Olympic Games

The Olympic Games were named after the town of Olympia in Greece. It was in Olympia that the games were first held long before the Christian era began. In those days Greece was divided into many city states, and men of different city states used to fight one another most of the time. A man named Iphitos became concerned about such wasteful strafes. He hit upon a plan. He invited the best athletes from the nearby cities to the valley of Olympia to take part in athletic contests. Iphitos’s plan worked well. For a time the Greek warriors, instead of
fighting their neighbors, tried to outdo their rivals in friendly games and sports. At first contests included running and leaping, boxing and dwelling and throwing discus and javelin, later contests with hordes were included. In 394 A.D. the roman Emperor stopped the games. For 1500 years no games were held. Towards the end of the 19th century a Frenchman called Baron Pierre de Coubertin suggested that the ancient Olympic Games should be revived. They would be held as a contest not merely among nation

of the world. He and his supporters tried for years to hold the games. At last they succeeded and the first Modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, the capital city of Greece because the original site at Olympia was no longer suitable.