Summer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Brazil; the International Olympic Committee oversees the host city's preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, bronze medals are awarded for third place; the Winter Olympic Games were created due to the success of the Summer Olympics. The Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations in 1896, to 306 events with 11,238 competitors from 206 nations in 2016; the Summer Olympics has been hosted on five continents by a total of nineteen countries. The Games have been held four times in the United States; the IOC has selected Tokyo, Japan, to host the Summer Olympics for a second time in 2020. The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris, for a third time one hundred years after the city's last Summer Olympics in 1924.
The IOC has selected Los Angeles, California, to host its third Summer Games in 2028. To date, only five countries have participated in every Summer Olympic Games – Australia, Great Britain and Switzerland; the United States leads the all-time medal table for the Summer Olympics. The United States has hosted the Summer Olympic Games four times: the 1904 Games were held in St. Louis, Missouri; the 2028 Games in Los Angeles will mark the fifth occasion on which the Summer Games have been hosted by the U. S. In 2012, the United Kingdom hosted its third Summer Olympic Games in the capital city, which became the first city to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times; the cities of Los Angeles and Athens have each hosted two Summer Olympic Games. In 2024, France will host its third Summer Olympic Games in its capital, making Paris the second city to have hosted three Summer Olympics. In 2028, Los Angeles will become the third city to have hosted the Games three times. Australia, France and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice.
The IOC has selected Tokyo, Japan, to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, when it will become the first city outside the Western world to have hosted the Summer Olympics more than once, having hosted the Games in 1964. The other countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, China, Finland, Mexico, South Korea, Soviet Union, Sweden. Asia has hosted the Summer Olympics three times, in Tokyo, Seoul, South Korea, Beijing, China; the Summer Olympics has been held predominantly in English-speaking countries and European nations. Tokyo will be the first city outside these regions to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice; the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, were the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first that were held during the local winter season. The only two countries in the Southern Hemisphere to have hosted the Summer Olympics have been Australia and Brazil. Africa has yet to host a Summer Olympics. Stockholm, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been sole host of the 1912 Games, hosting the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Amsterdam, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been sole host of the 1928 Games and hosting two of the sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Hong Kong provided the venues for the equestrian events, which took place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung; the modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, contested in Much Wenlock since 1850; the first edition of de Coubertin's games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, only 14 countries were represented. No international events of this magnitude had been organised before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "If the committee doesn't let me compete I will go after them regardless"; the 1896 Summer Olympics known as the Games of the Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event, celebrated in Athens, from 6 to 15 April 1896.
It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. About 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games; the athletes came with most coming from Greece. Although Greece had the most athletes, the U. S. finished with the most champions. 11 Americans placed first in their events vs. the 10 from Greece
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event, held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events; this was the first time that China had hosted the Summer Olympics, but the third time that the Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were the third Olympic Games staged in a socialist country, after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union, the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Beijing was awarded the 2008 Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee after two rounds of voting; the Government of the People's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, including twelve constructed for use at the Games.
The equestrian events were held in Hong Kong, making this the third Olympics for which the events were held under the jurisdiction of two different NOCs. The sailing events were contested in Qingdao, while the football events took place in several different cities; the official logo for the 2008 Games, titled "Dancing Beijing", featured a stylized calligraphic character jīng in reference to the host city. Beijing Olympics was watched by 3.5 billion people worldwide. Longest distance for an Olympic torch relay The event sets numerous world and Olympics records in the history of Sports, is the most expensive Summer Olympics of all time and second most expensive overall, after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi; the opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding, by many accounts "the greatest in the history of Olympics". An unprecedented 87 countries won at least one medal during the Games. China won the most gold medals, with 48, became only the seventh different team to top an overall Olympic medal tally, winning a total of 100 medals overall.
The United States placed second in the gold medal tally but won the highest number of medals overall, with a total of 112. The third place in the gold medal tally was achieved by Russia. Beijing has been selected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing was elected as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics on 13 July 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, defeating bids from Toronto, Paris and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities had submitted bids to the IOC, but failed to make the short list chosen by the IOC Executive Committee in 2000. After the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka was eliminated. In the second round, Beijing was supported by a majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds. Toronto's bid was their 5th failure since 1960. Members of the IOC did not disclose their votes, but news reports speculated that broad international support led to China's selection from developing nations who had received assistance from China in the construction of stadiums.
The size of China, its increased enforcement of doping controls, sympathy concerning its loss of the 2000 Summer Olympics to Sydney were all factors in the decision. Eight years earlier, Beijing had led every round of voting for the 2000 Summer Olympics before losing to Sydney by two votes in the final round. Human rights concerns expressed by Amnesty International and politicians in both Europe and the United States were considered by the delegates, according to IOC Executive Director François Carrard. Carrard and others suggested. In addition, a number of IOC delegates, athletes expressed concern about heat and air quality during the Games, considering the high levels of air pollution in Beijing. China outlined plans to address these environmental concerns in its bid application; the Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics at US$6.8 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 2% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g. expenditures for technology, workforce, security, catering and medical services, direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, media and press center, which are required to host the Games.
Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The Beijing Olympics' cost of US$6.8 billion compares with costs of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016 and US$15 billion for London 2012. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion. On 6 March 2009, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games reported that total spending on the games was "generally as much as that of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games", equivalen
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad and known as Athens 2004, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, from 13 to 29 August 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. The Games saw 10,625 athletes compete, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports. Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the Olympic Games to the city where they began. Having hosted the Olympics in 1896, Athens became one of only four cities to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two separate occasions. A new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli, used since the 1928 Games; this rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue. The new design features the Panathenaic Stadium.
The 2004 Summer Games were hailed as "unforgettable, dream games" by IOC President Jacques Rogge, left Athens with a improved infrastructure, including a new airport, ring road, subway system. There have been arguments regarding the cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games and their possible contribution to the Greek government-debt crisis, there is little or no evidence for such a correlation; the 2004 Olympics were deemed to be a success, with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China and Russia with the host Greece at 15th place. Several World and Olympic records were broken during these Games. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997. Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. Under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004.
The success of Athens in securing the 2004 Games was based on Athens' appeal to Olympic history and the emphasis that it placed on the pivotal role that Greece and Athens could play in promoting Olympism and the Olympic Movement. Furthermore, unlike their bid for the 1996 Games, criticized for its overall disorganization and arrogance—wherein the bid lacked specifics and relied upon sentiment and the notion that it was Athens' right to organize the Centennial Games—the bid for the 2004 Games was lauded for its humility and earnestness, its focused message, its detailed bid concept; the 2004 bid addressed concerns and criticisms raised in its unsuccessful 1996 bid – Athens' infrastructural readiness, its air pollution, its budget, politicization of Games preparations. Athens' successful organization of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics the month before the host city election was crucial in allaying lingering fears and concerns among the sporting community and some IOC members about its ability to host international sporting events.
Another factor which contributed to Athens' selection was a growing sentiment among some IOC members to restore the values of the Olympics to the Games, a component which they felt was lost during the criticized over-commercialization of Atlanta 1996 Games. Subsequently, the selection of Athens was motivated by a lingering sense of disappointment among IOC members regarding the numerous organizational and logistical setbacks experienced during the 1996 Games. After leading all voting rounds, Athens defeated Rome in the 5th and final vote. Cape Town and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996; these cities were Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage. According to the cost-benefit evaluation of the impact of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games presented to the Greek Parliament in January 2013 by the Minister of Finance Mr. Giannis Stournaras, the overall net economic benefit for Greece was positive.
The Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the Games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing the Games. As a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million; the State's contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an anticipated 14%. The overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of that income came from broadcasting rights; the overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. Analysts refer to the "Cost of the Olympic Games" by taking into account not only the Organizing Committee's budget directly related to the Olympic Games, but the cost incurred by the hosting country during preparation, i.e. the large projects required for the upgrade of the country's infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, airports, power grid etc.
This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the act
Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics
The swimming competitions at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney took place from 16 to 23 September 2000 at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Homebush Bay. It featured 32 events, a total of 954 swimmers from 150 nations; the swimming program for 2000 was expanded from 1996, with the inclusion of the semifinal phase in each of the events except for some special cases. Long-distance swimming events and all relays still maintained the old format with only two phases: heats and final; because of the radical changes in the competition format, it was extended into an eight-day program and thereby continued into the present era. Swimmers from the United States were the most successful, winning 14 golds, 8 silver, 11 bronze to lead the overall medal count with 33. Meanwhile, Australia had produced a total of 18 medals to claim the second spot in the tally. A total of fourteen world records and thirty-eight Olympic records were set during the competition; the following events were contested: Freestyle: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500.
M = Morning session, E = Evening session A total of 954 swimmers from 150 nations would compete in swimming events at these Olympic Games. Aruba, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Laos, Federated States of Micronesia, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tajikistan made their official debut in swimming. Nations with swimmers at the Games are: * Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. * Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. Official Olympic Report 2000 Sydney Olympics Coverage – ABC News Australia
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is an individual or team sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, breaststroke and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers; the order for a medley relay is: backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques. There are regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps and injury tape that are allowed at competitions. Although it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur several injuries from the sport, such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees, there are multiple health benefits associated with the sport. Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10,000 years ago.
Written references date from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss professor of languages, wrote the first book about swimming, The Swimmer or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming. Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths was opened to the public. By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London; the recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country. In 1844 two Native American participants at a swimming competition in London introduced the front crawl to a European audience. Sir John Arthur Trudgen picked up the hand-over stroke from some South American natives and debuted the new stroke in 1873, winning a local competition in England.
His stroke is still regarded as the most powerful to use today. Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel, in 1875. Using the breaststroke technique, he swam the channel 21.26 miles in 45 minutes. His feat was not replicated or surpassed for the next 36 years, until T. W. Burgess made the crossing in 1911. Other European countries established swimming federations; the first European amateur swimming competitions were in 1889 in Vienna. The world's first women's swimming championship was held in Scotland in 1892. Men's swimming became part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902, the Australian Richmond Cavill introduced freestyle to the Western world. In 1908, the world swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation, was formed. Women's swimming was introduced into the Olympics in 1912. Butterfly was developed in the 1930s and was at first a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952. Competitive swimming became popular in the 19th century.
The goal of high level competitive swimming is to break personal or world records while beating competitors in any given event. Swimming in competition should create the least resistance in order to obtain maximum speed. However, some professional swimmers who do not hold a national or world ranking are considered the best in regard to their technical skills. An athlete goes through a cycle of training in which the body is overloaded with work in the beginning and middle segments of the cycle, the workload is decreased in the final stage as the swimmer approaches competition; the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition is called tapering. Tapering is used to give the swimmer's body some rest without stopping exercise completely. A final stage is referred to as "shave and taper": the swimmer shaves off all exposed hair for the sake of reducing drag and having a sleeker and more hydrodynamic feel in the water. Additionally, the "shave and taper" method refers to the removal of the top layer of "dead skin", which exposes the newer and richer skin underneath.
This helps to "shave" off mere milliseconds on your time. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 16 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50-meter pool, called a long course pool. There are forty recognized individual swimming events in the pool; the international governing body for competitive swimming is the Fédération Internationale de Natation, better known as FINA. In open water swimming, where the events are swum in a body of open water, there are 5 km, 10 km and 25 km events for men and women. However, only the 10 km event is included in the Olympic schedule, again for both women. Open-water competitions are separate to other swimming competitions with the exception of the World Championships and the Olympics. In competitive swimming, four major styles have been established; these have been stable over the last 30–40 years with minor improvements. They are: Butterfly Backstroke
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics
The swimming competitions at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens took place from 14 to 21 August 2004 at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre in Marousi. It featured 32 events, a total of 937 swimmers from 152 nations, the program's changes instituted in the previous Games, including notably the three-phase format for all short-distance races. Swimmers from the United States continued to dominate the medal tally with a total of 28, earning twelve golds, nine silver, seven bronze. Australia still maintained the second spot from Sydney in 2000, but produced a total of 15 more medals to its historical hardware in swimming. Meanwhile, Japan moved from behind to third overall in the medal board with eight medals after a sterling breaststroke double from Kosuke Kitajima. A total of eight world records and twenty-five Olympic records were set during the competition. Swimming events at the 2004 Summer Olympics were held at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre known as the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex during the games.
Built for the 1991 Mediterranean Games, it was refurbished to host swimming, synchronised swimming, water polo events. Swimming events were held at the main outdoor pool of the complex, which held 10,893 spectators, was interchangeably used for swimming and water polo events throughout the duration of the games. A plastic-coated tarpaulin roof covering the two outdoor pools of the complex, designed to protect spectators and swimmers from being exposed to the summer heat, was planned to be built as part of the renovations. However, due to cost overruns and delays in construction, planners decided to scrap the roof in March 2004, criticised by FINA, the governing body of water sports; the venue would be approved by FINA weeks before the opening of the games in August. The following events were contested: Freestyle: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500. M = Morning session, E = Evening session A total of 937 swimmers from 152 nations would compete in swimming events at these Olympic Games. Antigua and Barbuda, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands and Turkmenistan made their official debut in swimming.
Meanwhile, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Norway returned to the sport after long years of absence. Nations with swimmers at the Games are: * Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. * Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. Official result book – Swimming
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation, in which competitors are subject to few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions, with distances beginning with 50 meters and reaching 1500 meters known as the mile; the term'freestyle stroke' is sometimes used as a synonym for'front crawl', as front crawl is the fastest swimming stroke. It is now the most common stroke used in freestyle competitions. Freestyle swimming implies the use of legs and arms for competitive swimming, except in the case of the individual medley or medley relay events; the front crawl is most chosen by swimmers, as this provides the greatest speed. During a race, the competitor circles the arms forward in alternation, kicking the feet down. Individual freestyle events can be swum using one of the regulated strokes. For the freestyle part of medley swimming competitions, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke.
Front crawl is based on the Trudgen, improved by Richmond Cavill from Sydney, Australia. Cavill developed the stroke by observing a young boy from Alick Wickham. Cavill and his brothers spread the Australian crawl to England, New Zealand and America, creating the freestyle used worldwide today. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum exclusively during freestyle; some of the few rules state that swimmers must touch the end of the pool during each length and cannot push off the bottom, hang on the wall, or pull on the lane lines during the course of the race. As with all competitive events, false starts can lead to disqualification of the swimmer. Times have dropped over the years due to better training techniques and to new developments in the sport. In the first four Olympics, swimming competitions were not in open water; the 1904 Olympics freestyle race was the only one measured at 100 yards, instead of the usual 100 meters. A 100-meter pool was built for the 1908 Olympics and sat in the center of the main stadium's track and field oval.
The 1912 Olympics, held in the Stockholm harbor, marked the beginning of electronic timing. Male swimmers wore full body suits up until the 1940s, which caused more drag in the water than their modern swimwear counterparts. Over the years, some design considerations have reduced swimming resistance, making the pool faster, namely: proper pool depth, elimination of currents, increased lane width, energy-absorbing racing lane lines and gutters, the use of other innovative hydraulic and illumination designs; the 1924 Olympics was the first to use the standard 50 meter pool with marked lanes. In freestyle events, swimmers dove from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated at the 1936 Olympics; the flip turn was developed in the 1950s. Lane design created in the early 1970s has cut down turbulence in water, aiding in the more dynamic pool used today. Freestyle means "any style" for individual swims and any style but breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke for both the individual medley, medley relay competitions.
The wall has to be touched upon completion. Some part of the swimmer must be above water at any time, except for the first 15 meters after the start and every turn; this rule was introduced to prevent swimmers from using the faster underwater swimming to their advantage, or swimming entire laps underwater. The exact FINA rules are: Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual medley or medley relay events, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke, or butterfly Some part of the swimmer must touch the wall upon completion of each length and at the finish Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters after the start and each turn. By that point the head must have broken the surface. There are nine competitions used in freestyle swimming, both using either a long course or a short course pool.
The United States employs short course yards. In the United States, it is common for swimmers to compete in a 25-yard pool during the Fall and Spring, switch over to a 50-meter pool format during the Summer. 50 m freestyle 100 m freestyle 200 m freestyle 400 m freestyle 800 m freestyle 1500 m freestyle 4×50 m freestyle relay 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 4 × 200 m freestyle relay Young swimmers have the option to swim a 25 yard/meter freestyle event. Freestyle is part of the medley over the following distances: 100 m individual medley 200 m individual medley 400 m individual medley 4 × 100 m medley relay In the long distance races of the 800 meter and 1500 meter, some meets hosted by FINA only
