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Olympic Games The Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles. The upcoming Games will feature athletes from all over the world and help promote the Olympic spirit. Citius, Altius, Fortius Every four years the finest athletes in the world gather in one location to compete against each other and to determine who best exemplifies the Olympic motto— Citius, Altius, Fortius—meaning “faster, higher, stronger.” This gathering, known as the Olympic Games, is the most celebrated sporting festival in the world. The games attract athletes from over 200 nations and strive to promote international understanding and human development through sport. The Ancient Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games are named for the athletic contests held at the ancient Greek site of Olympia for almost 12 centuries. The ancient Greek games ended in AD 393. Many centuries would pass before the athletic contests of the Olympic Games were revived in 1896. Two athletes listening to their trainer's Instructions. Greek antique. Founder of the modern Olympic Games. Statue at Lausanne Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (1863 – 1937) was a French pedagogue and historian best founder known for being of the modern Olympic Games. Born in Paris into an aristocratic family, the third child in the family he was inspired by his visits to British and American colleges and universities, and set out to improve his education. He thought part of this improvement should be sports education, which he considered an important part of the personal development of young people. He was particularly fond of rugby . To publicize these plans, he organised an international congress in 1894 in Paris. There he proposed to reinstate the ancient Olympic Games. The congress led to the establishing of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), of which De Coubertin became the general secretary. It was also decided that the first modern Olympics would take place in Athens, He conceived of an international competition to promote athletics. A growing international interest in the ancient Olympics, fed by recent archaeological finds at Olympia, De Coubertin devised a plan to revive the Olympic Games Greece and that they would be held every four years. Olympic Sun The Olympic Flame, Olympic Fire, Olympic Torch, Olympic Light, Olympic Eye, and Olympic Sun is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheuse its origins lie in ancient Greece when a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the Olympics in 1928, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. Mascots Since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France the Olympic Games have a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. The first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. t young people focuses on the mascots, rather Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed athan the Olympic flag or organization logos. : Olympic Summer Games Athens 1896 Paris 1900 St. Louis 904 London 1908 Stockholm 1912 Antwerp 1920 Paris 1924 Amsterdam 1928 Los Angeles 1932 Berlin 1936 London 1948 Helsinki 1952 Melbourne 1956 Montreal 1976 Moscow 1980 Rome 1960 Tokyo 1964 Mexico City 1968 Munich 1972 Los Angeles 1984 Seoul 1988 Barcelona 1992 Atlanta 1996 Sydney 2000 Athens 2004 Olympic Winter Games: Chamonix 1924 St. Moritz 1928 Lake Placid 1932 GarmischPartenkirchen 1936 St. Moritz 1948 Oslo 1952 Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Squaw Valley 1960 Innsbruck 1964 Grenoble 1968 Sapporo 1972 Innsbruck 1976 Lake Placid 1980 Sarajevo 1984 Calgary 1988 Albertville 1992 Lillehammer 1994 Nagano 1998 Salt Lake City 2002 Torino 2006 Paralimpic Games The Paralympic Games are elite sport events for athletes from different disability groups. They clearly emphasise, however, the participants' athletic achievements, not their disability. The movement has grown dramatically since its early days. The number of athletes participating in the Summer Paralympic Games has increased from 400 athletes in Rome in 1960 to 3,806 athletes from 136 countries in Athens in 2004. Summer Sports Aquatics Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Canoe / kayak Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing SailingShooting Softball Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling Winter Olympic Games Biathlon Bobsleigh Curling Ice Hockey Luge Skating Skiing olympic games\Pierre de Coubertin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm