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Betting
System
Sports betting is the general
activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the
outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of
gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sport betting
varies from nation to nation.
Used Cars
Sports
Memorabilia, Mini Football Helmets, Autographed Baseballs
Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys & merchandise !
Drug Abuse
drug rehabilitation
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Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event subdivided into
summer and winter sporting events. The summer and winter games are each
held every four years. Until 1992, they were both held in the same year.
Since then, the summer games are held during the first year of an
Olympiad, the winter games during the third year.
The original Olympic Games (Greek: ???µp?a??? ????e?; [Olympiakoi Agones]
(help·info)) were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were
celebrated until AD 393. Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper
was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis
Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833. Evangelos Zappas
sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in 1859. He paid
for the refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium for Games held there
in 1870 and 1875. This was noted in newspapers and publications around
the world including the London Review, which stated that "the Olympian
Games, discontinued for centuries, have recently been revived! Here is
strange news indeed ... the classical games of antiquity were revived
near Athens".
The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 on the
initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The
first of the IOC's Olympic Games were the 1896 Summer Olympics, held in
Athens, Greece. Participation in the Olympic Games has increased to
include athletes from nearly all nations worldwide. With the improvement
of satellite communications and global telecasts of the events, the
Olympics are consistently gaining supporters.The most recent Summer
Olympics were the 2004 Games in Athens and the most recent Winter
Olympics were the 2006 Games in Turin. The upcoming games in Beijing are
planned to comprise 302 events in 28 sports. As of 2006, the Winter
Olympics were competed in 84 events in 7 sports.
Ancient Olympics
There are many
myths surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. The most
popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator of the Olympic
Games, and built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an
honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labours. According to
that legend he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this
distance a "stadion" (Greek: st?d???, Latin: stadium, "stage") that
later also became a unit of distance. This is also why a modern stadium
track is 400 meters in circumference — the distance a runner travels in
one lap (1 stadium = 400 m). Another myth associates the first Games
with the ancient Greek concept of ??e?e???a (ekecheiria), Olympic truce.
The date of the Games' inception based on the count of years in
Olympiads is reconstructed as 776 BC, although scholars' opinions
diverge between dates as early as 884 BC and as late as 704 BC.
From then on, the Olympic Games quickly became much more important
throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th
centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance,
contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus
(whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and
mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race with King
Oenomaus of Pisatis, and in whose honour the games were held. The number
of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over
several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were
immortalised in poems and statues.[9] The Games were held every four
years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an
Olympiad. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count
years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in these times: the sixth
century BC wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to win
a victory in six Olympics.
The Games gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power in
Greece. After Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the religion
of the Empire and banned pagan rites, the Olympic Games were outlawed as
a pagan festival in 393 AD.
During the ancient times normally only young men could participate.[10]
Competitors were usually nude, not only as the weather was appropriate
but also as the festival was meant to be, in part, a celebration of the
achievements of the human body. Upon winning the games, the victor would
have not only the prestige of being in first place but would also be
presented with a crown of olive leaves. The olive branch is a sign of
hope and peace.
Even though the bearing of a torch formed an integral aspect of Greek
ceremonies, the ancient Olympic Games did not include it, nor was there
a symbol formed by interconnecting rings. These Olympic symbols were
introduced as part of the modern Olympic Games. |
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