History+of+the+Olympics+by+Megan


 * Olympics games started in 776 BC. It’s a legend that Hercules, son of Zeus, started the Olympics. They had very few events compared to the 2010 winter Olympics. Only men who spoke Greek and were free could compete. People from other countries could not compete. The games were held in on place, Olympia, every year instead of them moving locations every year. The winners of the Olympics were heroes and their hometowns were known well because of their win. The Olympics were every four years for almost 1200 years and they only lasted one day. The first Olympics contained only a 200-yard foot race, called the stade. Then came another competition, the diaulos, the 400-yard race, and finally, the pentathlon was introduced. The pentathlon was an event that consisted of several tests of strength and endurance, such as discus throwing, javelin, long jump, running, and wrestling. There were ten events in total, which also included chariot racing and horse racing. Women were permitted to take part in the last two sports. **
 * The five Olympic rings on the flag stand for the five continents that are involved in the Olympics, the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceana, and Africa. Blue, black, yellow, red, and green are the colors on the Olympic flag. These colors of the rings stand for the five continents that are participants in the Olympics, and all of their flags contain these colors. People found these five rings carved in a rock that they thought the Greece carved. In 1913 **** Baron Pierre de Coubertin created these rings and made the officially the rings of the Olympics. **
 * “ The Olympic flag ... has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the center: blue, yellow, black, green and red ... This design is symbolic ; it represents the five inhabited continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time. ” **
 * —Pierre De Coubertin (1931) **
 * The Olympic motto, Citius ****, Altius, Fortius, is Latin. Citius, Altius, Fortius stands for faster, higher, stronger. These words encourage the athlete to do his or her best in the competition. The Olympics were so important they measured the time distance between the Olympics and called the 4 years an Olympiad. In 1875 they started to evacuate the Olympic ruins of the stadium and temple. They were covered by earthquakes, landslides and floods. Not very much of the ruins were left but they were still able to tell what they looked like **