Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Olympics
The Olympics are named for the place where the games were first held, a sacred location near the west coast of southern Greece called Olympia. Despite the name, it is not actually near Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, which is in northern Greece. The games began 3,000 years ago during a religious festival to honor Zeus and took place in early August to mid-September every four years. The impact of the games was so great ancient historians began to measure time by Olympiads, the four-year span between the games.
In 393 A.D., the Christian emperor Theodosius I banned all pagan festivals, ending the Olympic tradition after almost 12 centuries. It would be another 1,500 years before the games were revived as the modern Olympics held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Since then they have only been canceled three times, because of World War I and II. The games have endured boycotts and terrorist attacks without postponement until the COVID-19 pandemic deferred the summer games for a year.
The 2021 summer games embrace new sports of skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. New Olympic sports are added by presenting a petition to the International Olympic Committee, which oversees the many rules and regulations to determine acceptance. There are bans on purely “mind sports,” which is why chess has never made the games. A new sport must retain and reflect the games’ modern traditions as well as consider the practical problems of public interest and appeal, media management and costs. Not all games stand the test of time. Some discontinued games include pistol dueling, tug-of-war, club swinging, obstacle swimming, and live pigeon shooting. Held just once in 1900, the object of this last event was to shoot and kill as many birds as possible. With nearly 300 birds killed, the event ended with the ground covered in a bloody mess of feathers, injured birds and pigeon corpses. Luckily for all, this occurred before the advent of social media and viral tweets.
