Olympic Games : The Leading International Sporting Event Competitions

The Olympic games originated in Athens in 776 B.C. The more popular modern day Olympic games began nearly 2300 years later in 1896. The games no longer represented a religious festival, but a sports competition instead. The games can be studied via multiple aspects such as political, social, and economic, but this paper will concentrate on the economic aspect of the games and more specifically, the macroeconomic impacts the games possess.

The modern Olympic movement has been shaped by many differentiating factors over the years. It has been altered by social, political, and economic factors. More specifically, warring times, changes to social structures, and economic activity that varies by country have been the overall leading factors that have shaped the Olympics over the years.

The Summer Olympic Games in 2000 was held in Sydney. It was an opportunity for Australia to prove to the world they were able to host a major international competition which left a positive impression of Australia. The Impact on Australia was beneficial to the country in a cultural, social, architectural and tourism perspective. From these games there were many unforgettable Australian sporting achievements. This presentation will give an account of the way the 2000 Olympics influenced the Australian way of life.

The Olympics were revived in 1896 thanks to Pierre de Coubertin. Since its reemergence in 1896, the modern Olympic movement has been shaped and influenced politically through the tensions between countries, economically through financial gain opportunity, and socially by promoting women’s rights. Another document I would like to have seen would be one containing a record of third world countries that have attended the Olympics. This document would have shown how wealth effects and shapes the modern Olympics.

There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).

As a sporting mega-event, the Olympic Games have numerous social impacts on the people, not only on those from the host country, but on individuals all over the globe.

Although the original ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 B.C, Homer’s Iliad indicates they may have existed as early as the twelfth century BC. The Games were then continued for twelve centuries and were devoted to Olympian deities. Olympia turned into the site of these memorable ancient Olympic games that scattered the seeds for the largest global sporting events of current times, the Modern Olympics. The location of the Ancient Olympics is situated in the western part of Peloponnese. The Ancient Olympic Games continued until 393 A.D when Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them. There were not any more Olympic games for fifteen hundred years before they were resurrected in 1896 in the city of Athens. The man in charge of the recreation of the Olympic games was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who introduced the thought in 1894. He proposed to stage the games in Paris in 1900 but representatives, from thirty-four nations were so captivated with the idea that they persuaded him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the host.

"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us,” said John Williams, the composer for theme music for the Olympics (8). The Olympic Games are international sports festivals that began in ancient Greece. The first ancient Olympics can be traced back to 776 BC when people held this religious festival to honour Zeus, the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses. The participants were male citizens from Greece, and these athletes participated in only one event — foot race. Unfortunately, this ancient Olympics did not last forever. The first olympic in 776 BC in Olympia was an significant event

It all started with the Greeks. In ancient times the Olympic games were more of a religious gathering and celebration to honor Zeus. What first started out as a festival ended up being the first Olympic game in Olympia. However, now it has spread all around the world and is celebrated in everywhere. Recently, Brazil was the last to host the Olympic games in 2016, but caused controversy due to various factors that involved Brazil’s economy, environment, and politics. Due to the chaos that leaked from Brazil’s hosting of the Olympic games, officials are skeptic on which countries should and shouldn’t host the Olympic games. Per Contra, there have been many other successfully hosted Olympic games such as Great Britain, Beijing, and Canada. After

The ancient Greek people came up with many ideas and made many advancements that changed today’s world. One such creation was the Olympics. Athletes all over the world dedicate their lives to a sport, using a combination of talent and hard work in the hope they they will one day represent their country in the Olympic Games. These Games first came into existence in ancient Greece during the year 776 BC. According to an article published by the Penn Museum, “The ancient Olympic Games were primarily a part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods and goddesses.” Though the Games died out around 400 AD, the idea remained. Then, in 1896, the first modern-day Olympics took place in their place of origin- Olympia, Greece- with 34 participating countries. From there, they continued to grow in size until they became the massive global event that they are today (The ancient Olympic games, 2017). Even though few people know much about Zeus, and even fewer people care, it is thanks to him and the rest of the Greek gods and goddesses that the world can come together every four years and honor the the best of the best.

While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.

One of the first things that pops into your head when you think of the Olympics is the torch. Anyone who watches the Olympics just can’t possibly ignore it. It is the most weel-known thing about the Olympics. Throughout many years the Olympic Comitee has done a good jobs keeping the torch a tradition.

With over two hundred countries participating, the Olympic Games is easily considered as one of the largest multisport event known to history. The Olympics are held at a different country, and even more rarely at the same city. For a country to be chosen to host the Olympics, the country’s National Olympic Committee (the country’s representatives for the Olympics) nominates a city (from the country they represent) that they think has potential in hosting the Olympics nine years prior to when they wish to host the Olympics. It is a two year process that consists of: Application Phase, Candidate Phase and the Election of the Host City. The country that wins the election is given seven years to prepare for the Olympics. (International

Higham (1999) discusses that there are numerous problems, which will be evaluated with hosting an Olympic games such as, development issues, local resident issues, short-term affects, and security issues. In terms of development issues, there is a significant cost dealing with large scale sporting events, and economic benefits are generally received more by big time business interests not the host community. So the host community doesn’t benefit as much as they potentially could by hosting the

The Olympics have come up with a problem and need a solution fast. The problem is whether the Olympics should have a permanent home or even multiple homes. Or should they stay the same where any country can host the Olympics? Before answering the question think of where and why the Olympics started. Ancient Greece is the birthplace of Olympics about 800 BC and they were later revived in the late 19th century. The first modern Olympics were in 1896 in Athen with 280 participants from 13 nations in 43 events. “The purpose of the modern Olympic Games is to promote peace and unity within the international community through the medium of sports”(reference.com). This quote is exactly right, permanent home deprives countries the chance to show national pride. There are other bonuses to not having permanent homes. It can help a failing country's economy become better and allows them to make history beyond sports. However permanent homes reduce cost of new facilities and it will reduce facilities being abandoned after the games.But in the end hosting the Olympics in different countries allows them to show pride, make history and boost economies, even with the expensive cost.