Olympic History Facts You Never Knew

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The Olympic Games, as we know them today, have their

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origins in ancient Greece.

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The inaugural games are traditionally dated to 776 BC, although some

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historians believe they may have started even earlier.

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These games were held in Olympia, a sanctuary site for the Greek gods

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located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, a region of southern Greece.

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Olympia was not just the birthplace of the Games, but also the central

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hub where athletes and spectators from all over the Greek world would gather.

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The early Olympic Games were a far cry from the international

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spectacle we witness today.

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The first recorded event was the Stadion Race, a simple foot race covering

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a distance of roughly 192 meters.

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The Stadion was named after the building in which it took place.

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This word later became Stadium in Latin, which became the English word of Stadium.

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Over time, the games expanded to include a variety of events such

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as wrestling, boxing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw.

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One of the most grueling and celebrated events was the pentathlon, which combined

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five different disciplines, running, jumping, discus, javelin, and wrestling.

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The athletes competed in the nude, a practice that was said to celebrate

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the human body and its capabilities.

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Victors of these games were celebrated as heroes, often receiving lavish

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gifts, free meals, and front row seats at the theater for life.

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However, the glory days of the Ancient Olympic Games were not to last.

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Political turmoil on the rise of the Roman Empire began to

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cast a shadow over the Games.

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The final blow came in 393 AD when the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a

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Christian who saw the Games, died.

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As a pagan festival issued a decree banning all pagan

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festivals, including the Olympics.

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This marked the end of the ancient games, and they would remain dormant

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for over a millennium until their revival in the late 19th century.

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Welcome to Talk With History.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jen.

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On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels,

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With interesting facts, further deep dives into kind of our adventures as well

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as other interesting things coming up.

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And so because right now we are in the middle of the Olympics and we're in

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full Olympic fever here in the The Walk With History Productions Household.

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We're going to talk about the history of the Olympics Jen, you were in Paris just

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before all the game stuff kicked off.

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And so I think, we thought we would talk about the Olympics, talk about Olympic

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history, some interesting things that.

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You might not know, and a lot of stuff I'm interested in hearing because you

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had prepped ahead of time so tell us a little bit about some Olympic history

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that the average person, or maybe the large, larger public won't know.

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So like you said, I was in Paris about a month before the Olympics

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started because I was in Normandy.

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And flying in and out of Normandy is difficult.

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So Paris is really the easiest place to get in and out.

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It's about an hour and a half away from Normandy.

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So I spent the last kind of four days in Paris before I left and Paris

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was getting ready for the Olympics.

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If you saw the opening ceremony, they basically used the city as the opening

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ceremony, which I think was smart because Paris is known for its landmarks.

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And so they really played up the landmarks of the city, including the Eiffel Tower

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and the Louvre and the Seine River.

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So it was just very, need to see all of that since I was just there.

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And so let's start with the Olympic rings.

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So they put these five Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower and

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people are always like, five Olympic rings, there's seven continents.

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I don't understand why are there five?

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And the rings are supposed to represent five continents because they

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combine America into one continent.

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North and South America become one ring.

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And then you got Europe, you got Asia, you got Africa, and then Australia.

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And they call it like the ocean continent, Australia, because

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Antarctica is not a country.

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They're not sovereign, they don't have a flag,

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Yeah.

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There's, there's nobody marching in, holding, holding

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their flag for Antarctica.

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and nobody has ever competed from Antarctica.

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So because of that, it's not.

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on the Olympic rings.

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So the people have a disconnect.

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The seven continents is five rings.

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Why is this?

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This doesn't compute.

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And you're right, it doesn't compute.

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But that's the reason why.

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So they had the five rings on the Eiffel Tower when I was there,

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which was really cool to see.

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And that's just a symbol most Olympians I notice if they compete,

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sometimes get a tattooed on

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Yeah.

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You see it on the swimmers and the gymnasts and the track and field athletes.

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it's just a very distinct symbol of the five Olympic rings.

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And it's basically supposed to illustrate this.

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Coming together of the world to compete against each other and it's supposed

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to be, unity and it like you had said in your intro, the legend, I don't

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know if this is actually true, goes that the Greeks would suspend fighting.

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for the Olympics.

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So the Greeks are always fighting amongst themselves for different territorial

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areas, but they would suspend fighting for the Olympics and every Greek

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speaker from every different area could come and compete in these Olympics.

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And so this symbol of peace.

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that kind of some of the other kind of the, the Greek symbology

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around the Olympics is, tends to be with like the olive branch, right?

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So that, those kinds of peace symbols.

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symbols.

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Even today, a little bragging rights of your area for winning and things along

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And even in the Greek times, the people who would win

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these events were Seen as heroes.

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Now, what a lot of our listeners may not know about you and I is one of the

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reasons that, that you and I enjoy the Olympics so much is because we both

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participated in sports that are front and center in the Olympics every single

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in the summer

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in the summer Olympics.

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you and I are both we have athletic backgrounds, you were a gymnast,

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you were collegiate level gymnast.

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And I was a swimmer never to the collegiate level.

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But I swam for most of my a young life.

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And so we like to watch the level of that athleticism in those sports,

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and we can just appreciate what it takes to reach those levels.

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and for me, even growing up where, where I lived, we didn't get

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free network television and my parents couldn't really afford it to have cable

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year round, but they would turn the cable on every four years, just so we

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could watch and record the Olympics for, for young, for young Scott.

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And so I would get to watch that, that was that 90s era,

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when I was in, in my, my youthful gymnastics days, we would do that.

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And I have very clear memories of the 1996 Olympics and the 2000 Olympics.

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And so that was, it's always for you and I, it was part of what we

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thought about when we were young.

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Yeah, we, I think the Olympics for any child is like their first

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taste of different culture and country, depending on where the Olympics is at.

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And you get to that's what I appreciate about opening ceremonies,

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because opening ceremonies really.

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encompass the story of your country.

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And that's what I appreciate about Paris is everybody came down the

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Seine River, which I had just done on Walk with History, and they had

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done that for the opening ceremony.

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And that's that river is such a big part of Paris's history, so much

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so they couldn't even get it clean.

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Yeah.

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So it was interesting that you mentioned the kind of opening

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ceremonies in the Seine River because at the front and center of modern

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day Olympic Games is the torch carry.

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Now you were saying that the the carrying of the Olympic

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torch hasn't always been around.

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No, it was first used in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and the

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main purpose was, it was to indicate where the Olympic games were being held

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around Amsterdam, so you could know where the Olympic events were happening,

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if you could follow the big torches.

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in Amsterdam.

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And people just love that idea so much.

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The idea of fire and this ancient Greek ceremony of sacred fire, because

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during the Olympic games in Greece, the altar, of the ancient Greece

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mythology was kept lit during the games.

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And you know how fire was stolen from the gods by Prometheus.

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And this presented like a Greek story.

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And so Amsterdam had done it first and people thought,

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Oh, that's such a great idea.

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It really holds true to this Greek mythology.

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Let's keep this as part of a symbol of the Olympic Games.

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So thank you, Amsterdam for bringing that in.

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1928.

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didn't realize that it hadn't been around since the beginning.

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So it's, it's interesting to see how the Olympics kind of evolve.

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Now, the, the torch relay, which we do now, they, they run this flame,

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this eternal flame to light the torch that started in 1936 in Berlin, but it

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was and the first torch lighting ceremony was held in Olympia, Greece in 1936.

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So it's been, it's a neat thing that we do now, but it does encompass this idea.

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I think it's unique what each country does this year, Paris,

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it put it on a hot air balloon

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Yeah, that was neat.

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and put it and got it to raise up into the air and you can see it again.

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Landmarks are such a big part of Paris, that garden that they're using, it was

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built by Napoleon for Josephine, it's very much a part of the French culture there.

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So I really just enjoyed how much France pulled in their

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story to the opening ceremonies.

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Now, one of the other things that, at least this is the way it's here,

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here in the United States, everybody's always counting how many medals.

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What's the medal count for this country?

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Who's got the most golds?

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Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

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Who, what country got their very first gold in this event,

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that, that event, and the other.

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But Olympic medals, , gold, silver, and bronze haven't always been around as well.

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In the very beginning with the Greeks, you got all the branches,

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like you said, but when the, Olympics were reinvigorated in 1896.

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It started with only the first place winner got a silver medal and you

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won first, you got the silver medal.

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Sometimes second place winners would get a bronze.

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Sometimes it depended on what event.

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Gold medals and all three medals.

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Again, America sets the stage here.

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They weren't introduced until 1904 at December Olympics in St.

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Louis, Missouri.

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And that's when the IOC had decided to do a gold medal for first, a silver

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medal for second, and a bronze medal for third, and then they went back

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and retroactively assigned those.

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to the 1900 games and the 1896

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Oh, okay.

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So when you see, if you go back to those first two games where they didn't

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do that, they basically took the people's places and gave them those medals.

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So those countries, if you say this country has so many golds, they're,

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they're adding those from 1896 and 1900, even though they weren't

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officially handed out until 1904.

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But I want everyone to know that the first eight people in any sport

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will get a scroll with your name on

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even today.

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even today.

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So if you're in top eight, the first three get medals, the top

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eight get a scroll with your name on

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Oh, that's

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And then every person who competes in that event gets a participation medal.

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So you're a Olympian.

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you go.

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I mean, I think just the fact that you get to go and be there, that

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you can call yourself, an Olympic athlete should be a reward enough,

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At first the, pictures on the medals showed the Colosseum.

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And so they were the medals were redone because the Colosseum is Roman and it

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doesn't fit into the Greek culture.

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So they re they redid the pictures.

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And then for the winter Olympics, they always depict something kind of winter.

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Now, I have a question for you.

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When did the winter Olympics start?

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I believe it started in 1924 in Chamonix, France.

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and then when did they start to offset them?

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So when they started doing like the even

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Mm-Hmm.

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that I don't, I'm going to guess it's actually pretty modern.

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I want to say like 2008 timeframe.

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2006.

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Two six.

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Okay.

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Because I remember in my youth, they were, they were the same year.

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And I remember when they either skipped a year or, or shortened it to

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only two years in between the Winter Olympics or something like that.

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And then it was every two years, you're getting some sort of Olympic something.

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I like that better because once every four years was a lot, summer games

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and winter games because it's a lot.

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It's two, it's two, three weeks per games.

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Now each one has four years in between this four years between

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every summer Olympics and this four years between every winter Olympics.

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But there are two years in between and they offset them.

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So that way.

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This kind of a break for us viewers who like to watch from our couch

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and criticize these athletes who've prepared their whole lives for this.

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Being in Paris, watching them prepare for this and watching them

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make the Olympic village and put up the stands and knowing that.

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All these athletes from all over the world are going to descend onto Paris.

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And like you said, the tie in to the original Olympics games with the Parisian

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that really orchestrated all of it.

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It was really great to see that before it actually started.

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And I hope everyone's enjoying the Olympics right now.

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I really think the Olympics for me, As a historian is a time when the world can

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come together and we really get to see the best of our best athletically compete

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for something that's just so wholesome and something we can all be proud of.

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Absolutely.

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We love the Olympics here.

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And I'm sure if you're listening to this, it's because you've been watching the

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Olympics on TV and maybe you're listening to some Olympic history on your way into

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work on a Monday or a Tuesday morning.

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So hang out with us for a little bit longer.

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And I'm going to tell you a little bit about how many significant ties

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that France, the country itself has to the Olympics throughout the

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Olympic history starting in 1896.

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The revival of the Olympic Games in the 19th century is largely credited to a

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Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin.

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Inspired by the ancient games and motivated by a desire to promote physical

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education and international peace, Coubertin founded the International

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Olympic Committee, IOC, in 1894.

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His vision was to create a global sporting event that would bring together athletes

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from around the world to compete in the spirit of friendship and fair play.

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Two years later, in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece,

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a fitting nod to their ancient origins.

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The event featured 241 athletes from 14 countries competing in 43 events.

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While modest by today's standards, the 1896 Games were a monumental

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success and laid the foundation for the Olympic movement.

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The early 20th century saw the Olympics grow in size and scope.

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Interestingly enough, many jumps forward in the Olympic Games happened in France.

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The 1900 Paris Games introduced female athletes for the first time and expanded

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the number of sports and events.

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Of a total of 997 athletes that year, Twenty two women competed

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in five sportstennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf.

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By the 1924 Paris Games, the Olympics had become a truly international

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affair, with 44 nations and over 3, 000 athletes participating.

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The Olympic Games continued to evolve, introducing the first

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Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France, to celebrate winter sports.

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Despite interruptions due to World War II, the games resumed and continued to

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grow in popularity and participation.

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One of the most significant developments in modern Olympic era was the introduction

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of the Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome.

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These games provided a platform for athletes with disabilities

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to compete at the highest level.

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embodying the Olympic spirit of inclusion and diversity.

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The Olympic Games have also been a stage for political and social statements.

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From the Black Power salute by Tommy Smith and John Carlos in 1968 to the

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boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, the Olympics have often reflected

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the broader socio political climate.

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Today, the Olympic Games are one of the largest and most watched

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Sporting events in the world.

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The games have expanded to include a wide array of sports from traditional

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events like athletics, which is what they call track and field during

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the Olympic games and gymnastics.

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To newer additions like skateboarding and surfing.

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The IOC continues to adapt and innovate, ensuring that the Olympics

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remain relevant and exciting for new generations of athletes and fans.

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As we look forward to future games, the Olympic spirit of excellence,

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friendship, and respect continues to inspire millions around the globe.

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Their Olympics are more than just a sporting event, they are a celebration

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of human potential and a beacon of hope for a more united world.