Olympic Games 

Ancient Olympic Games 

      The concept of Olympic Games dates back to ancient Greece where they were founded. They based on religious beliefs and were held to praise gods and especially for thunder god Zeus. The location for this competition to take place was sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia. These Games featured mostly athletic sports but wrestling and pankration competitions were also held. The main sports were high-, and long jump, javelin throw, foot race and equestrian events. Other sports such as boxing and discus throw, were added throughout the years.  

     The most accepted starting year is 776. BC due to the evidences such as inscriptions found in Olympia. Ancient Olympics reached their highest point in the years 700-600 BC but started to decline from there. They were held every four years and competitors came to participate and spectate the games from all over the Ancient Greece. The two dates to which the Olympics have been claimed to have ended are 393. CE and 426. CE when the Romans had gained enough influence to shut them down due to their religious beliefs. 

The Forerunners 

    The use of term  "Olympic Games" to describe sport event  has been documented many times since 17th century. Many different associations have held sport events under the name Olympic Games such like British Olympic Association. Revolutionary France also attempted to emulate the ancient Olympic Games. They included several sports and introduced metric system to the sports. 

Beginning of The Olympic Games 

     The first international tournament which is considered as real Olympics was held 1896 in Athens, Greece.  They were held by organization called IOC (International Olympic Committee). These Olympics gathered 14 nations  together, to compete in 43 different events. Athletes demanded that the Athens should be the permanent host city for Olympics, but IOC made the decision to rotate various host city around the world every four years. 

      After the huge success of the year 1896 games, the Olympics has grown to be second largest sports event in the world, only beaten by football World Cup. There have been 28. Summer-, and 22. Winter  Olympics. Many changes have been made since the start of the games. There have been added total of 263 new events. To name a few sports like rugby, golf, taekwondo and fencing are now competed in Olympics. 

Modern Olympics 

Summer Olympics 

     

     The Summer Olympics today gathers over 11 000 athletes, 206 countries and over billion viewers every fourth year. They consist of 28 different sports and 306 events. In year 2016 they were held in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil on 28 different stadiums. The cost of these Olympics were over 5,1 billion US dollars. It was also the first Olympics for Kosovo and South-Sudan. Also team of  refugees were invited for the first time. 

     Many controversies have occurred over the years. Many athletes have been caught using steroids and other performance boosting drug. Most famous one is when Kenya's manager tired to supply urine sample for his athlete in Rio 2016. Also many different sources have exposed bribing to gain to advantage to host Olympics. IOC have given many press conferences to explain these accusations but many have given up watching Olympics due to the distrust.   

Winter Olympics 

      Winter Olympics have been held 22 times. They started in the year 1932 and were held the same years as Summer Olympics but 1976 IOC decided they will be held always 2 years after Summer Olympics. During First and Second WW all Winter Olympics were cancelled 

     In year 2014 Russia (Sotshi) there were 2781 athletes from 88 different countries. No new sports have been added since 2006.  

Finland in Olympics 

    The first Finnish people who attended Olympics were Verner Weckman who won gold medal in wrestling  and Verner Järvinen who also win gold medal but in discus. IOC invited Finland to join them on year 1907. And the first time whole Finnish athlete group attended Olympics was in London 1908. 

   Finland has participated Olympics 46 times since the year 1908. Finland has won total of 463 medals. 143 gold-, 146 silver -, and 174 bronze medals. The success has been pretty overwhelming for such a small country. Although success has been decreasing over the years. No Finnish Olympic athlete has been accused of using doping.  

Lauri Ahonen 9C