FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER

1. INTRODUCTION:

Faster, Higher, Stronger is the motto of the Olympic Games and it was proposed by Pierre
de Coubertin upon the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. Coubertin
said "These three words represent a programme of moral beauty. The aesthetics of sports are
intangible." I completely agree with this statement and that is the reason why I decided to
write about the Olympics. I think that sports promote so many values that can be easily used
in our daily life and that can improve ourselves as people. One of the main qualities they gain
is a healthy dose of competition that can help you to be stronger in every situation ahead.
Besides, it is promoting personal honor, virtue and character. It contributes to a community of
respect and trust between competitors. Key virtues of ethics in sports are fairness,
responsibility and respect. Doing sports is based on fair play and rules established by all
athletes and coaches and they are not discriminated from participating in a sport based on
their race or gender. And that is something that we, unfortunately, don't often see in real life.

Another well-known motto, also introduced by Coubertin, is "The most important thing is not
to win but to take part!". This statement leads us to another characteristic of the Olympics
which I admire, and that is the fact that The Olympic Games unite nations throughout the
world and show different countries, the human side of nations. The Olympic Games are not
only about competition and winning, they are also about learning from other cultures and the
similarities between them all.
2. HISTORY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

The Olympics originally started as a series of competitions between representatives from

cities in Ancient Greece. The events were mainly athletic, but also included combat and
chariot racing. It has been widely 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. In this era the Olympics were primarily a
part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods and goddesses. The
festival and the games were held in Olympia, the location of the original Olympic stadium.
According to the legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and
established the custom of holding them every four years. After Heracles completed his twelve
labours, he built the Olympic Stadium as an honour to Zeus. Following its completion, he
walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion", which later became
a unit of distance. The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is
776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, listing the winners of a footrace held
every four years starting in 776 BC.

The winners of the events were admired and immortalised in poems and statues. The Games
were held every four years, and this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as
one of their units of time measurement.

3. OLYMPIC SYMBOLS

1. The Rings:

The rings are five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white
field, known as the "Olympic rings". The symbol was originally designed in 1912 by Pierre
de Coubertin, co-founder of the modern Olympic Games. He appears to have intended the
rings to represent the five participating continents: Africa, Asia, America, Australia and
Europe. According to Coubertin, the colors of the rings together with the white of the
background included the colors composing every competing nation's flag at the time. Upon
its initial introduction, Coubertin stated the following in the August 1912 edition
of Olympique:

... the six colors [including the flag's white background] combined in this way reproduce the
colours of every country without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and
white of Greece, the tricolor flags of France, England, the United States, Germany, Belgium,
Italy and Hungary, and the yellow and red of Spain are included, as are the innovative flags of
Brazil and Australia, and those of ancient Japan and modern China. This, truly, is an
international emblem.
The current view of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is that the symbol "reinforces
the idea" that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world
to join.

2. Olympic Flame:

The Olympic flame is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from
the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept
burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was introduced at
the Games of the IX Olympiad 1928 in Amsterdam and it has been part of the modern
Olympic Games ever since.

In contrast to the Olympic flame proper, the torch relay of modern times, which transports the
flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games, had no ancient precedent and
was introduced by Carl Diem at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

The Olympic Torch today is ignited several months before the opening ceremony of
the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven
women perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera in which the torch is kindled by the light
of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. The torch briefly travels around Greece
via short relay, and then starts its transfer to the host city after a ceremony in the Panathenaic
Stadium in Athens. The Olympic Torch Relay ends on the day of the opening ceremony in the
central stadium of the Games. The final carrier is often kept unannounced until the last
moment, and is usually a sports celebrity of the host country. The final bearer of the torch runs
towards the cauldron, often placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses the torch to
start the flame in the arena. It is considered to be a great honor to be asked to light the
Olympic flame. After being lit, the flame continues to burn throughout the Games, until the
day of the closing ceremony and celebration, when it is finally put out, symbolizing the
official end of the Games.

Over the years, it has become a tradition to let famous athletes, former athletes and/or athletes
with significant achievements and milestones be the last runner in the Olympic torch relay
and have the honour of lighting the Olympic Cauldron. On other occasions, the people who lit
the cauldron in the stadium are not famous, but nevertheless symbolize Olympic ideals. For
example, a Japanese runner who was born in Hiroshima on the day the nuclear weapon Little
Boy destroyed that city, symbolized the rebirth of Japan after the Second World War when he
opened the Tokyo Games. Another time two teenagers one from the French-speaking part
of the country, one from the English-speaking part symbolized the unity of Canada.
3. Mascots:

Since the 1968 Winter Olympics in France, the Olympic Games have had a mascot, usually an
animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. The
first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in
Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV
animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. Nowadays, most of the
merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Olympic flag or
organization logos.

4. Kotions:

The kotinos is an olive branch, originally of wild olive-tree, intertwined to form a circle or a
horse-shoe, introduced by Heracles. In the ancient Olympic Games there were no gold,
silver, or bronze medals. There was only one winner per event, crowned with an olive
wreath made of wild olive leaves from a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at
Olympia. Aristophanes in Plutus makes a sensible remark why victorious athletes are
crowned with wreath made of wild olive instead of gold. The victorious athletes were
honored, feted, and praised. Their deeds were heralded and chronicled so that future
generations could appreciate their accomplishments.
However, in later times, this was not their only reward; the athlete was rewarded with a
generous sum of money by his country. The kotinos tradition was renewed specifically for
the Athens 2004 Games, although in this case it was bestowed together with the gold medal.
Apart from its use in the awards-ceremonies, the kotinos was chosen as the 2004 Summer
Olympics emblem.

4. MODERN GAMES (The Olympic Games have come a long way and
the Modern Olympic Games committees have added a lot more
events than the ancient Greek Olympics of the past.)

1. Winter Olympic Games:

The Winter Olympics was created to feature snow and ice sports that were logistically
impossible to hold during the Summer Games. Figure skating and ice hockey were featured
as Olympic events at the Summer Olympics. The IOC desired to expand this list of sports to
encompass other winter activities. At the 1921 Olympic Congress it was decided to hold a
winter version of the Olympic Games. A winter sports week was held in France, in
connection with the Paris Games held three months later; this event became the first Winter
 Olympic Games. Although it was intended that the same country host both the Winter and
Summer Games in a given year, this idea was quickly abandoned. The IOC mandated that
the Winter Games be celebrated every four years on the same year as their summer
counterpart. This tradition has quickly changed, the Winter Olympics are now held every
four years, two years after each Summer Olympics.

2. Paralympic Games:
After World War II Sir Ludwig Guttmann determined to promote the rehabitation of soldiers.
He organised a multi-sport event between several hospitals to coincide with the then
London Olympics. Guttmann's event became an annual sports festival. Over the next
twelve years, Guttmann and others continued their efforts to use sports as an avenue to
healing. For the upcoming Olympic Games in Rome Guttmann brought 400 athletes to
compete in the "Parallel Olympics", which became known as the first Paralympics. Since
then, the Paralympics have been held in every Olympic year. The International Olympic
Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) signed an agreement
guaranteeing that host cities would be contracted to manage both the Olympic and
Paralympic Games. Chairman of the London organising committee said about the 2012
Summer Paralympics and Olympics in London that, We want to change public attitudes
towards disability, celebrate the excellence of Paralympic sport and to enshrine from the
very outset that the two Games are an integrated whole.

3. Youth Olympic Games:

In 2010, the Olympic Games were complemented by the Youth Games, which give athletes
between the ages of 14 and 18 the chance to compete.The first Summer Youth Games were
held in Singapore in 2010. These Games will be shorter than the senior Games; the summer
version will last twelve days, while the winter version will last nine days. The sports to be
contested will coincide with those scheduled for the senior Games, however there will be
variations on the sports including mixed gender teams as well as a reduced number of
disciplines and events.

5. CONTROVERSIES

1. Use of performance-enhancing drugs:

In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to improve their athletic
abilities. For example, in 1904, Thomas Hicks, a gold medallist in the marathon, was
given strychnine by his coach. The only Olympic death linked to performance enhancing
occurred at the 1960 Rome games. A Danish cyclist, Knud Enemark Jensen, fell from his
bicycle and later died. A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence
of amphetamines. By the mid-1960s, sports federations started to ban the use of performance-
enhancing drugs.
The first Olympic athlete to test positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs was a
Swedish pentathlete who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use. One of the most publicised
doping-related disqualifications was Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson (who won the 100-metre
dash) tested positive . His gold medal was later stripped and awarded to the American runner-
up Carl Lewis, who himself had tested positive for banned substances prior to the Olympics.
In 1999 the IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in an effort to systematise
the research and detection of performance-enhancing drugs. There was a sharp increase in
positive drug tests at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics. Several
medallists in weightlifting and cross-country skiing were disqualified because of doping
offences. During the 2006 Winter Olympics, only one athlete failed a drug test and had a
medal revoked. The IOC-established drug testing regimen (now known as the Olympic
Standard) has set the worldwide benchmark that other sporting federations attempt to
emulate. During the Beijing games, 3,667 athletes were tested by the IOC under the auspices
of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Both urine and blood tests were used to detect banned
substances. Several athletes were barred from competition by their National Olympic
Committees prior to the Games; only three athletes failed drug tests while in competition in
Beijing. In London over 6,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes were tested. Prior to the
Games 107 athletes tested positive for banned substances and were not allowed to
compete. During and after the Games eight athletes tested positive for a banned substance and
were suspended, including the Belarusian shot putter who was stripped of her gold medal.

2. Terrorism and Violence:

Three Olympiads had to pass without a celebration of the Games because of war: one of them
were cancelled because of World War I, and the subsequent summer and winter games were
cancelled because of World War II. The Russo-Georgian
War between Georgia and Russia erupted on the opening day of the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Putin were attending the
Olympics at that time and spoke together about the conflict.
Terrorism most directly affected the Olympic Games in 1972. When the Summer Games were
held in Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by
the Palestinian terrorist group Black September . The terrorists killed two of the athletes soon
after they had taken them hostage and killed the other nine during a failed liberation attempt.
A German police officer and five terrorists also perished.
Terrorism affected the last two Olympic Games held in the United States. During the Summer
Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, a bomb was detonated at the Centennial Olympic Park, which
killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Rudolph, an American domestic
terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence for the bombing. The 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, took place just five months after the September 11 attacks,
which meant a higher level of security than ever before provided for an Olympic Games. The
opening ceremonies of the Games featured symbols of the day's events. The events of that day
have made security at the Olympic Games an increasing concern for Olympic planners.

3. Women at the Olympics:

Women were first allowed to compete at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, but two years
later at the Summer Olympics 35 countries were still fielding all-male delegations. This
number dropped rapidly over the following years. In 2000, Bahrain sent two women
competitors for the first time. In 2004, Robina Muqimyar and Fariba Rezayee became the first
women to compete for Afghanistan at the Olympics. In 2008, the United Arab Emirates sent
female athletes to the Olympic Games for the first time. Both athletes were from Dubai's
ruling family.
By 2010, only three countries had never sent female athletes to the Games: Brunei, Saudi
Arabia, and Qatar. Brunei had taken part in only three celebrations of the Games, sending a
single athlete on each occasion, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar had been competing regularly
with all-male teams. In 2010, the International Olympic Committee announced it would
"press" these countries to enable and facilitate the participation of women for the 2012
Summer Olympics. Anita DeFrantz, chair of the IOC's Women and Sports Commission,
suggested that countries be barred if they prevented women from competing. Shortly
thereafter, the Qatar Olympic Committee announced that it "hoped to send up to four female
athletes in shooting and fencing" to the 2012 Summer Games in London.
In 2008 the director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be
barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the
International Olympic Committee charter. He noted: "For the last 15 years, many international
nongovernmental organisations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better
enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. ... While their efforts did result in
increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position
and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion." In July 2010, The
Independent reported: "Pressure is growing on the International Olympic Committee to kick
out Saudi Arabia, who are likely to be the only major nation not to include women in their
Olympic team for 2012. ... Should Saudi Arabia ... send a male-only team to London, we
understand they will face protests from equal rights and women's groups which threaten to
disrupt the Games". At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, for the first time in Olympic
history, every country competing included female athletes. Saudi Arabia included two female
athletes in its delegation. Qatar made one of its first female Olympians in shooting, its flag
bearer at the 2012 Games, and runner Maryam Yusuf Jamal became the first Gulf female
athlete to win a medal when she won a bronze for her showing in the 1500 m race. The only
sport on the Olympic programme that features men and women competing together is the
equestrian disciplines. As of 2008, there were still more medal events for men than women.
With the addition of women's boxing to the programme in the 2012 Summer Olympics,
however, female athletes were able to compete in all the same sports as men. In the winter
Olympics, women are still unable to compete in the Nordic Combined. There are currently
two Olympic events in which male athletes may not compete: synchronised
swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.

6. CEREMONIES

1. Opening:
As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremony of the
Olympic Games. This ceremony takes place before the events have occurred. The ceremony
typically starts with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national
anthem. The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theatre
representative of its culture. The artistic presentations have grown in scale and complexity as
successive hosts attempt to provide a ceremony that outlasts its predecessor's in terms of
memorability. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Games reportedly cost $100 million, with
much of the cost incurred in the artistic segment.
After the artistic portion of the ceremony, the athletes parade into the stadium grouped by
nation. Greece is traditionally the first nation to enter in order to honour the origins of the
Olympics. Nations then enter the stadium alphabetically according to the host country's
chosen language, with the host country's athletes being the last to enter. Speeches are given,
formally opening the Games. Finally, the Olympic torch is brought into the stadium and
passed on until it reaches the final torch carrier, often a successful Olympic athlete from the
host nation, who lights the Olympic flame in the stadium's cauldron.

2. Closing:
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games takes place after all sporting events have
concluded. Flag-bearers from each participating country enter the stadium, followed by the
athletes who enter together, without any national distinction. Three national flags are hoisted
while the corresponding national anthems are played: the flag of the current host country; the
flag of Greece, to honour the birthplace of the Olympic Games; and the flag of the country
hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games. The president of the organising
committee and the IOC president make their closing speeches, the Games are officially
closed, and the Olympic flame is extinguished. In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony,
the mayor of the city that organised the Games transfers a special Olympic flag to the
president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the city hosting the next Olympic
Games. The next host nation then also briefly introduces itself with artistic displays of dance
and theatre representative of its culture.
As is customary, the men's marathon medals (at the Summer Olympics) or the men's 50 km
cross-country skiing freestyle mass start medals (at the Winter Olympics) are presented as part
of the Closing Ceremony, which take place later that day, in the Olympic Stadium, and are
thus the last medal presentation of the Games.

3. Medal presentation:
A medal ceremony is held after each Olympic event is concluded. The winner, second and
third-place competitors or teams stand on top of a three-tiered rostrum to be awarded their
respective medals. After the medals are given out by an IOC member, the national flags of the
three medallists are raised while the national anthem of the gold medallist's country
plays. Volunteering citizens of the host country also act as hosts during the medal ceremonies,
as they aid the officials who present the medals and act as flag-bearers.

7. COST OF THE GAMES

The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 found that sports-related costs for the Summer Games since
1960 is on average USD 5.2 billion and for the Winter Games USD 3.1 billion. This does not
include wider infrastructure costs like roads, urban rail, and airports, which often cost as much
or more than the sports-related costs. The most expensive Summer Games are London 2012 at
USD 15 billion and the most expensive Winter Games are Sochi 2014 at USD 21.9
billion. Costs per athlete is on average USD 0.6 million for the Summer Games and USD 1.3
million for the Winter Games. For London 2012, cost per athlete was USD 1.4 million; for
Sochi 2014, USD 7.9 million.
Budget overruns are common for the Games. Average overrun for Games since 1960 is 156%
in real terms, which means that actual costs turned out to be on average 2.56 times higher than
the budget that was estimated at the time of winning the bid to host the Games. Montreal 1976
had the highest cost overrun for Summer Games, and for any Games, at 720%; Lake Placid
1980 had the highest cost overrun for Winter Games, at 324%. London 2012 had a cost
overrun of 76%, Sochi 2014 of 289%.
8. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT ON HOST CITIES

Many economists are sceptical about the economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games,
emphasising that such "mega-events" often have large costs while yielding relatively few
tangible benefits in the long run. Conversely hosting (or even bidding for) the Olympics
appears to increase the host country's exports, as the host or candidate country sends a signal
about commercial openness when bidding to host the Games. Moreover, research suggests
that hosting the Summer Olympics has a strong positive effect on the philanthropic
contributions of corporations headquartered in the host city, which seems to benefit the local
nonprofit sector. This positive effect begins in the years leading up to the Games and might
persist for several years afterwards, although not permanently. This finding suggests that
hosting the Olympics might create opportunities for cities to influence local corporations in
ways that benefit the local nonprofit sector and civil society.

9. CONCLUSION
All in all, I believe that The Olympic Games have got a really important part in not only the
competitors lives, but in the outsider lives too, since the very first day of helding it.
During my researches I have got confirmation that the purpose of the modern Olympic Games
is to promote peace and unity within the international community through the medium of
sports. Also, I have learned that the founder, Pierre de Coubertin, saw the games as a way to
bring political enemies together, his dream being the realization of World Peace.
The purpose behind the Olympic Games is really admirable and noble. The objective of
creating friendships among different people from across the world ensures people that they
can tolerate each other regardless of tribe, religion or culture. Moreover, The Olympics taught
me that no one should be underestimated just because they have some mental or physical
disabilities, these people still can live a happy life which is rich in success.