OLYMPIC GAMES and OLYMPIADS

Historical Background
The first recorded Olympic event was a foot race held in 776 B.C., on plains of
Olympia, in Elis, Greece. In 708 B.C., the Greeks added jumping, discus throwing,
and wrestling to the foot races. Later they added boxing and chariot racing. 
Winners were crowned with wreaths of sacred olive.  In the 300's B.C., athletes from
other lands entered the Olympic Games. Gradually, the Games' true purpose of
glorifying the individual became lost. They became so corrupt that the Christian
Emperor Theodosius abolished them in A.D. 394.

Revival - 1500 years later Baron Pierre de Coubertin organized a Congress For the
Revival of the Olympic Games and, in June of 1894, the revival of the Games was
unanimously voted.  In 1896 the first international Olympic Games of the modern era
were held in Athens, Greece.  They have been scheduled to be held every four years
since then, but World Wars I & II caused three cancellations. The International
Olympic Committee sets the rules for the Games, decides where they are to be held,
and decides which events will be added to or dropped from the array of events.

Olympia - This is a valley about 11 miles from Prygos, Greece. In ancient times,
religion, politics, and athletics centered there. The Olympian Games, held there
every four years, were so important in Greek life that they were used as the basis
for the calendar.

Olympiads - In the Greek system of telling time, an Olympiad was the period of four
years that elapsed between two successive celebrations of the Olympian, or Olympic,
Games. This method of figuring time became common in about 300 B.C. All events were
dated from 776 B.C., the beginning of the first Olympiad.  This method of counting
time ceased about A.D. 440, after the 304th Olympiad.

Modern Olympiads - These started with the first Games of the modern era in 1896.   
There were no Games during the war years of 1916, 1940 & 1944; therefore, the 
XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles was the 20th occurrence of the Summer Olympic 
Games. Olympiads, being four-year time periods, are counted whether Olympic 
Games are held or not. 

  Some Rules of the Olympic Charter state, in part, as follows:

    Rule 2  - the expression "Olympiad" means a period of four successive
              years which follows the Games.
    Rule 32 - the Olympic Games must take place during the first year of the 
              Olympiad which they are to celebrate.

Olympic Winter Games - These started in 1924 in Chamonix, France. There had been
only a restricted skating program in 1908 & 1920 so the French Organizing Committee
arranged for a more comprehensive program of winter-type contests. In addition to
the ice hockey & figure skating events previously held, competitions in speed
skating, bobsledding, skiing, and curling were included.

Winter Games are numbered only when they occur. The Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia,
in 1984, were the 14th occurrence of such Games.

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