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.
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 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?