THE 2024 SUMMER OLYMPICS by Sheryl Jordan

   

The 2024 Summer Olympics occurred from July 24 through August 11, as you have probably seen on news outlets and social media platforms worldwide. I enjoy watching the games as much as I can, and some would say I become a bit obsessed with them for the two-and-a-half weeks of full coverage. My fondest memories of the Olympics were watching the various events with my family growing up. I now enjoy watching them with my husband, daughter, and grandchildren, or alone late into the night.

Although I have always been a huge fan of the Olympics, I knew little about their history, origins, and how they have evolved. Here are a few fun facts:

Origin

Did you know that the first games, known as the Ancient Olympic Games, date back to 776 BC? In honor of Zeus, they took place in Athens, Greece. The games occurred every four years, known as the Olympiad. The last Ancient Olympic games recorded were in 393 AD.

 1,500 years after the last Ancient Games, the first modern Olympic Games occurred in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to 15, 1896. The games have continued every four years since then, except for three cancellations in 1918, 1940, and 1944, and a postponement in 2020. The 1918 Berlin Games were canceled due to World War I. The 1940 Tokyo Games were canceled because Tokyo's award to host was forfeited due to Japan’s invasion of China, the Sino-Japanese War, and the start of World War II.  The 1944 London games were also canceled due to World War II. The 2020 Tokyo Games were postponed until July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Evolution of the Games

The Modern Olympic Games have evolved in many ways over the years. In the 1896 Games, approximately 280 male athletes from twelve countries competed in forty-three events.

Women first competed in the 1900 Paris Olympic Games. Twenty-two women out of 997 athletes competed in tennis, golf, croquet, sailing, and equestrianism. Since 1991, any new sport that wants to be added to the Olympic program must have women's competitions. In the 2012 London Games, women competed in all sports events for the first time. In 2016, 45 percent of the participants were women. Gender equality was first achieved this year at the 2024 Summer Paris Games, where 50 percent of the 10,714 athletes from 206 countries were women. Wow, it’s about time!

The Rings

The rings representing the Olympics were designed in 1913. The original design was used on the Olympic flag, which consists of five interlocked rings in colors from left to right: blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background. The renowned design represents the unification of athletes from the five inhabited continents of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South Americas, and Oceania. The colors represent almost all colors of most flags in the world.

 The Torch

The torchlight represents unity and harmony around the world. It is one of the most significant symbols of the Olympic games. The tradition of lighting the Torch began in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It is lit in Greece and carried by renowned athletes to the host country, where the Olympic cauldron is lit and remains ablaze throughout the Olympic games. It has traveled around the world several times and through hundreds of countries.

 The Medals

The athletes compete for three medals in each sports competition – Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The medals are awards for the athletes' hard work, with the top three athletes winning the medal, but I wondered what metals they are made of. Each Olympic Games has variations on the medals. The medals for the 2024 Paris Games include a steel replica of the Eifel Tower. The gold is mainly made of 92.5 purity silver and about 6 percent pure gold. The silver medal is made up of mostly silver with the same purity rating. The bronze medal is made up of 95 percent copper and about 5 percent zinc.  Who knew? All these years, I thought the gold and silver medals were made of pure gold and silver!

Also, gold medals weren’t always included in the Olympic awards. In the Ancient Olympics, first-place winners were awarded the silver medal and an olive branch. The second-place winners were awarded a bronze medal and a laurel branch. Gold medals didn’t exist until the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.

The United States won the most medals in the Olympics' history, with 2,959. It was followed by the Soviet Union and Great Britain.

After the 2024 Summer Olympics, the United States won 126 medals, 40 of which were gold. They were followed by China, with 91 medals, including 40 gold, and Great Britain, with 65 medals, including 14 gold.

I enjoyed watching the 2024 Paris Olympics. My favorite competitions are basketball, gymnastics, track and field, and swimming. I was rooting for the United States, but I appreciated all the talented athletes from all over the world giving their all. There were victories, upsets, disappointments, and mistakes were made. Some competitions were allowed for the first time in history, but they will not return to the 2028 games. There were lots of surprises and famous entertainers and athletes from past games. I found the 2024 games to be very entertaining.

What struck me most while watching the Olympics was the camaraderie of teammates cheering each other on and the respect most athletes had for their competitors. This made me think of how authors support and encourage one another. Authors from different parts of the world and of different genres cheer each other on and celebrate each other's wins whenever a book or story is published and released, or when we finish writing a chapter we’ve worked on and have rewritten it over and over. And all the edits we do to make our stories the best they can be for our wonderful readers who anxiously await the next book. We are a team we all can win at writing!

Did you watch the 2024 Summer Olympics? If so, what were your favorite competitions?