As
everybody knows, during this summer will be celebrated the 25th Olympic
Games, in Athens, the original place, where this tradition started and became
a symbol of passion of glory, beauty and power among men, as part of cultural
civilization born in times of the Ancient Greek. In modern times, it means
a century ago, this tradition was revived thanks to Baron Pierre de Coubertin,
a French man who after having traveling around the world, could achieve
a friendly and generous cooperation of many people, who supported him to
carry on his loved dreams. However, he couldn’t predict how many histories
would happen after his dream came true.
Athens became the Olympics first host, thanks to a wealthy Greek architect, Georgios Averoff, who donated 1 million Drachmas (over $100 000.00) to restore the Panathenaic Stadium, originally built in 333 BCE. Greeks revived one of their millenary traditions, celebrating the very first modern Olympic Games, at the first week of April 1896. If not for this generous private donation, probably this first Games might have moved to Budapest. These first games had 10 events and athletes came individually, at their own expenses and wearing their Athletic Club uniforms rather than a National Team one. John Pius Boland, a native of Dublin, was the first Irish-born winner of an Olympic Gold Medal, winning the tennis singles and doubles partnered with Fritz Traun. However, for many years, both Boland’s titles were credited to Great Britain, until some intensive research by an Olympic historian which demonstrated that, indeed, Boland travelled to Athens paying his own expenses and representing Ireland.
In 1900, Paris gave the welcome to the Games. Scheduling conflicts were so great that many contestants never made it to their events. The discus and hammer throwers often found that there wasn’t enough room to throw so their shot landed in the trees; the hurdles were made out of the broken telephone poles, and the swimming events were conducted in the Seine River, which had an extremely strong current. However a positive issue was the first participation by women.
Four years later St. Louis (USA) hosted the games. European athletes
would have to make a transatlantic voyage plus a long train ride to Missouri.
It meant that international participation would be very weak. No athletes
represented England, France and Sweden. It would be here when an Irish-born,
John Flanaghan, would start to write glorious pages in the Irish sport
history. He won a chain of triple gold medals in succession in the hammer
throw. Meanwhile, Tom Kiely another Irish-born became the winner of modern
decathlon. However, there was a strange incident concerning the marathon.
After Fred Lorz (USA) was seized with cramps during the marathon, he was
picked up by a car, which after chugging along for a little while, broke
down about five miles from the stadium. Feeling much better, Lorz walked
into the stadium and, to his surprise, was hailed as the winner.. Lorz
was almost crowned with the olive wreath before the truth was discovered.
This year, Boxing was added as Olympic Sport.
London hosted the games in 1908 and it was the first time that Olympics
have an opening ceremony. Britain’s recent refusal to give Ireland
its independence caused Irish athletes to boycott the Games and caused
contestants from the USA to not dip the American flat to the British royalty
during the ceremony. However a select group of Irish-born like: John Flanaghan
(hammer), Martin Sheridan (discus) won gold medals representing the United
States. Other Irish-born winner of the Olympic gold medal include Robert
Kerr (representing Canada), Kennedy MacArthur (South Africa) and Tim Ahearn,
George Con O’Kelly, Edward Barrett, Noel Mary Purcell, and many
others, were representing to United Kingdom. It was here when diving added
to the calendar of the Olympics
By the way, a couple of funny things occurred in these games. In the 400-metre
final heat four runners came into the final stretch, W. C. Robbins (USA),
was first, followed by J.C. Carpenter (USA), with British Wyndham Halswelle
coming in third and followed by a fourth runner from the USA. As Carpenter
and Halswelle (second and third runners) swung out to pass Robbins, someone
shouted “foul”! Though Carpenter (the US runner who had been
in second) finished first, with Robbins in second and Halswelle in third.
The British officials accused Carpenter of blocking and elbowing Halswelle
and voided the whole race. The race was ordered to be rerun, but since
the American runners refused to redo the race, Halswelle ran the race
all by himself to win the gold. The second incident had all the ingredients
of the very traditional British sense of humour. It was in this Olympics
that the exact distance of marathon was established as 26 miles and 365
yards. And it was so funny why this decision was taken. Simply, the Royal
Family needed a better view of the finish line, so organizers added and
extra 365 yards to the race, so the finish line would be in front of the
Royal Box. And it’s been that way ever since.
In 1912, Stockholm
Sweden celebrated its “Swedish Masterpiece” as these Olympics
were known as, because they were so well organized. The Games also benefited
from the use of electric timing devices and a public address system which
were first used at these Olympic Games.
After that, the Olympics were stopped for space of eight years, due to
the First World War. In the summer of 1920, Antwerp was the host to restart
the Olympic “party”. It was the first time when the Olympic
flag was flown. The Olympic ideals stated that all countries should be
allowed entrance into the Games. Though Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey
and Hungary were not forbidden to come, they were also not sent an invitation
by the Organizing Committee. These countries were again not invited to
the 1924 Olympics. In addition the new Soviet Union decided not to attend.
On a positive note, it was the first appearance of Paavo Nurmi, one of
the “Flying Finns”. Nurmi was a runner who ran like a mechanical
man – body erect, always at an even pace. He even carried a stopwatch
with him as he ran so that he could evenly pace himself. He returned to
run in the 1924 and the 1928 Olympics winning, in total, seven gold medals.
In 1924, Paris was the first city which repeated the hosting of the Games. Winter sports were added to the Olympic Games this year. Because, of problems determining amateur status, tennis was taken off the list of events after this Olympics and were not readmitted until 1988. A “Superman” Nurmi was back running and won gold in the 1500, 5000 and 10000 meters. He was also a member of the winning Finnish teams on 3 000 m-relay and 10 m-relay. It was this Olympics that became fictionalised in the Academy Award winning film “Chariots of Fire” in 1981.
Four years later, the Olympic flame made its debut in the games celebrated in Amsterdam. It was in 1928 when track-and-field events and gymnastics for women made their debut. There had been much resistance to these additions by Coubertin and others who feared that having women compete in these events would cause them to either become "masculine" or to ruin their health and make them unable to have children. In this Games, Ireland as an independent nation had its first Olympic gold medal with Dr. Pat O’ Callaghan’s unexpected victory in the hammer event.
Los Angeles hosted its first Olympics in 1932 and for this occasion the very first Olympic Village was constructed for the Games. It was also here when the first photo-finish cameras and the victory platform debuted in the Olympics. There were some minor incidents worth reporting. Finnish Paavo Nurmi, who had been one of the Olympic heroes in the past several Olympic Games, was considered to have turned professional, thus was not allowed to compete. Also, Italian Luigi Beccali, winner of the gold medal in the 1,500-meter race, gave the Fascist salute. At the same time, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson made history at these Games, winning the gold medal for both the 80-meter hurdles (new world record) and the javelin (new world record). Also, she won silver in the high jump. Pat O’ Callaghan repeated again his victory in hammer achieving his second gold medal. However, the special moment was when Robert “Bob” Tisdall, who, although he was born in Ceylon, was thoroughly Irish by his lineage, won in spectacular way the final of 400 meter-hurdles. Poland's Stella Walsh (Stanislawa Walasiewicz)—won the women's 100-meter race, becoming the first woman to break the 12-second barrier. When she was killed in 1980 as an innocent victim in a robbery attempt, an autopsy declared her to be a male.
In 1936, Berlin decided to organize the games and the Nazis saw the event as a way to promote their ideology. They built four grandiose stadiums, swimming pools, an outdoor theatre, a polo field, and an Olympic Village that had 150 cottages for the male athletes. These Games were the first ones televised and were the first to use telex transmissions of the results. Also debuting at these Olympics was the torch relay. Jesse Owens from the United States, was the star of the Games, bringing home four gold medals: the 100 meter-dash, the long jump (made an Olympic record), the 200-meter sprint around a turn (made a world record), and part of the team for the 400-meter relay.
In 1948, London hosted the very modest eleventh Olympics. No new facilities were built for these Games, but the Wembley Stadium had survived the war and proved adequate. No Olympic Village was erected; the male athletes were housed at an army camp in Uxbridge and the women housed at Southlands College in dormitories. There was one major snafu at the Games. Though the United States had won the 400-meter relay by a full eighteen feet, a judge ruled that one of the U.S. team members had passed the baton outside of the passing zone. Thus, the U.S. team was disqualified. The medals were handed out, the national anthems were played. The United States officially protested the ruling and after careful review of the films and photographs taken of the baton pass, the judges decided that the pass had been completely legal; thus the United States team was the real winner. The British team had to give up their gold medals and received silver medals (which had been given up by the Italian team). The Italian team then received the bronze medals which had been given up by the Hungarian team.
The Soviet Union, after having been out of the Games since 1912, decided to rejoin the competition at the Helsinki’s Olympics in 1952. The Soviets, instead of joining the other athletes in the Olympic Village, set up their own Olympic Village for Eastern bloc countries in Otaniemi, near the Soviet naval base at Porkkala. Soviet athletes were chaperoned by Soviet officials everywhere they went in an effort to prevent communication with athletes from the West. The competition of East versus West dominated the atmosphere. Bob Mathias (United States), winner for the second time of the decathlon, described the atmosphere at the Games: "There were many more pressures on American athletes because of the Russians. . . . They were in a sense the real enemy. You just loved to beat 'em. You just had to beat 'em. . . . This feeling was strong down through the entire team.” The Irish welterweight John McNally took a silver medal in boxing.
Unfortunately, the 1956 Melbourne Games were marred by two political events that occurred before the opening of the Games. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted the Games to protest the invasion of Egypt by Israel (which was coordinated by both Britain and France in a dispute over the Suez Canal). The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted the Games to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Budapest, Hungary in order to quash an uprising. The closing ceremonies were introduced during this Olympics. Here, Ireland had a rich harvest of five medals: gold, silver and three bronze. Ron Delany was gold medal winner in the 1,500 meters. The other medals all came in boxing with silver for Fred Tiedt, and bronze for Tony Byrne, Freddie Gilroy and John Caldwell.
To celebrate an Olympics in Rome had been Coubertin’s wish since 1904, and it was come true during the summer of 1960, when Italy opened the fourteenth Games. Italy created a mixture of modern and ancient sites to hold the contests. Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia surprisingly won the gold medal in the marathon - with bare feet. Bikila won the gold again in 1964. United States athlete Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won a gold medal in light heavyweight boxing. Unfortunately, there was a ruling problem on the 100-meter free-style swim. John Devitt (Australia) and Lance Larson (United States) had been neck and neck during the last segment of the race. Though they both finished at about the same time, most of the audience, the sports reporters, and the swimmers themselves believed Larson (U.S.) had won. However, the three judges ruled that Devitt (Australia) had won. Even though the official times showed a faster time for Larson than for Devitt, the ruling held. The 1960 Olympic Games were the first Olympics to be fully covered by television.
Tokyo celebrated its Olympics in 1964. These Games were marred by the absence of Indonesia, North Korea, and South Africa, specially this last one, which was banned from participating in the Olympic Games by the IOC because of South Africa's racist policy of apartheid. As an important step forward small countries like Cuba and Ireland returned to the Olympic podium. For instance, boxer Jim McCourth took an Olympic bronze medal. Also, Cuba with a very small delegation back to the Olympics, after Ramon Fons era. A fabulous Cuban sprinter, Enrique Figuerola, won a silver medal in 100 meters dash, with an amazing time of 10.01 seconds. After the first 70 meters of race, he had the triumph in his legs, but in a “glance” a well-built American Bob Hayes took advantage in the final line. Later on, in the press Conference, journalists had the same question in their mouths: What happened on the final meters? Figuerola said: I took advantage of 10 meters from my quick start, but a few meters before cross over the goal line, I saw a big black ball overtaking the race. This shooting star was Bob”. The first use of computers to keep results debuted in these Games. It was at the 1968 Olympic Games that drug testing debuted.
Only ten days before the 1968 Olympic Games were to open, the Mexican army surrounded a group of students who were protesting against the Mexican government at the Plaza of Three Cultures and opened fire into the crowd. It is estimated that 267 were killed and over 1,000 were wounded. During the Olympic Games, political statements were also made. Tommie Smith and John Carlos (both from the U.S.) won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter race. When they stood (barefoot) upon the victory platform, during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner," they each raised one hand, covered by a black glove, in a Black Power salute. Their gesture was meant to bring attention to the conditions of blacks in the United States. Both athletes were expelled from the Games. The “Fosbury Flop” was a form of jumping adopted by Dick Fosbury, an American high jumper Also, other American jumper, Bob Beamon and his amazing long jump would be part of the legend of these Games. Beamon landed at 8.90 meters becoming the oldest track and field record ever. This record remained alive, until American jumper Powell (8.95) and Cuban Ivan Pedroso (8.90) equal and broke the Beamon’s record at the Athletics’ World Championship in Tokyo 91’.
In June 1972, were celebrated the Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany at that time. These Games will probably be best remembered for the murder of eleven Israeli Olympians, and the three first golden medals obtained by Cuban boxers, after Revolution would have come to the power in 1959. The triple Olympic heavy-weight champion, Teofilo Stevenson won his first Olympic gold medal winning all his fights by knock-out. From then, Cuban’s Olympic boxing hegemony still remains until nowadays. More controversies were to affect these Games. During the Olympic Games a dispute arose during the basketball game between the Soviet Union and the United States. With one second left on the clock, and the score in favour of the Americans at 50-49, the horn sounded. The Soviet coach had called a time-out. The clock was reset to three seconds and played out. The Soviets still hadn't scored and for some reason, the clock was again set back to three seconds. This time, Soviet player Alexander Belov made a basket and the game ended at 50-51 in the Soviet's favour. Though the timekeeper and one of the referees stated that the additional three seconds was completely illegal, the Soviets were allowed to keep the gold. In an amazing feat, Mark Spitz (United States) dominated the swimming events and won seven gold medals.
In 1976 the Olympics went to Montreal. These Games were marred by boycotts and drug allegations. 26 African countries boycotted the Games, due to New Zealand rugby team had toured South Africa (still mired in Apartheid) and played against them. Also, the drug allegations were rampant at these Olympics. Though most of the allegations were not proven, many athletes, especially the East German women swimmers, were accused of using anabolic steroids. When Shirley Babashoff (United States) accused her rivals of using anabolic steroids because of their big muscles and deep voices, an official from the East German team responded: "They came to swim, not to sing". On a more positive note, these Olympic Games saw the rise of the 14- year- old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci who won three gold medals, obtaining seven perfect 10. Four of her seven perfect scores came on the uneven bars and three more came on the beam. The final gold medal came in the all-around competition. Cuban runner Alberto Juantorena became the first double Olympic Champion in 400 and 800 meters dash in the history, repeating same feat four years later in Moscow.
The 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow (ex-Soviet Union capital) were most notable for the largest boycott of an Olympics in history. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States and 61 other countries decided to boycott the Olympics (France, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland and Sweden did not join the boycott). The Irish boxer Hugh Russell won bronze medal, meanwhile David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkins achieved silver medal at the Yachting events. Approximately 5,000 athletes participated, representing 81 countries.
The Soviets, in retaliation for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games, boycotted the 1984 Olympics celebrated in Los Angeles. Along with the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Cuba, fourteen other countries boycotted the Games. Though these countries boycotted, there was a newcomer to the 1984 Olympics - China participated in the Games for the first time since 1932.These were the first Games to turn a profit ($225 million) since 1932. Also, it was the first appearance of the three greater basketball superstars: Pat Ewing, Isaac Thomas and a younger Michael Jordan. It was also in these Games, when a great right Irish puncher Hugh Russell, won a silver medal in boxing.
In disgust at not being considered a co-host of the Seoul Olympic Games, North Korea boycotted the Games in 1988. Only Ethiopia and Cuba joined North Korea's boycott; thus these Olympics turned out to be a very large, exciting, and competitive event. The amateur rule, which had plagued athletes and officials alike since the beginning of the Olympic Games, was finally overturned in 1986. It was now up to individual sports groups to determine whether or not "professionals" should be allowed to compete in the Olympics. This new rule allowed tennis to return to the Olympic Games, not having appeared since 1924 when it was eliminated because of professional/amateur difficulties. Drug tests resulted in the banishment of several athletes from these Olympic Games. Ten athletes, including Canadian champion of the 100-meter run Ben Johnson, were disqualified for their use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. East Germany's Kristin Otto won six gold metals in swimming and Florence Griffith Joyner ("FloJo") of the United States attracted attention by both her speed and her flamboyant outfits.
In 1992, Barcelona was the host of the Games and this was the first Olympic Games in three decades without a boycott. Also it was the first time since 1964 Germany competed as a unified country. South Africa also rejoined the Games having eliminated apartheid. The amateur rule that was overturned for the 1988 Olympic Games, allowed the United States to send the "Dream Team," a basketball team made up of a number of the most famous U.S. professional basketball players, to the Olympics.
Baseball, a demonstration sport in earlier Games, was added to the Olympic roster. In this occasion, Cuba brought its baseball “dream team”. Meanwhile, Ireland’s memorable moment came when a Dubliner Michael Carruth, with his fits became the first Irishman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Also these were the golden years of Javier Sotomayor, Cuban world class athlete, now retired, and who still has the world record in high jump, both, indoors and out doors.
Four years later, Atlanta celebrated the first Games convened without any governmental support, which led to a commercialisation of the Games that disappointed some critics. A pipe bomb exploded in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park which killed two people but the motive or group responsible was never determined. Carl Lewis of the United States won his ninth gold medal. Approximately 10,000 athletes participated, representing 197 countries (including Hong Kong and the Palestinian Authority). Also, in these Games Michelle Smith de Bruin became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Irish competitor to do so in Swimming. She won three gold medals and a bronze, also a record by an Irish competitor at a single celebration of the Games. Likewise, the American superstar, Michael Johnson would be one of the most expected attractions of these Games. Definitely, once that he started the first heat in 200 meters, the whole country was paralyzed less than twenty seconds. However, the great show would be when, Michael went running the hectometer (the whole oval). He no only won the 400 meters test (including the world record achieved), but also won the 200 meters lid stopping the crones at so impress timing of 19.32 seconds.
The last millennium Olympics were closed celebrating a wonderful sport meeting in an exotic Sidney. They were the largest Games, with 10,651 athletes competing in 300 events. Despite their size, they were well organized, renewing faith in the Olympic Movement. Birgit Fischer earned two gold medals in Kayak to become the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart. Judoka Ryoko Tamura lost in the final in both Barcelona and Atlanta, but came back to win the gold medal in Sydney. Steven Redgrave became the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympics. The US softball team won in stirring fashion, losing three games in a row and then coming back to defeat each of the teams they had lost to. Sonia O’Sullivan added a silver medal to Ireland’s tally with a fine performance in Sydney in the 5000m on the track.
Finally, the first Olympics in this millennium will be open when the Olympic torch arrives in the Athens Olympic Stadium, on 13 August. Before that, the flame will have passed through a relay which covered a total of 33 cities in 34 days.
Pictured above: Jesse Owens of the USA severely puntured Nazi notions of racial superiority by winning yet another of his four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics