About the Games
A celebration of excellence and inspiration to achieve
An invitation for the world to gather and dream in common spirit
Chronicle: Olympic Games
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The original Olympic Games date back to 776 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Games were staged 293 times before the Roman emperor Theodosis I called them a pagan festival and banned them in 393 A.D. Some 1,500 years later, Pierre de Coubertin revived the Games … seeing the competition as a way to get French soldiers into better shape. In June of 1894 he expanded his vision of the Games to peace among nations, and established the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Paris International Congress. Two years later, in 1896, Athens hosted the first modern Games of the Olympiad, and in 1924 Chamonix, France hosting the first Winter Olympic Games. With the exception of 1940 and 1944, the Games have been held every four years since. Following 1992, the Games of the Olympiad and the Winter Olympic Games were off-set to occur on an alternating two-year basis. Canada first hosted the Olympics in July 1976 in Montreal. More than 6,000 athletes from 92 nations attended the Games of the XXI Olympiad. Calgary hosted the next Canadian Olympics (the country’s first Olympic Winter Games) in 1988, creating a sport legacy that lives on today. That legacy will grow and continue in 2010 with the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler. | ||||||
