Olympic Games information~! ~Urgent!

Modern Olympic Games:

Biding and preparation:

After negotiations at the Paris International Sports Conference in June 1894, the historic city of Athens won the right to host the first modern Olympic Games.

Athens, the capital of Greece, is located on the west side of the Attica Peninsula in southeastern Greece. It is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has a pleasant climate. This political, cultural, and economic center of Greece today was one of the important arenas for competition in ancient Greece. It attaches special importance to cultural education, emphasizing the combination of intellectual education, moral education, physical education, and aesthetic education to cultivate talents, creating a brilliant Athenian culture. If Greece is the cradle of ancient European civilization, Athens is the center of this cradle. Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, which is world-famous for sports, is also about 300 kilometers away from here. Therefore, it is of great historical significance for the first Olympic Games to be held in this ancient city.

After the Paris International Sports Conference, the first president of the International Olympic Committee, Demetriou Vikelas, brought the good news of the Olympic Games back to Athens. As Vikelas later wrote to Coubertin: "At that time, from Brindisi to Athens, my compatriots were talking happily about the Olympic Games." But Vikelas was too optimistic. Not long after, when he met with Greek Prime Minister Trikupis, the Prime Minister requested that the Olympic Games be postponed due to funding issues. This was a wake-up call for Vikelas.

Coubertin was extremely anxious after learning the news. At the end of October that year, he hurriedly took a train from Paris to Marseille, and then took a ship to Athens. After arriving in Athens, he had a brief chat with Vikelas and then came to the ruins of the ancient sports ground in Athens.

When he saw the ruined walls and desolate scene, his heart dropped. Rebuilding a sports stadium on such ruins will require a large amount of money. Before leaving Paris, Coubertin received a letter from Kemeni, a Hungarian member of the International Olympic Committee. Kemeny also knew what was happening in Greece. He proposed in his letter to Coubertin that if Greece was unable to host, Hungary would be willing to take over the competition as a commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Hungary. The Olympic Games were held in Greece, which was Coubertin's goal to revive the Olympic movement and make the Olympic Games international. However, changing the venue to Hungary was contrary to his ideals. Kemaini's suggestion was difficult for Coubertin to accept. However, if we insist on holding the event in Greece, how will we raise the money?

The attitude of Prime Minister Trikoupis was not only criticized by the opposition, but also caused dissatisfaction among the citizens of Athens. When he learned that Coubertin had come to Athens, he immediately came to Coubertin's stay, but the conversation between the two broke up unhappy. Trikupis said it would not work for a country that is heavily in debt to spend a lot of money on sports events. The charge d'affaires of the French Embassy in Athens also exerted invisible pressure on Coubertin. The charge d'affaires said that his arrival created a political crisis in Athens and provided an excuse for the opposition parties to oppose Trikoupis because the opposition parties I support holding sports meets as scheduled.

Coubertin was almost at a loss. However, he was a strong-willed man and did not become discouraged or pessimistic. In a letter to a newspaper, he said that there is no word "cannot" in the French dictionary. At that time, King George I of Greece had not returned from his visit to Petersburg, Russia, so he turned to the Crown Prince of Greece for help with a glimmer of hope.

Constantine, the Crown Prince of Greece, is a 26-year-old handsome young man, powerful and fond of sports. When he listened to Coubertin's story, he did not immediately express his position. The knowledgeable Coubertin then talked to the crown prince about the 1821 Greek uprising against Turkish rule; he talked about the British poet Byron, who was sick and disabled, for the freedom of the Greek people. body, crossed the ocean, went to Greece, participated in that just war, and finally gave up his young life; he talked about how 300,000 Greeks in that cruel war could be the masters of their own destiny for the 600,000 compatriots who survived. , and shed the last drop of blood without hesitation... In the end, Coubertin said passionately: "Therefore, I am full of confidence in such a Greece."

The crown prince was obviously infected by Coubertin's emotions , he said excitedly: "And I am full of confidence in the Olympics."

The crown prince was convinced that Coubertin's trip to Athens was worthwhile.

The crown prince took over all preparations for the Olympics, which aroused strong dissatisfaction from the prime minister. After King George I returned to the country, he publicly supported the crown prince, forcing Trikupis to resign as prime minister.

This is the only time in the history of the Olympic Games that a senior official of a country resigned over the hosting of the Olympic Games.

The obstacles in the preparations were removed. In order to raise funds, fundraising campaigns were launched across Greece, raising 332,756 drachmas, but this was only a drop in the bucket. In order to make up for the lack of funds, the Greek government allocated 400,000 drachmas. The postal department used this money to issue a set of stamps based on the history of the ancient Olympic Games, which were sold at a higher than face value. These are the world's first Olympic stamps. When the Games were held in Athens in 1906 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the modern Olympic Games, Greece again adopted the above fundraising method. Greece originally issued Olympic stamps just for economic benefits, but it made such stamps popular around the world and had a positive impact. Belgium first followed Greece's example at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Since then, not only the host country of the Olympic Games, but also other countries have issued such commemorative stamps. Winter Olympics stamps have been issued since 1932. In 1982, World Olympic philately enthusiasts also established a Philatelic Association and elected Samaranch as the president of the association.

Although the Greeks raised a lot of money through fundraising and issuing stamps, the success of the Games was ultimately due to the wealthy Greek businessman George Avilov (1814-1899). He donated a huge sum of one million drachmas to rebuild the marble stadium on the ruins of the ancient stadium. In order to commemorate Avilov's contribution to the Games, Greece built a statue for him in the Athens Square and held an unveiling ceremony the day before the opening of the Games.

Basic information:

Invited to participate in the first modern Olympic Games are Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, the United States, France, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden and the host Greece. There are 311 athletes from 14 countries. Greece has the largest lineup with 230 athletes, accounting for two-thirds of the total; Germany and France have 19 athletes each; and the United States has 14 athletes, ranking fourth. Most of the American contestants are from Harvard and Princeton universities. They are self-organized and self-funded, and they participate with the purpose of traveling to Europe. They originally thought that the conference would open on April 18, but after arriving in Italy on April 1, they learned that the opening date was April 6. Therefore, they had to abandon all travel plans and arrived in Athens before the opening. The host country of the first Olympic Games followed the old system of the ancient Olympic Games and did not allow female athletes to participate. Regarding the qualifications of participating countries, unlike today, there are regulations that prohibit participation by countries that are not members of the International Olympic Committee. Greece has sent invitations to countries around the world, including China, but most countries have not sent teams to attend because they do not know much about the Olympics or for other reasons, including China. Greece's neighbor Italy once sent a Milan athlete, which was also the only player sent by Italy. However, the organizing committee of the conference believed that he was a professional athlete and was therefore not allowed to participate.

Opening Ceremony:

The first Olympic Games overcame many difficulties and finally opened on April 6, 1896. This is the earliest time that the Olympic Games are held in any month. The host chose this day for the opening ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Greek uprising against Turkish rule.

At 3 pm on April 6, King George I of Greece announced the opening of the conference. Vikelas, Coubertin and other International Olympic Committee officials attended the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony, a solemn classical string music was played. In 1958, the International Olympic Committee designated it as the Olympic anthem. The composer of the anthem was the Greek Samaras and the lyricist was Palamas. The Greeks showed great enthusiasm for this conference, and 80,000 spectators attended the opening ceremony. This number was not exceeded until the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

Competition situation:

This competition includes 9 major events: track and field, swimming, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, Greco-Roman wrestling, gymnastics, fencing and tennis. There was a rowing event in the original plan, but it was not held later. There are two different reasons for the cancellation. One is that the weather was bad and the sea was windy, making it impossible to proceed; the other is that no one signed up and the plan had to be changed.

The battle began on April 6, the day of the opening ceremony. American James Connolly won the triple jump with a score of 13.71 meters, becoming the first modern Olympic champion. After his victory, the American national anthem was played and the American flag was hoisted at the stadium.

This has since become the traditional award ceremony of the Olympic Games. Connolly is a first-year student at Harvard University in the United States. When he came to Athens, he failed to obtain the school's permission. However, this young man who loves classical literature and sports has contributed to the mythical country of Greece. Attracted by the sports competition, he made up his mind to drop out of school. When he returned to his alma mater with his first Olympic medal, he was given a warm welcome. The school believes that this is both Connolly's glory and Harvard University's glory. Connolly later became a famous journalist and author.

The United States is the darling of this track and field event. Two hours after Connolly won the championship, another athlete won the discus event, which the Greeks thought they were guaranteed to win. He is Robert Garrett, a student from Princeton University in the United States. The United States only had a national discus competition in 1897, and before that this event was rarely known. Before the Olympics, when Garrett learned about this competition, he tried every means to find out how to throw the discus, and specially made a discus the size of a discus thrown during the ancient Olympics, and practiced it by himself.

After coming to Athens, he found that the discus used in the competition was lighter and easier to use than the one he made, so his confidence increased greatly. In the end, he defeated the Greek with a score of 29.15 meters. Later he also won first place in the shot put.

The 100-meter final will be held on April 10. The starting postures can be said to be various, including upright, bent over, and with hands spread out. Only Thomas Burke of the United States adopted a similar "crouching" running method. He finished in 12 seconds. This was his second victory after the 400-meter race. Burke set the first Olympic record for this event in 11.8 seconds in the 100-meter preliminaries.

The Athens Marble Stadium is in the shape of a "U", with a total length of 333.33 meters and a straight length of 192 meters. Due to the small turning angle, it is prone to accidents, so the host did not set up a 200-meter project. This is the only time in the Olympics.

The actual distance of this year's 110-meter hurdle race is 100 meters, and there are only 8 hurdles. During the competition, there are also various postures for crossing the hurdles. Some even jump over the hurdles with both feet and then pause for a while before running. Only 7 athletes signed up for the competition and could not be divided into three groups of preliminaries as originally planned. They were temporarily changed to two groups, and the top two in each group entered the finals. However, U.S. Hoyt and Hungary's Sau Sokoy, who later qualified for the finals, did not attend for some reason. Only two people participated in the finals. American Hurdle Champion Thomas Liutis from the Boston Athletic Association took the crown.

The United States showed its strong strength in this track and field competition and won 9 championships in 12 events. However, the most exciting and sensational competition scene of the Athens Olympics is the marathon.

Before the Olympic Games, French linguist Michel Brill went to Greece for inspection and admired Pheidippides, the legendary hero in the Battle of Marathon. In 490 BC, Greece defeated the invading Persian army in the Marathon Valley with a small number and a large number. Pheidippides, who was serving as a messenger at the time, was ordered to quickly inform Athens of the victory news, which was waiting for help. Regardless of his fatigue, he ran from Marathon to Athens. When he arrived in Athens, he was exhausted and only said: "We are victorious." "! He fell dead in the square. Feeling this heroic deed, Brill wrote to his compatriot and International Olympic Committee Secretary-General Coubertin, suggesting that a marathon be added to the Olympic track and field competition and that he was willing to donate one Brill A silver cup, as a reward for the champion.

The route of the Athens Olympic Marathon is the route that Pheidippides ran in the past. It is 40 kilometers between Marathon and Athens. Greece is very concerned about this competition, because since the start of track and field events, Greece has suffered successive defeats and has not won a championship, and the marathon is the only event in which they have placed their hopes.

The competition was held on April 10, with 17 athletes from 4 countries participating, and the atmosphere was very lively. At that time, there were only 135,000 people in Athens, but as many as 100,000 people watched this marathon. It was really an "empty crowd". Time passed by, and the spectators in the stands were impatiently waiting to see who would win this game. When the Greek Spiridon Ruiz, wearing a light blue vest, was the first to rush into the sports field, the whole audience jumped with joy and cheered thunderously. Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, who served as the general referee of the conference, could not help but accompany Ruiz to the finish line. King George I also stepped down from the viewing platform to greet the triumphant hero. Bouquets of flowers and gifts were thrown towards Louis and at his feet.

Thousands of pigeons with Greek flags and ribbons flying into the sky. There is a joyful festive atmosphere everywhere. The crowd poured into the venue like a tide, rushing to hug him and throw him up and down. Some even shouted: Make him a minister. After the game, he won the glorious title of Greek National Hero, but did not enjoy the honor of high official and generous salary. He still returned to his remote hometown and became a rural postman, living a poor life with his wife and children. When he died in 1940, people engraved the Olympic rings on his tombstone in memory of him.

The swimming competition is held on the high seas, with pontoons pulling cables as starting and finishing lines. Distances have not been carefully measured and are only approximate. As for the posture, it is called free style, but it is actually a matter of discretion. During the competition, the weather was cold, the water was cold, and the waves were very fast, which even deterred some players from competing. The only Hungarian athlete, 18-year-old Alfred Hayos, won the 100-meter and 1200-meter freestyle championships, becoming Hungary's first Olympic gold medalist. He was hailed as the "Hungarian Dolphin" by Greek newspapers . The Budapest university student was well-known before the Olympic Games. In August 1895, he won the European Swimming Championships in Austria. At the 1924 Paris Olympics, he won another Olympic silver medal in the art competition.

This year’s swimming competition also set up a 100-meter freestyle sailor race specifically for sailors on warships anchored in the port of Birus. It was not on the original schedule and was added temporarily. This shows that the establishment of competition events was not very rigorous at that time. Although 14 people signed up, only three Greek sailors actually participated.

Weightlifting and wrestling were not classified according to weight at that time. There are only two types of weightlifting: one-hand lift and two-hand lift. Britain's Lloyd Elliott won the one-hand lift with 71 kilograms; in the two-hand lift, he also lifted the same weight as the champion Danevi Jonsson. But the referee thought that his lifting posture was not as accurate and beautiful as Jonson, so he only got second place. It is said that Elliott felt quite arrogant after winning. But when he saw Crown Prince Constantine easily lift the weight he had lifted, that arrogance disappeared. This legend is very romantic and is difficult to see in official history.

At that time, there were no regulations on the events for athletes to participate in, and there were no entry standards. Therefore, many athletes competed in multiple events. This situation is even more prominent in wrestling. For example, Elliott, who won the weightlifting competition, was also a wrestler, but he only finished fourth. The winner was the German Karl Schumann, who was agile and lighter than all his opponents. Schumann was also a cross-athlete. In addition to wrestling, he also participated in track and field and gymnastics competitions. He also achieved outstanding results in gymnastics, winning the vault championship and first place in the parallel bars and horizontal bars teams. Including wrestling, he ranked first in 4 events in total, making him the player with the most gold medals this year.

The Olympic Charter formulated at the Paris Conference in 1894 clearly stipulates that only amateur athletes are allowed to participate in various competitions, with the exception of fencing. There are only two types of fencing this year: foil and saber, and there are two types of competitions: amateur and professional. France's E. Gravelot and Greece's Georgiadis won the amateur foil and saber championships respectively. There was only foil in the professional competition, and the champion was Leon Pigos, the famous professional fencer and owner of the Athens Fencing School.

The bicycle race has 6 events, 5 of which are arranged on the racing track. The other event is a road race, which the host ingeniously regards as a marathon. The route is from Athens to Marathon and back to Athens, a total distance of 87 kilometers. There were no specially designed racing cars at the time, and the roads were rugged, so the cars often had problems and could even become unridable. The Greek who won the championship, Constantinidis, had only finished the race in two easy cars. In fact, the 12-hour race held at the racing track can truly be called a "marathon" race. Only 3 of the 7 contestants persisted to the end, and Austrian Schmalr finally won the gold medal. Prior to this, he also won a bronze medal in each of the other two events. The situation in the 100-kilometer race was even worse, with only two of the nine runners completing the entire race. France's Le Flamon not only took the crown in this project, but also showed good sportsmanship. During the race, he found that the car of the Greek Greek Koletis behind him was broken, so he stopped and repaired the car with the latter before continuing to ride. His noble style was appreciated by people. The outstanding achievement in cycling is Paul Masson of France. He won the championship in three short-distance events including 2,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

On April 15, the 10-day first Olympic Games ended. The United States won 11 gold medals, 7 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals; the host nation followed with 10, 17, and 19 gold, silver, and bronze medals; Germany ranked third with 6.5 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and bronze medals. 2 pieces. Germany's half of the gold medal was won in the doubles by its tennis player Fritz Traun and Britain's John Boland. Boland was not an official player of the British delegation, but an Oxford college student who happened to be here for sightseeing. He is a tennis enthusiast with endless skills. He temporarily participated in the competition and not only won the doubles, but also won the singles championship.

Today’s Olympic Games are contested by the National Olympic Committee, and this kind of cooperation between the two countries no longer exists. The two countries cooperated, causing some confusion in the medal tally. For example, in this doubles match, many historical data indicate that England and Germany each recorded one gold medal, but some only recorded half a gold medal each. According to the actual situation, the latter calculation method is more reasonable.