1.
Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
2.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
3.
Stadium
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Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event at the ancient Greek Olympic festival was the race that comprised one length of the stade at Olympia, where the word stadium originated. In modern times, a stadium is officially a stadium when at least 50% of the capacity is an actual building. If the majority of the capacity is formed by grasshills, the venue is not officially considered a stadium. Most of the stadiums with a capacity of at least 10,000 are used for football, or soccer. A large amount of sports venues are also used for concerts. Stadium is the Latin form of the Greek word stadion, a measure of length equalling the length of 600 human feet, as feet are of variable length the exact length of a stadion depends on the exact length adopted for 1 foot at a given place and time. Although in modern terms 1 stadion =600 ft, in a historical context it may actually signify a length up to 15% larger or smaller. The equivalent Roman measure, the stadium, had a similar length — about 185 m -, the English use of stadium comes from the tiered infrastructure surrounding a Roman track of such length. Most dictionaries provide for both stadiums and stadia as valid English plurals, although etymological purists sometimes apply stadia only to measures of length in excess of 1 stadium. The oldest known stadium is the one in Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, Greece, initially the Games consisted of a single event, a sprint along the length of the stadium. The stadion, a measure of length, may be related to the Stadium, Greek and Roman stadiums have been found in numerous ancient cities, perhaps the most famous being the Stadium of Domitian, in Rome. The excavated and refurbished ancient Panathenaic stadium hosted a version of the Olympic Games in 1870,1875,1896 and 1906. The excavation and refurbishment of the stadium was part of the legacy of the Greek national benefactor Evangelos Zappas, the first stadiums to be built in the modern era were basic facilities, designed for the single purpose of fitting as many spectators in as possible. One such early stadium was the Lansdowne Road Stadium, the brainchild of Henry Dunlop, banned from locating sporting events at Trinity College, Dunlop built the stadium in 1872. Some 300 cartloads of soil from a trench beneath the railway were used to raise the ground, other early stadiums from this period in the UK include the Stamford Bridge stadium and Anfield stadium. In the U. S. However, many of these caught fire. All of the 19th-century wooden parks were replaced, some only a few years. Goodison Park was the first purpose-built football stadium in the world, walton-based building firm Kelly brothers were instructed to erect two uncovered stands that could each accommodate 4,000 spectators
4.
Ancient Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin, the first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held four years, or olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their cities to the games in safety, the prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, the games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations, the statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons, the ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate, although there were victorious women chariot owners. The games were held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations, to the Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology. During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods and these origin traditions have become nearly impossible to untangle, yet a chronology and patterns have arisen that help people understand the story behind the games. The earliest myths regarding the origin of the games are recounted by the Greek historian, according to the story, the dactyl Heracles and four of his brothers, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas, raced at Olympia to entertain the newborn Zeus. He crowned the victor with an olive wreath, which also explains the four year interval. The other Olympian gods would also engage in wrestling, jumping and running contests, another myth of the origin of the games is the story of Pelops, a local Olympian hero. The story of Pelops begins with Oenomaus, the king of Pisa, Greece, according to an oracle, the king would be killed by her husband. Now, the kings chariot horses were a present from the god Poseidon and were therefore supernaturally fast, Pelops was a very handsome young man and the kings daughter fell in love with him. Before the race, she persuaded her fathers charioteer Myrtilus to replace the bronze axle pins of the chariot with wax ones. Naturally, during the race the wax melted and the fell from his chariot and was killed
5.
Parthenon
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The Parthenon is a former temple, on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power and it was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order and its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and western civilization. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a programme of restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure. The Parthenon itself replaced a temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon. The temple is aligned to the Hyades. While a sacred building dedicated to the patron goddess, the Parthenon was actually used primarily as a treasury. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, in the final decade of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, on 26 September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the sculptures with the alleged permission of the Ottoman Empire. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, since 1983, the Greek government has been committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece. The Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon states that this room was the western cella of the Parthenon, jamauri D. Christopher Pelling asserts that Athena Parthenos may have constituted a discrete cult of Athena, intimately connected with, but not identical to, that of Athena Polias. According to this theory, the name of the Parthenon means the temple of the virgin goddess and it has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens, whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city. Parthénos has also applied to the Virgin Mary, Parthénos Maria. The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the building is found in the writings of the 4th century BC orator Demosthenes. In 5th-century building accounts, the structure is simply called ho naos, because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of Minerva, the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century
6.
Peplos
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A peplos is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by 500 BC. It was a long, tubular cloth with the top folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the tube was now draped below the waist. The garment was gathered about the waist and the folded top edge pinned over the shoulders. The folded-down top of the tube provided the appearance of a piece of clothing. The peplos was draped and open on one side of the body and it should not be confused with the Ionic chiton, which was a piece of fabric folded over and sewn together along the longer side to form a tube. The Classical garment is represented in Greek vase painting from the 5th century BC, spartan women continued to wear the peplos much later in history than other Greek cultures, causing other Greeks to call them phainomērídes the thigh-showers. They had to weave a theme of Athenas defeat of Enkelados, the peplos of the statue was changed each year during the Plynteria. The peplos played a role in the Athenian festival of the Great Panathenaea, nine months before the festival, at the arts and crafts festival titled Chalkeia, a special peplos would begin to be woven by young women. This peplos was placed on the statue of Athena during the festival procession, the peplos had myths and stories woven into its material and usually consisted of purple and saffron yellow cloth. Chiton Clothing in ancient Greece Clothing in the ancient world Peplos Greek Dress Peplum dresses
7.
Athena
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Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, craft, and war in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena, Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have fought for just reasons. Athena is portrayed as a companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her city, Athens. Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes, in her role as a protector of the city, many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias. While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name, Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name, because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times. Mycenae was the city where the Goddess was called Mykene, at Thebes she was called Thebe, and the city again a plural, Thebae. Similarly, at Athens she was called Athena, and the city Athenae, Athena had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city. According to mythical lore, she competed with Poseidon and she won by creating the olive tree, the Athenians would accept her gift and name the city after her. In history, the citizens of Athens built a statue of Athena as a temple to the goddess, which had piercing eyes, a helmet on her head, attired with an aegis or cuirass, and an extremely long spear. It also had a shield with the head of the Gorgon on it. A large snake accompanied her and she held Nike, the goddess of victory, therefore, Mylonas believes that Athena was a Mycenaean creation. On the other hand, Nilsson claims that she was the goddess of the palace who protected the king, a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja is also found in Linear A Minoan, the final part being regarded as the Linear A Minoan equivalent of the Linear B Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja. Divine Athena also was a weaver and the deity of crafts, whether her name is attested in Eteocretan or not will have to wait for decipherment of Linear A. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean she who knows divine things better than others. Thus for Plato her name was to be derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα, Plato also noted that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess whose Egyptian name was Neith, and which was identified with Athena. Neith was the war goddess and huntress deity of the Egyptians since the ancient Pre-Dynastic period, in addition, ancient Greek myths reported that Athena had visited many mythological places such as Libyas Triton River in North Africa and the Phlegraean plain
8.
Parthenon Frieze
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The Parthenon frieze is the high-relief pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon’s naos. It was sculpted between c.443 and 438 BC, most likely under the direction of Pheidias, of the 524 feet of the original frieze,420 feet survives—some 80 percent. The rest is known only from the attributed to French artist Jacques Carrey in 1674. At present, the majority of the frieze is at the British Museum in London, the largest proportion of the rest is in Athens, and the remainder of fragments shared between six other institutions. Casts of the frieze may be found in the Beazley archive at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana, in the Skulpturhalle at Basel and elsewhere. Plutarch’s Life of Pericles,13. 4–9, informs us “the man who directed all the projects and was overseer for him was Phidias. Almost everything was under his supervision, and, as we have said, he was in charge, owing to his friendship with Perikles, the description was not architekton, the term usually given to the creative influence behind a building project, rather episkopos. The frieze consists of 378 figures and 245 animals and it was 160 meters in length when complete, as well as 1 meter in height, and it projects 5.6 cm forward at its maximum depth. It is composed of 114 blocks of an average 1.22 meters in length and it was a particular novelty of the Parthenon that the cella carries an Ionic frieze over the hexastyle pronaos rather than Doric metopes, as would have been expected of a Doric temple. The marble was quarried from Mt. Pentelikon and transported 19 km to the acropolis of Athens, a persistent question has been whether it was carved in situ. Additionally, on grounds it is easier to move a sculptor than a sculpture. It was finished with metal detailing and painted, no colour, however, survives, but perhaps the background was blue, judging by comparison with grave stelae and the paint remnants on the frieze of the Hephaisteion. Possibly figures held objects that were rendered in paint such as Poseidon’s trident. The many drill holes found in Hera’s and Apollos heads indicate that a bronze wreath would probably have crowned the deities. The system of numbering the frieze blocks dates back to Adolf Michaeliss 1871 work Der Parthenon, the narrative of the frieze begins at the southwest corner where the procession appears to divide into two separate files. The first third of the west frieze is not part of the procession, the following ranks W21–1 along with N75–136 and S1–61 are all of horsemen and constitute 46% of the whole frieze. They are divided into two lines of ten ranks – the same number as that of the Attic tribes, next are the four-horse chariots, each with charioteer and armed passenger, there are ten on the south frieze and eleven on the north. Since these passengers are sometimes depicted as dismounting they may be taken to represent the apobatai, participants in the race found in Attica
9.
Panathenaic amphora
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Panathenaic amphorae were the amphorae, large ceramic vessels, that contained the olive oil given as prizes in the Panathenaic Games. Some were ten gallons and 60-70 cm high and this oil came from the sacred grove of Athena at Akademia. On the back of the vase was a representation of the event for which it was an award, sometimes roosters are depicted perched on top of the columns. The significance of the remains a mystery. Later amphorae also had that years archons name written on it making finds of those vases archaeologically important, the vases were commissioned by the state from the leading pottery workshops of the day in large numbers. Their canonical shape was set by 530 BCE, but the earliest known example is the Burgon amphora and this may mean that the vase predates the festivals reorganization in 566 since it is not an athletic event. The cock column is first seen on a panathenaic by Exekias, by the early fourth century the inclusion of the archons name appears on these vases, the earliest almost intact one being Asteios 373/2 BCE. There is a fragment that bears the name Hippodamas of 375/4 BCE, however, which may also be a panathenaic, as the century progressed the profile of the vases became elongated and the decoration more mannered. Some vases were used as grave goods by the families of the victors, some were dedicated to sanctuaries, the survival rate of Greek pottery as a whole may be calculated from the remnant of panathenaic amphorae that exist. After approximately 350 BCE at least 1450 vases were awarded four years in the greater Panathenaia. 25% of all Greek vases awarded are still extant. Basel, Vereinigung der Freunde Antiker Kunst 1998 ISBN 3-909064-18-3 Martin Bentz, Norbert Eschbach, Panathenaïka, ISBN 3-8053-2708-0 S. A. Callisen, The Iconography of the Cock on the Column, The Art Bulletin, Vol.21, No
10.
Chariot racing
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Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was dangerous to drivers and horses as they often suffered serious injury and even death, but these dangers added to the excitement. Chariot races could be watched by women, who were barred from watching other sports. In the Roman form of racing, teams represented different groups of financial backers. As in modern sports like soccer, spectators generally chose to support a team, identifying themselves strongly with its fortunes. The rivalries were sometimes politicized, when teams became associated with competing social or religious ideas and this helps explain why Roman and later Byzantine emperors took control of the teams and appointed many officials to oversee them. The sport faded in importance in the West after the fall of Rome and it survived for a time in the Byzantine Empire, where the traditional Roman factions continued to play a prominent role for several centuries, gaining influence in political matters. Their rivalry culminated in the Nika riots, which marked the decline of the sport. It is unknown exactly when chariot racing began, but it may have been as old as chariots themselves, the participants in this race were Diomedes, Eumelus, Antilochus, Menelaus, and Meriones. The race, which was one lap around the stump of a tree, was won by Diomedes, who received a slave woman and a cauldron as his prize. In the ancient Olympic Games, as well as the other Panhellenic Games, the chariot racing event was first added to the Olympics in 680 BC with the games expanding from a one-day to a two-day event to accommodate the new event. The races themselves were held in the hippodrome, which held both chariot races and riding races, the single horse race was known as the keles. The hippodrome was situated at the south-east corner of the sanctuary of Olympia, on the flat area south of the stadium. Until recently, its location was unknown, since it is buried by several meters of sedimentary material from the Alfeios River. In 2008, however, Annie Muller and staff of the German Archeological Institute used radar to locate a large, rectangular structure similar to Pausaniass description. Pausanias, who visited Olympia in the second century AD, describes the monument as a large, elongated, flat space, the elongated racecourse was divided longitudinally into two tracks by a stone or wooden barrier, the embolon. All the horses or chariots ran on one track toward the east, then turned around the embolon, distances varied according to the event. The racecourse was surrounded by natural and artificial banks for the spectators, the race was begun by a procession into the hippodrome, while a herald announced the names of the drivers and owners
11.
Homer
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Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of Greek literature. The Odyssey focuses on the home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Many accounts of Homers life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a bard from Ionia. The modern scholarly consensus is that these traditions do not have any historical value, the Homeric question - by whom, when, where and under what circumstances were the Iliad and Odyssey composed - continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion on the authorship question falls into two camps, one group holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the work of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the crystallization of a process of working and re-working by many contributors and it is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. Most researchers believe that the poems were transmitted orally. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education, to Plato, the chronological period of Homer depends on the meaning to be assigned to the word Homer. Was Homer a single person, an imaginary person representing a group of poets and this information is often called the world of Homer. The Homeric period would in that cover a number of historical periods, especially the Mycenaean Age. Considered word-for-word, the texts as we know them are the product of the scholars of the last three centuries. Each edition of the Iliad or Odyssey is a different, as the editors rely on different manuscripts and fragments. The term accuracy reveals a belief in an original uniform text. The manuscripts of the work currently available date to no earlier than the 10th century. These are at the end of a missing thousand-year chain of copies made as each generation of manuscripts disintegrated or were lost or destroyed and these numerous manuscripts are so similar that a single original can be postulated. The time gap in the chain is bridged by the scholia, or notes, on the existing manuscripts, librarian of the Library of Alexandria, he had noticed a wide divergence in the works attributed to Homer, and was trying to restore a more authentic copy. He had collected several manuscripts, which he named, the Sinopic, the one he selected for correction was the koine, which Murray translates as the Vulgate. Aristarchus was known for his selection of material
12.
Aulos
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An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos, the ancient Roman equivalent was the tibicen, from the Latin tibia, pipe, aulos. There were several kinds of aulos, single or double, the most common variety was a reed instrument. Archeological finds, surviving iconography and other evidence indicate that it was double-reeded, like the modern oboe, a single pipe without a reed was called the monaulos. A single pipe held horizontally, as the flute, was the plagiaulos. A pipe with a bag to allow for sound, that is a bagpipe, was the askaulos. Like the Great Highland Bagpipe, the aulos has been used for martial music and it was the standard accompaniment of the passionate elegiac poetry. It also accompanied physical activities such as wrestling matches, the broad jump, plato associates it with the ecstatic cults of Dionysus and the Korybantes, banning it from his Republic but reintroducing it in Laws. It appears that some variants of the instrument were loud, shrill, sometimes a second strap was used over the top of the head to prevent the phorbeiá from slipping down. Aulos players are depicted with puffed cheeks. The playing technique almost certainly made use of breathing, very much like the Sardinian launeddas and Armenian duduk. Nevertheless, such musicians could achieve fame, the Romano-Greek writer Lucian discusses aulos playing in his dialogue Harmonides, in which Alexander the Greats aulete Timotheus discusses fame with his pupil Harmonides. Timotheus advises him to impress the experts within his profession rather than seek popular approval in big public venues, if leading musicians admire him, popular approval will follow. However, Lucian reports that Harmonides died from excessive blowing during practicing, in myth, Marsyas the satyr was supposed to have invented the aulos, or else picked it up after Athena had thrown it away because it caused her cheeks to puff out and ruined her beauty. But Apollo and his lyre beat Marsyas and his aulos, and since the pure lord of Delphis mind worked in different ways from Marsyass, he celebrated his victory by stringing his opponent up from a tree and flaying him alive. King Midas was cursed with donkeys ears for judging Apollo as the lesser player, Marsyass blood and the tears of the Muses formed the river Marsyas in Asia Minor. This tale was a warning against committing the sin of hubris, or overweening pride, some of this is a result of 19th century AD classical interpretation, i. e. Apollo versus Dionysus, or Reason opposed to Madness. In the temple to Apollo at Delphi, there was also a shrine to Dionysus, and his Maenads are shown on drinking cups playing the aulos, so a modern interpretation can be a little more complicated than just simple duality
13.
Cithara
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The cithara or kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre or lyra family. In modern Greek the word kithara has come to mean guitar, the kithara was a professional version of the two-stringed lyre. As opposed to the lyre, which was a folk-instrument. The kitharas origins are likely Asiatic, the barbiton was a bass version of the kithara popular in the eastern Aegean and ancient Asia Minor. In the Middle Ages, cythara was used generically for stringed instruments including lyres. The use of the name throughout the Middle Ages looked back to the original Greek cithara, the kithara had a deep, wooden sounding box composed of two resonating tables, either flat or slightly arched, connected by ribs or sides of equal width. At the top, its strings were knotted around the crossbar or yoke or to rings threaded over the bar, the other end of the strings was secured to a tail-piece after passing over a flat bridge, or the tail-piece and bridge were combined. The kithara was played primarily to accompany dances and epic recitations, rhapsodies, odes and it was also played solo at the receptions, banquets, national games, and trials of skill. The music from this instrument was said to be the lyre for drinking parties and is considered an invention of Terpander, aristotle said that these string instruments were not for educational purposes but for pleasure only. The kithara was the instrument, generally known as taking a great deal of skill. Sappho is closely associated with music, especially string instruments like the kithara and she was a woman of high social standing and composed songs that focused on the emotions. A Greek mythology story goes that she ascended the slopes of Mount Parnassus where she was welcomed by the Muses. She wandered through the grove and came upon the cave of Apollo. The sacred nymphs danced while she stroked the strings with much talent to bring forth sweet musical melodies from the resonant kithara, Music and Image in Classical Athens, New York, Cambridge University Press Schlesinger, Kathleen. MMA staff, The Kithara in Ancient Greece | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, retrieved 2016-10-25 Hagel, Stefan, Ancient Greek Music, Oeaw. ac. In its recording DEuripide aux premiers chretiens, musique de lantiquité grecque et romaine, pictures of its instruments can be seen on their website
14.
Odyssey
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The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci. The Odyssey continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into languages around the world. Many scholars believe the poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos, perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance and the conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek. Among the most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, in the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer and it was usually attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta. In one source, the Telegony was said to have stolen from Musaeus by either Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene. The Odyssey begins ten years after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war. Odysseus protectress, the goddess Athena, requests to Zeus, king of the gods, to finally allow Odysseus to return home when Odysseus enemy, then, disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes, she visits Telemachus to urge him to search for news of his father. He offers her hospitality, they observe the suitors dining rowdily while the bard Phemius performs a poem for them. Penelope objects to Phemius theme, the Return from Troy, because it reminds her of her missing husband and that night Athena, disguised as Telemachus, finds a ship and crew for the true prince. The next morning, Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca to discuss what should be done with the suitors. Accompanied by Athena, he departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor, most venerable of the Greek warriors at Troy, now at home in Pylos
15.
Iliad
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The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Then the epic narrative takes up events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles imminent death and the fall of Troy, although the narrative ends before these events take place. However, as events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly. The Iliad is paired with something of a sequel, the Odyssey, along with the Odyssey, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the 8th century BC. Recent statistical modelling based on language evolution gives a date of 760–710 BC, in the modern vulgate, the Iliad contains 15,693 lines, it is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek and other dialects. Note, Book numbers are in parentheses and come before the synopsis of the book, after an invocation to the Muses, the story launches in medias res towards the end of the Trojan War between the Trojans and the besieging Greeks. Chryses, a Trojan priest of Apollo, offers the Greeks wealth for the return of his daughter Chryseis, held captive of Agamemnon, although most of the Greek army is in favour of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chryses prays for Apollos help, and Apollo causes a plague to afflict the Greek army, after nine days of plague, Achilles, the leader of the Myrmidon contingent, calls an assembly to deal with the problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father, angered, Achilles declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon but will go home. Odysseus takes a ship and returns Chryseis to her father, whereupon Apollo ends the plague, in the meantime, Agamemnons messengers take Briseis away. Achilles becomes very upset, sits by the seashore, and prays to his mother, Achilles asks his mother to ask Zeus to bring the Greeks to the breaking point by the Trojans, so Agamemnon will realize how much the Greeks need Achilles. Thetis does so, and Zeus agrees, Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon heeds the dream but decides to first test the Greek armys morale, the plan backfires, and only the intervention of Odysseus, inspired by Athena, stops a rout. Odysseus confronts and beats Thersites, a soldier who voices discontent about fighting Agamemnons war. After a meal, the Greeks deploy in companies upon the Trojan plain, the poet takes the opportunity to describe the provenance of each Greek contingent. When news of the Greek deployment reaches King Priam, the Trojans too sortie upon the plain, in a list similar to that for the Greeks, the poet describes the Trojans and their allies. The armies approach each other, but before they meet, Paris offers to end the war by fighting a duel with Menelaus, urged by his brother and head of the Trojan army, Hector. While Helen tells Priam about the Greek commanders from the walls of Troy, Paris is beaten, but Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus can kill him
16.
Panathenaic Stadium
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The Panathenaic Stadium also known as Kallimarmaro, is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece. One of the attractions of Athens, it is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. A stadium was built on the site of a simple racecourse by the Athenian statesman Lykourgos c. 330 BC and it was rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus, an Athenian Roman senator, by 144 AD and had a capacity of 50,000 seats. After the rise of Christianity in the 4th century it was largely abandoned, the stadium was excavated in 1869 and hosted the Zappas Olympics in 1870 and 1875. After being refurbished, it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was the venue for 4 of the 9 contested sports and it was used for various purposes in the 20th century and was once again used as an Olympic venue in 2004. It is the point for the annual Athens Classic Marathon. It is also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place, the stadium is built in what was originally a natural ravine between the two hills of Agra and Ardettos, south of the Ilissos river. Up to the 1950s, the River ran in front of the entrance, and the spring of Kallirrhoe, the sanctuary of Pankrates. Originally, since the 6th century BC, a racecourse existed at the site of the stadium and it hosted the Panathenaic Games, a religious and athletic festival celebrated every 4 years in honor of the goddess Athena. The racecourse had no seating and the spectators sat on the natural slopes on the side of the ravine. In the 4th century BC the Athenian statesman Lykourgos built a 850-foot long stadium of Poros limestone, tiers of stone benches were arranged around the track. The track was 669 feet long and 110 feet wide, IG II²351, records that Eudemus of Plataea gave 1000 yoke of oxen for the construction of the stadium and theater. The stadium of Lykourgos is believed to have completed for the Panathenaic Games of 330/329 BC. Donald Kyle suggests that it is possible that Lykourgos did not built, according to Richard Ernest Wycherley the stadium probably had stone seating only for a privileged few. Herodes Atticus, an Athenian who rose to the highest echelons of power in Rome, was responsible for numerous structures in Greece, in Athens he is best known for the reconstruction of the Panathenaic Stadium. Tobin suggests that Herodes built the stadium soon after Atticuss death, the first Greater Panathenaia following his fathers demise was 139/40, and it is probable that at that time Herodes promised the refurbishment of the stadium. According to Philostratus, it was completed four years later, which would have been in 143/4 and these dates are now widely cited as construction dates of the stadium of Herodes Atticus. Welch writes that the stadium was completed by 143 in time for Panathenaic festival, the new stadium was built completely of ashlar masonry in Pentelic marble, using minimal concrete
17.
Evangelos Zappas
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Evangelis or Evangelos Zappas was a Greek patriot, philanthropist and businessman who spent most of his life in Romania. These Games, known at the time simply as Olympics, came before the founding of the International Olympic Committee, the legacy of Evangelis Zappas, as well as the legacy of his cousin Konstantinos Zappas, was also used to fund the Olympic Games of 1896. During his youth, Zappas joined the Greek War of Independence, achieving the rank of Major, following Greek independence, he moved to Wallachia where he had a successful career as a businessman, becoming one of the richest men of that time in Eastern Europe. Evangelis Zappas was born of a Greek ancestry in 1800 in the village of Labovo, near Tepelenë, Zappas did not receive any education during his childhood. He left his village at the age of 13 and enrolled as a mercenary in the Ottoman militia of the local ruler Ali Pasha, Zappas became a member of the Greek patriotic organization Filiki Eteria and joined his compatriots when the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821. During this period, Zappas reached the rank of Major in the army and became a personal friend of the Souliot captain. After Botsariss death in 1823, Zappas served under various commanders of the independence struggle, such as Dimitrios Panourgias, Kitsos Tzavelas. He participated in major conflicts, such as the siege of Souli, the first siege of Missolonghi. In his later correspondence with a Greek official, he claimed that he was wounded five times during the war, in 1831, Zappas emigrated to Wallachia and made a fortune in land and agriculture. In the 1850s, Zappas was considered one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe, at the time of his death in 1865, his total wealth was estimated at six million gold drachmas. The idea of reviving the ancient Olympic Games had been raised from time to time during the early and mid 19th century, inspired to a certain degree by romanticism and patriotism. In 1833, the romantic poet Panagiotis Soutsos, in his work Dialogue of the Dead, proposed the revival of the Games in the newly formed Greek state, in 1852, archaeologist Ernst Curtius stated during a lecture that the Olympic events would be revived. Zappas was notably inspired by Panagiotis Soutsos and resolved to revive this ancient tradition through his own efforts and resources. In early 1856, he sent a letter through diplomatic channels to King Otto of Greece, offering to fund the revival of the Olympic Games, however, this initiative was not without opposition. There was wide belief among some Greek politicians that athletic games were a throwback to ancient times, alexandros Rizos Rangavis, the Greek foreign minister and head of the conservative anti-athletics lobby in Athens, suggested an industrial and agricultural exposition instead of an athletics event. For months there was no answer from the Greek state. In July 1856, an article in the Greek press by Panagiotis Soutsos made Zappass proposal widely known to the public, King Otto agreed to the organization of athletics competitions at four-year intervals, with Zappas full sponsorship, to coincide with industrial and agricultural expositions. As a result, Zappas provided the Greek government with the financial resources to establish an Olympic Trust Fund
18.
Zappas Olympics
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The Zappas Olympics, simply called Olympics at the time, were a series of athletic events held in Athens, Greece, in 1859,1870, and 1875 sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelis Zappas. These games were one of the first revivals of the ancient Olympic Games in the modern era and their success provided further inspiration for William Penny Brookes in England, whose games had been running since 1850, and the International Olympic Committee series from 1896. The same stadium would also host the first IOC Games of 1896, the 1906 Intercalated Games, and archery, sporadic references to the revival of the ancient Olympic Games were made by various personalities during the 19th century, inspired by a certain degree of romanticism. In his 1833 poem Dialogue of the Dead, the Constantinople-born, Panagiotis Soutsos editor of a Greek newspaper, soon after, he explicitly proposed the revival of the games by the newly formed Greek state, even sending a memorandum to that effect to the Greek government in 1835. His proposal was accepted by King Otto of Greece, but in the event, nothing was done, in 1852, the German archaeologist Ernst Curtius, during a romantic lecture, also stated that the Olympic events would be revived. Evangelis Zappas, a businessman and member of the Greek diaspora in Romania, was inspired by Soutsos and resolved to revive this ancient tradition through his own efforts. In early 1856, Zappas sent a letter through diplomatic channels to King Otto of Greece, offering to fund the project of the Olympic revival. However, this initiative was not without opposition, there was a wide belief among part of the Greek politicians that athletic games were just a throwback to archaic times. They feared that Greece would seem primitive among the nations of Europe if it revived, as they claimed. In July 1856, an article in the Greek press by Panagiotis Soutsos, finally, Otto agreed upon competitions at four-year intervals, on the occasion of industrial and agricultural expositions, and allowed the realization of athletic events with Zappas full sponsorship. Consequently, Zappas offered the necessary funds to the Greek government in order to establish an Olympic Trust Fund, on November 15,1859 the first modern revival of the athletic Olympic Games took place in Athens. As the renovation of the ancient Panathenaic stadium was not yet complete, although they could be termed as the first Olympic Games of the present tradition, it was far from being an international festival. They had a national character, since the participants were exclusively of Greek ethnicity. Athletes competed in a variety of disciplines, similar to those of the ancient Olympic games, running, discus, javelin throwing, wrestling, jumping and pole climbing. Attendees included the king, officers and other dignitaries in rows of seats, since it was one of the first mass gatherings in the citys modern history, neither the people nor the police had any previous experience with maintaining the order at such an event. The site was also unsuited for the sports and the weather was too cold, who were attracted by the monetary prizes of the Games. Even a beggar, who pretended to be blind, participated in the races, the Wenlock Prize was the largest prize on offer and was won by Petros Velissarios of Smyrna from the Ottoman Empire who was of Greek ethnic descent. In July 1869, the dates of the 1870 Olympics were announced, followed by organizational plans, the committee paid for participating athletes to undergo three months of training prior to the Games
19.
Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games are considered the worlds foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in changes to the Olympic Games. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic, political, as a result, the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship, World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916,1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games, the Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees, and organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, the IOC also determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals, gold, silver, the Games have grown so much that nearly every nation is now represented. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, doping, bribery, every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games also constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to themselves to the world. The Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat such as wrestling. It has been written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace or truce and this idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus
20.
1896 Summer Olympics
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The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee, which had created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece. Winners were given a medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,11, host nation Greece won the most medals overall,46, the highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, the main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place, other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the athletes were aligned on the infield. After a speech by the president of the committee, Crown Prince Constantine. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date, the Panathenaic Stadium, the only Olympic stadium used in the 1800s, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, during the 19th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the Ancient Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athletique, Coubertin also took inspiration from the earlier Greek games organised under the name of Olympics by businessman and philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859,1870 and 1875. This the Greek government did despite the fact that the cost of refurbishing the stadium in marble had already been funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier. With deep feeling towards Baron de Coubertins courteous petition, I send him, on 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposals acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen, Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a waiting period might lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city and it remains a mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games
21.
2004 Summer Olympics
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10,625 athletes competed, 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 games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been 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 cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. 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. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, 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 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, 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 of 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 originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
22.
1906 Intercalated Games
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The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the Second International Olympic Games in Athens by the International Olympic Committee. This was apparently a compromise, after the games of Athens 1896. Since they had the accommodation and had proven they could hold well-organized games, however, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, opposed this. Coubertin had intended the first games to be in Paris in 1900, after Paris lost the premiere Olympics, Coubertin did not want the games to be permanently hosted elsewhere. This was a departure from the ancient schedule, but it was expected that, if the ancient Greeks could keep a four-year schedule, as 1902 was now too close, and Greece experienced internal difficulties, the 2nd Olympic Games in Athens were scheduled for 1906. The IOC as a whole gave the Greek NOC full support for the organization, the 1906 games were quite successful. Unlike the 1900,1904 or 1908 games, they were stretched out over months nor overshadowed by an international exhibition. Their crisp format was most likely instrumental in the existence of the games. These Games also were the first games to have all athlete registration go through the NOCs and they were also the first with an Olympic Village, at the Zappeion. They introduced the ceremony, the raising of national flags for the victors. The Games were held from 22 April to 2 May 1906, in Athens and they took place in the Panathenaic Stadium, which had already hosted the 1896 Games and the earlier Zappas Olympics of 1870 and 1875. The games excluded several disciplines that had occurred during the past two games, it was whether they ought to have been part of the Olympic Games. Added to the program were the javelin throw and the pentathlon, the games included a real opening ceremony, watched by a large crowd. The athletes, for the first time, entered the stadium as national teams, the official opening of the games was done by King Georgios I. There were only two standing jump events in Athens, but Ray Ewry successfully defended his titles in both of them, bringing his total up to 8 gold medals. In 1908 he would defend them one last time for a total of 10 Olympic titles. Paul Pilgrim won both the 400 and 800 metres, a feat that was first repeated during Montreal 1976 by Alberto Juantorena, canadian Billy Sherring lived in Greece for two months, to adjust to the local conditions
23.
Intercalated Games
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The Intercalated Olympic Games were to be a series of International Olympic Games halfway between what is now known as the Games of the Olympiad. This proposed series of games, intercalated in the Olympic Games cycle, was to always be held in Athens, however, the only such games were held in 1906. This was a compromise, After the successful games of Athens 1896 the Greeks suggested they could organize the games four years. Since they had the venues, and had proven to be able to hold well-organised games, they received quite a bit of support. However, Pierre de Coubertin did not like this at all, he had intended the first games to be in Paris in 1900 and had no intention of losing not only the première for Paris, thus the second games became the Paris 1900 games. This was a departure of the ancient schedule, but it was expected if the ancient Greek could keep a four-year schedule. As 1902 was now too close, and Greece was experiencing internal difficulties and it desperately needed to recapture the spirit of Athens 1896. It also needed to do so quickly, as to all those who did not participate in St. Louis, by that time there would not be much goodwill left for the Games. And on top of that, Rome was planning an Exhibition, the Athens games being just around the corner must have seemed like a lifeline. De Coubertin still disliked the idea, and did not do anything more than his function required him to, but the IOC as a whole gave the Greek NOC full support for the organisation. The 1906 games were quite successful, unlike the 1900,1904 or 1908 games, they were neither stretched out over months nor overshadowed by an international exhibition. Their crisp format was most likely instrumental in the existence of the games. These Games also were the first games to have all athlete registration go through the NOCs and they introduced the closing ceremony, and the raising of national flags for the victors, and several more less visible changes now accepted as traditional. The Greeks were unable to keep the schedule for 1910, on the one hand problems in the Balkans made things difficult, but on the other, the modern Greeks found out the ancient Greeks were right, A two-year interval was too short. Where there had been a gap of six years before Athens 1906, with Athens 1910 a failure, the faith in Athens diminished, and as a result Athens 1914 got even less support. And then World War I started, and any further Intercalated Games had to wait until after the war, but after the war was over it had been more than a decade since Athens 1906, and the idea of Intercalated Games was given up entirely. As more stress was placed on the sequence of four-year Olympiads. Hence, today the IOC does not recognize Athens 1906 as Olympic Games, the success of Athens 1906, however, may have been what kept the Olympics alive
24.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
25.
Multi-sport event
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A multi-sport event is an organized sports event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from nation states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of significance is the modern Olympic Games. Many regional multi-sport events have since founded and modeled after the Olympics. Most have the basic structure. Games are held over the course of days in and around a host city. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes, athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. The games are held every four years, though some are annual competitions. Instead, the Greek sports of racing and wrestling, as well as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat. In the late 19th and early 20th century, athletes at events were almost exclusively male. As international womens sport began to develop, events such as the Womens World Games, though short-lived, events such as these led to greater inclusion of women at multi-sport events over the course of the 20th century. Since the establishment of the Olympics, most serial multi-sport events have been organized for specific audiences, after some celebrations, the Olympics became very popular nowadays. The number of sports, initially only a few, is still growing, the Paralympic Games is the largest multi-sport event involving athletes with physical disabilities, and is organised by the International Paralympic Committee. Arranged for the first time in 1960 in Rome, Italy, the number of sports, initially only a few, is still growing. The first Special Olympics International Summer Games were held in Chicago, the most recent Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles, United States, involved 25 sports and approximately 6,500 athletes from 177 countries. At the beginning of the 20th century, another multi-sport event and these Games were held in Scandinavia, and the sports conducted were winter sports such as cross-country skiing and speed skating. The Nordic Games were last held in 1926, after which the 1924 Winter Sports Week in Chamonix was declared the first Olympic Winter Games, in the 1920s, all kinds of other multi-sport events were set up. These were usually directed for a group of athletes, rather than everybody. Regional games were another kind of event that was established, such as the Far Eastern Championship Games
26.
Summer Olympic Games
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The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is an international multi-sport event that is hosted by a different city every four years. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the International Olympic Committee organizes the games and oversees the host citys preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze medals are awarded for third, 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 302 events with 10,768 competitors from 204 nations in 2012, eighteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics, more than any other nation, four cities have hosted two Summer Olympics, Athens, Paris, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Tokyo is the first city outside of the Western world to host the Summer Olympics multiple times, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics four times in Japan, South Korea, and China. The only Summer Olympics held in the Southern Hemisphere have been in Australia, the 2016 Games are the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first to be held during the local winter season. Africa has yet to host a Summer Olympics, only five countries—Greece, Australia, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland—have been represented at every Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain. The United States leads the medal table. Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations that governs that sports international competition, for individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IFs ranking list. There is a rule that maximum three individual athletes may represent each nation per competition. Nations most often qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, each nation may be represented by no more than one team per competition a team is two people in some sports. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympic Games, more than any other nation, the United Kingdom hosted the 2012 Olympic Games, its third Summer Olympic Games, in its capital London, making London the first city to host the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany, Greece, and Japan have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics three times and will host again in 2020. In 2016, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first Summer Olympics in South America, three cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games, Los Angeles, Paris, and Athens. Stockholm has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting
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Winter Olympic Games
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The Winter Olympic Games is a major international sporting event that occurs once every four years. Unlike the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics feature sports practised on snow, the first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, was held in Chamonix, France. The original five sports were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, the Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1936, after which they were interrupted by World War II. The Olympics resumed in 1948 and was held every four years. The Winter Games have evolved since its inception, others have been discontinued and later reintroduced, or have been permanently discontinued. Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports, the rise of television as a global medium for communication enhanced the profile of the Games. It created a stream, via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising. This allowed outside interests, such as companies and corporate sponsors. The IOC has had to address several criticisms, internal scandals, nations have used the Winter Games to showcase the claimed superiority of their political systems. The Winter Olympics has been hosted on three continents by eleven different countries, the Games have been held in the United States four times, in France three times, and in Austria, Canada, Japan, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland twice. Also, the Games have been held in Germany, Yugoslavia, the IOC has selected Pyeongchang, South Korea, to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Beijing, China, to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Twelve countries – Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States – have sent athletes to every Winter Olympic Games. Six of those – Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States – have earned medals at every Winter Olympic Games, Norway leads in terms of number of gold medals and overall number of medals. Germany and Japan have been banned at times from competing in the Games, the Olympic Charter limits winter sports to those. Which are practised on snow or ice, since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme, which include short track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia, the results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics and higher global television ratings. Figure skating events were held at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics. ^ Note 2, a mens ice hockey tournament was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. ^ Note 3
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Youth Olympic Games
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The Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format. The first summer version was held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August 2010 while the first winter version was held in Innsbruck, the age limitation of the athletes is 14 to 18. The idea of such an event was introduced by Johann Rosenzopf from Austria in 1998 and these Games will also feature cultural exchange programs and opportunities for participants to meet Olympic athletes. The Youth Games are modelled after these sporting events, the YOG are also a successor to the discontinued World Youth Games. Even though this exceeded initial estimates, the YOG are still smaller in size as well as shorter than their senior equivalents. The next Summer YOG to take place will be the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games of Buenos Aires, the next Winter YOG to take place will be the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games of Lausanne. The concept of the Youth Olympic Games came from Austrian industrial manager Johann Rosenzopf in 1998 and this was in response to growing global concerns about childhood obesity and the dropping participation of youth in sport activities, especially amongst youth in developed nations. It was further recognized that a version of the Olympic Games would help foster participations in the Olympic Games. Despite these reasons for having an Olympic event for young people, Jacques Rogge, IOC President, formally announced plans for the Youth Olympic Games at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City on 6 July 2007. The city of Singapore was announced as the host of the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics on 21 February 2008, on 12 December 2008 the IOC announced that Innsbruck, host of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, would be the host of the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. The scale of the Youth Olympic Games is smaller than that of the Olympics, potential host cities are required to keep all events within the same city and no new sports venues should be built. Exceptions to this building include a media center, amphitheater facilities for classes and workshops. This village is to be the heart of the Games for the athletes, no new or unique transportation systems are required as all athletes and coaches will be transported by shuttles. According to bid procedures, the track and field stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies must hold 10,000 people, the IOC has stipulated that costs for infrastructure and venues is to be paid by the host city. The IOC will pay travel costs to the host city and room and board for the athletes and judges, the funding will come from IOC funds and not revenues. The budgets for the two bids for the inaugural Summer Games came in at $90 million, much higher than the estimated costs. The cost of the first games in Singapore escalated to an estimated S$387 million, sponsors have been slow to sign on for the YOG, due to the fact that it is a new initiative and corporations are not sure what level of exposure they will get
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Disabled sports
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Disabled sports, also adaptive sports or parasports, are sports played by persons with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. As many disabled sports are based on existing able bodied sports, modified to meet the needs of persons with a disability, however, not all disabled sports are adapted, several sports that have been specifically created for persons with a disability have no equivalent in non-disabled sports. Disability exists in four categories, physical, mental, permanent, organized sport for athletes with a disability is generally divided into three broad disability groups, the deaf, people with physical disabilities, and people with intellectual disabilities. Each group has a history, organization, competition program. Formal international competition in sport began with the 1924 Paris Silent Games, organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds. These games evolved into the modern Deaflympics, governed by the CISS, the CISS maintains separate games for deaf athletes based on their numbers, their special communication needs on the sports field, and the social interaction that is a vital part of sports. Organized sport for persons with disabilities existed as early as 1911. One of the athletes was Walter William Francis, a Welshman. Later, events often developed out of rehabilitation programs, following the Second World War, in response to the needs of large numbers of injured ex-service members and civilians, sport was introduced as a key part of rehabilitation. Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport, the pioneer of this approach was Sir Ludwig Guttmann of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. In 1948, while the Olympic Games were being held in London and this was the origin of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which evolved into the modern Paralympic Games. The first official Paralympic Games, after the change, was held in Rome in 1960. In 1975, the Paralympic Games expanded to include those with limb amputations, individuals with cerebral palsy were allowed to compete beginning in 1980. Currently, Paralympic sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee, one such program is the Wounded Warrior program, which offers sitting volleyball to injured service members. Some organizations also offer opportunities to family and friends of injured service members in addition to the members themselves. Sport for persons with intellectual disabilities began to be organized in the 1960s through the Special Olympics movement and this grew out of a series of summer camps organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, beginning in 1962. In 1968 the first international Special Olympics were held, in Chicago, today, Special Olympics provides training and competition in a variety of sports for persons with intellectual disabilities. Sport for persons with physical disabilities began to be organized in the US in the late 1960s through Disabled Sports USA, in 1970, Hal OLeary founded the National Sports Center for the Disabled at Winter Park in Colorado
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Invictus Games
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Named after Invictus, Latin for unconquered or undefeated the event was inspired by the Warrior Games, a similar event held in the United States. The first Invictus Games took place in 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, the 2014 opening ceremony was attended by Prince Harry, Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. The event also included a message from then–First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. The second games opened on 8 May 2016 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World, near Orlando, Florida, the opening ceremony was attended by Prince Harry, then–First Lady Michelle Obama, former American President George W. Bush and many other dignitaries. The 2017 games will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II helped make a promotional video for the 2016 event. The Games were launched on 6 March 2014 by Prince Harry at Londons Copper Box arena, having seen a British team competing at the US Warrior Games held in Colorado in 2013, the prince wished to bring the concept of a similar international sporting event to the United Kingdom. With the backing of Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Ministry of Defence, the Games were also sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover. Speaking at the launch, the said that the Games would demonstrate the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation. He also said that their objective was to ensure injured troops are not forgotten as Britains involvement with the War in Afghanistan comes to an end. The Invictus Games Foundation was created as the legacy of the first-ever Invictus Games and it governs the process of the future Games. The bidding process for future games started in November 2014, hamilton visited Tedworth House, before the announcement 3 July 2015, Lewis invited some Invictus Games athletes to British Grand Prix. The first Invictus Games were held on 10–14 September 2014, around 300 competitors from 13 countries which have fought alongside the United Kingdom in recent military campaigns participated. These included the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, competitive events were held at many of the venues used during the 2012 Olympics, including the Copper Box and the Lee Valley Athletics Centre. The Games were broadcast by the BBC, no countries from Africa were invited. There were teams from all the countries, except Iraq. Athletics, Archery, Indoor rowing, Powerlifting, Road cycling, Sitting volleyball, Swimming, Wheelchair basketball, the presenting partner Jaguar Land Rover also organised a driving challenge
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Dwarf Athletic Association of America
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The Dwarf Athletic Association of America is an American athletic organization that sponsors and organizes athletic events for little people or people with dwarfism. Founded in 1985, the DAAAs purpose is to develop, promote, the DAAA also believes that the dream of honoring America in international competition should be as real for a dwarf athlete as it is for any other in the country. According to its website, the DAAAs mission is, To encourage people with dwarfism to participate in sports regardless of their level of skills and it is also to help dwarfs to realize their true potential in life. Many dwarfs attend this program to do just this. The DAAA organizes and promotes dwarf athletics in a variety of sports for a variety of ages and they also sponsor clinics and development events around the United States. The National Dwarf Games is an amateur competition organized by the DAAA. Athletes are divided on the basis of age, gender, there are also events for ages 8–15, but these are meant to emphasize in the achievement of personal best. Also, youth seven and under can participate in programs where everybody wins. In 2007, the National Dwarf Games were held in Seattle, Washington, the World Dwarf Games are an international competition that allows little people to compete at an international level. The games are held four years at locations around the world. Athletes that have shown outstanding athleticism during the National Dwarf Games are chosen to participate in the World Dwarf Games, the World Dwarf Games were first held in Chicago in 1993 and was hosted by the DCCC. During this inaugural games, the International Dwarf Athletic Federation was conceived, since then, the World Dwarf Games have been held every four years at cities around the world. The 2017 World Dwarf Games will take place in Guelph, Canada, the show, featured around the dwarf members of the Roloff family, has displayed a number of episodes where members of the family have participated in events sponsored by the DAAA. Zach Roloff competes in soccer regularly, and in 2006, Amy competed in Bocce
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Paralympic Games
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There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee, the Paralympics has grown from a small gathering of British World War II veterans in 1948 to become one of the largest international sporting events by the early 21st century. Paralympians strive for equal treatment with non-disabled Olympic athletes, but there is a funding gap between Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Given the wide variety of disabilities that Paralympic athletes have, there are categories in which the athletes compete. The allowable disabilities are broken down into ten eligible impairment types and these categories are further broken down into classifications, which vary from sport to sport. The first athlete to do so was German American gymnast George Eyser in 1904, hungarian Karoly Takacs competed in shooting events in both the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. He was an amputee and could shoot left-handed. The first organized athletic day for disabled athletes that coincided with the Olympic Games took place on the day of the opening of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the first games were called the 1948 International Wheelchair Games, and were intended to coincide with the 1948 Olympics. Dr. Guttmans aim was to create a sports competition for people with disabilities that would be equivalent to the Olympic Games. The games were again at the same location in 1952. These early competitions, also known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, have described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games. There have been milestones in the Paralympic movement. The first official Paralympic Games, no longer open solely to war veterans, was held in Rome in 1960,400 athletes from 23 countries competed at the 1960 Games. Since 1960, the Paralympic Games have taken place in the year as the Olympic Games. The Games were initially only to athletes in wheelchairs, at the 1976 Summer Games, athletes with different disabilities were included for the first time at a Summer Paralympics. With the inclusion of more disability classifications the 1976 Summer Games expanded to 1,600 athletes from 40 countries, the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea, was another milestone for the Paralympic movement. It was in Seoul that the Paralympic Summer Games were held directly after the Olympic Summer Games, in the same host city and this set a precedent that was followed in 1992,1996 and 2000. It was eventually formalized in an agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in 2001, and was extended through 2020
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Summer Paralympic Games
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The Summer Paralympic Games or the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event, where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, the Paralympic Games are held every four years, organized by the International Paralympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third. The United States and the United Kingdom have each hosted two Summer Paralympic Games, more than any other nation. Other countries that have hosted the summer Paralympics are Australia, Canada, China, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Brazil will host the first Summer Games in South America in Rio de Janeiro. Tokyo will be the first city to host the Summer Paralympics more than once,1964 and 2020. Seven of those countries have won at least one medal at every Summer Paralympic Games, Australia, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands. The United States have been the nation for eight of the Paralympic Summer Games,1964,1968,1976,1980,1984,1988,1992 and 1996. China have been the nation for the four most recent Games,2004,2008,2012 and 2016. Italy, West Germany and Australia have been the nation one time each. Qualification rules for each of the Paralympic sports are set by the International Federation that governs that sports international competition, the first official Paralympic Games, was held in Rome in 1960. 400 athletes from 23 countries competed at the 1960 Games though only athletes in wheelchairs competed, at the 1976 Summer Games athletes with different disabilities were included for the first time at a summer Paralympics. With the inclusion of more disability classifications, the 1976 Summer Games expanded to 1,600 athletes from 40 countries, the 1988 Summer Paralympics were the first to be hosted in the same venues as the Olympics of that year. Since then, all Paralympic Games are now held in the city that hosted the Olympics. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event, within the ten disability categories the athletes still need to be divided according to their level of impairment. The classification systems differ from sport to sport, and is intended to even the playing field so as to allow as many athletes to participate as possible, classifications vary in accordance with the different skills required to perform the sport. Archery, Archery is open to athletes with a physical disability, classifications are broken up into three divisions, W1, spinal cord injured and Cerebral Palsy athletes with impairment in all four limbs
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Winter Paralympic Games
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The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, the Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games. The Winter Paralympics are also hosted by the city hosted the Winter Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee oversees the Winter Paralympics, medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904. The Winter Paralympics began in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden and those Games were the first Paralympics that featured athletes other than wheelchair athletes. The Games have expanded and grown to be part of the largest international sporting event after the Olympic Games, given their expansion the need for a very specific classification system has arisen. This system has given rise to controversy and opened the door for cheating. Winter Paralympians have also been convicted of use and other forms of cheating unique to Paralympic athletes. The origins of the Winter Paralympics are similar to the Summer Paralympics, injured soldiers returning from World War II sought sports as an avenue to healing. Over 400 wheelchair athletes competed at the 1960 Paralympic Games, which known as the first Paralympics. Sepp Zwicknagl, a pioneer of sports for disabled athletes, was a double-leg amputee Austrian skier who experimented skiing using prosthetics. His work helped pioneer technological advances for people with disabilities who wished to participate in winter sports, advances were slow and it was not until 1974 that the first official world ski competition for physically impaired athletes, featuring downhill and a cross-country skiing, was held. The first Winter Paralympics were held in 1976 at Örnsköldsvik, Sweden from February 21–28, Alpine and Nordic skiing for amputees and visually impaired athletes where the main events but ice sledge racing was included as a demonstration event. There were 198 participating athletes from 16 countries, and it was the first time athletes with other than wheelchair athletes were permitted to compete. Starting in 1988 the Summer Paralympics were held in the same host city as the Summer Olympic Games and this was due to an agreement reached between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. The 1992 Winter Paralympics were the first Winter Games to use the facilities as the Winter Olympics. Athletes have cheated by over-representing impairment to have an advantage. German skier Thomas Oelsner became the first Winter Paralympian to test positive for steroids in 2002 and he had won two gold medals in the alpine events but was stripped of his medals
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Special Olympics
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Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 108,000 events a year. These competitions include the Special Olympics World Games, which alternate between summer and winter games, Special Olympics World Games are held every two years. The most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Graz, Schladming and she started this camp because she was concerned about children with intellectual disabilities having nowhere to play and that they could benefit from sports activities. Camp Shriver became an event, and the Kennedy Foundation gave grants to universities, recreation departments. This frank article about the Presidents family was seen as a watershed in changing attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. Though Rosemary was born with disabilities, she had later undergone a lobotomy. It has often said that Rosemarys disability was Eunices inspiration to form Special Olympics. The games should not focus on one individual, she said, meanwhile, in 1958, Dr. James N. Dr. Oliver would later serve as consultant to Camp Shriver, moreover, he believed that the benefits of such activity would be seen in all areas of the athletes’ lives. The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in July 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago, about 1500 athletes from the U. S. and Canada took part in the one-day event, which was a joint venture by the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District. Burke then approached her to fund the event, Eunice, in turn, encouraged her to expand on the idea and the JPK Jr. Foundation provided a grant of $25,000. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was honorary chairman, at the July 1968 games, Shriver announced the formation of Special Olympics and that more games would be held every two years as a Biennial International Special Olympics. In 1971, The U. S. Olympic Committee gave the Special Olympics official approval to use the name “Olympics”, the first 1977 Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, U. S. In 1988, the Special Olympics was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee, in 1997, Healthy Athletes became an official Special Olympics initiative, offering health information and screenings to Special Olympics athletes worldwide. By 2010, the Healthy Athletes program had given free health screenings, in 2003 the first Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held outside of the United States took place in Dublin, Ireland. Approximately 7,000 athletes from 150 countries competed over 18 disciplines, the Dublin games were also the first to have their own opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live, performed by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Most significantly the 2003 games dramatically changed the perceptions and attitudes of society regarding the abilities, the opening ceremony of the 2003 Games has been described by President McAleese as a time when Ireland was at its superb best. On October 30,2004, President George W. Bush signed into law the Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act, the bill authorized funding for its Healthy Athletes, Education, and Worldwide Expansion programs
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Special Olympics World Games
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The Special Olympics World Games are an international sporting competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, organized by Special Olympics. Although local Special Olympics events and competitions are held around the world every day, the goal is to showcase the skills and accomplishments of people with intellectual disabilities on a global stage. The World Games feature more than a week of competitions involving thousands of athletes, through media coverage of the Games, the stories and achievements of children and adults with intellectual disabilities are made known to millions of people worldwide. Special Olympics World Games take place two years and alternate between Summer and Winter Games, a schedule similar to the Olympics and Paralympics. Attracting as many as 350,000 volunteers and coaches, plus thousands of athletes. Special Olympics athletes can compete in 32 Olympic-style summer or winter sports, the athletes are adults and children with intellectual disabilities who can range from gifted, world-class competitors to average athletes to those with limited physical ability. Its a fundamental rule of Special Olympics competitions that athletes are matched up according to their ability and this “divisioning” process is an effort to make every competition fair, competitive and exciting for athletes as well as fans. In 1991, the name was changed from International Special Olympics Summer/Winter Games to Special Olympics World Summer/Winter Games. In 2011, Special Olympics World Summer Games were held on June 25 – July 4 in Athens, Greece, the most recent 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in Los Angeles, California from July 25 – Aug.2,2015. These games were the first Special Olympics World Summer Games held in the United States in 16 years since the 1999 Summer Games held in Raleigh, the next World Winter Games will be the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Graz and Schladming in Styria, Austria. This marks a return, Salzburg and Schladming, Austria hosted the fifth Special Olympics World Winter Games in 1993 and these were the first Special Olympics World Games held outside the United States. The 2017 World Winter Games will be held March 14-March 25,2017
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Lumberjack World Championship
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The Lumberjack World Championships are held annually in Hayward, Wisconsin. The event began in 1960 and is held at the Lumberjack Bowl, there are 21 events for both men and women to compete for over $50,000 in prize money. Contestants come from the United States, Canada, Australia, the events include sawing, chopping, logrolling, and climbing to test the strength and agility of over 100 competitors. Competitors saw through a 16-inch-diameter white pine log for the fastest time, a starting cut arc is allowed in the competition. Timing begins when the signal GO is called and ends when the log is completely severed, the world record with a time of 11.61 seconds was set in 2006 by Nancy Zalewski. Using a single bit pinned ax, competitors chop through a horizontal log,11 inches in diameter. Nancy Zalewski held the record in 2009 with a time of 29.24 seconds. Erin Lavoie claimed the record with a time of 25.38 seconds at the Manitoba Lumberjack Championship on Sept.27,2016, dislodging an opponent constitutes a fall. The cardinal rule of logrolling is never take your eyes off your opponents feet, competing birlers step off a dock onto a floating log, grasping pike poles held by attendants for balance. As they push off from the dock, the referee instructs the birlers to steady the log, when he is certain both birlers have equal control, he says, Throw your poles. The match is on and continues to a fall or to expiration of the limit set for each log. When the time limit is reached, the match continues onto the next smaller log. In all rounds, the contest is decided by the best three out of five falls, in 2003 Tina Bosworth set a new world record of 10 wins. Starting on the dock, two competitors run head to head on adjacent booms. The competitor must step onto the dock and touch the starting point. This is an event and is timed to the tenths of a second. Anyone leaving before the word go will be assessed a 10-second penalty, using a five-pound single-bit axe, competitors chop through a horizontal aspen log 12 inches in diameter and 28 inches long. Timing begins on the go and ends when the log is severed
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World Air Games
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World Air Games is an international air sports event organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, inspired by the Olympic Games and held every four years. The Board judged that there was insufficient time remaining for the two bidders, Malaysia and Poland, to solve the various organisational problems. The FAI announced on 27 October 2007 the opening of the bidding for the 2009 Games, turin has been chosen to host the World Air Games 2009. The FAI World Air Games 2015 has been awarded to the United Arab Emirates, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed on 4 June 2014 by Dr. John Grubbström, FAI President, and Nasser Al Neyadi, President of the Emirates Aerosports Federation. 1997 World Air Games Air sports World Air Games, official WAG news on FAI website World Air Games 2009, official site of WAG2009 World Air Games 2015, official site of WAG2015
