the Olympic culture. In 1912, when Coubertin was at the Stockholm Olympic Games, he published his famous poem "Ode to Sport". Coubertin's understanding of sports expressed in his Ode to Sport has gone beyond the scope of sports. In the text he said, "Ah, sports, the amusement of the gods, the driving force of life", "Ah, sports, you are justice", "Ah, sports, you are peace". It can be said that "Ode to Sports" expresses the author's sincere feelings for sports in the form of prose poems. The poem begins by drawing the contours of sport as the embodiment of beauty, justice, courage, honor, health, progress and peace. The poem highly praises the function of sports in modern society and its great role in human beings, and praises the function of sports in cultivating people's ideological qualities. Finally, peace was used to end his celebration of sport.

In terms of the timing of the modern Olympic Games, we know that they are modeled on the ancient Olympic Games held every four years. So, how was the program set up in the early days of the modern Olympic Games? And how does the IOC work? Let's take a closer look.

The modern Olympic movement has grown from small to large, from weak to strong, and has also experienced wars and changes, including the current humanity facing the new crown pneumonia epidemic. However, no matter what kind of difficulties, it has not stopped the development of the Olympic Movement, which is constantly innovating and developing.

Author: Huang Yaling, Professor of Beijing Sport University

This article is excerpted from the author's network article "Huang Yaling: The History, Culture and Spirit of the Olympic Games"

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