This last Friday saw the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, or the Summer Olympic Games, taking place this month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We hope you were able to catch the excitement (or at least watch the highlights on Youtube afterward). This years Olympic Games will be running from last Friday, the 5th, until Sunday the 21st. Rio de Janeiro is only the third city in the southern hemisphere to ever host the Olympics, and the very first city in South America. To celebrate, we wanted to highlight some of the history of the Olympic Games.
The Ancient Olympic Games were Grecian religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events. It is generally agreed that the games ended in either 393 AD or 426, at the decree of the Roman Emperor.
In modern times, many people and cities hosted games inspired by the Ancient Olympics, and many even used some variation of the tem Olympic in their titles. In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was inspired to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coubertin worked with the aim of establishing internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years. He presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created International Olympic Committee. This meeting was held in June 1894 at the University of Paris. On the last day of the Congress, it was decided that the first Olympic Games run by the new IOC would take place in Athens in 1896.
While the 1896 Games were widely viewed as successful, for the first decade afterward the IOC struggled to gain the traction and popularity necessary to continue the games. As their popularity gradually increased, events like figure skating and ice hockey were added to the programs. The difficulty of maintaining these events during the summer and the wide variety of other cold-weather sports that were not possible to play during the summer led to the creation of the Winter Olympic Games, with the first being held in 1924 in France. The Winter Games were held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992, when they were moved back two years and have remained on that schedule since.
We hope that all the residents of our Willow Hill apartments in Puyallup are enjoying this years Olympic Games! The Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
This last Friday saw the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, or the Summer Olympic Games, taking place this month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We hope you were able to catch the excitement (or at least watch the highlights on Youtube afterward). This years Olympic Games will be running from last Friday, the 5th, until Sunday the 21st. Rio de Janeiro is only the third city in the southern hemisphere to ever host the Olympics, and the very first city in South America. To celebrate, we wanted to highlight some of the history of the Olympic Games.
The Ancient Olympic Games were Grecian religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events. It is generally agreed that the games ended in either 393 AD or 426, at the decree of the Roman Emperor.
In modern times, many people and cities hosted games inspired by the Ancient Olympics, and many even used some variation of the tem Olympic in their titles. In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was inspired to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coubertin worked with the aim of establishing internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years. He presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created International Olympic Committee. This meeting was held in June 1894 at the University of Paris. On the last day of the Congress, it was decided that the first Olympic Games run by the new IOC would take place in Athens in 1896.
While the 1896 Games were widely viewed as successful, for the first decade afterward the IOC struggled to gain the traction and popularity necessary to continue the games. As their popularity gradually increased, events like figure skating and ice hockey were added to the programs. The difficulty of maintaining these events during the summer and the wide variety of other cold-weather sports that were not possible to play during the summer led to the creation of the Winter Olympic Games, with the first being held in 1924 in France. The Winter Games were held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992, when they were moved back two years and have remained on that schedule since.
We hope that all the residents of our Willow Hill apartments in Puyallup are enjoying this years Olympic Games!