The games glorious

S. THYAGARAJAN

The Olympic Games were revived by a French teacher, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, after the congress of sports administrators, academicians and sportsmen approved the idea at the University of Sorbonne in 1894. The Baron wanted the inaugural edition in Paris in 1896 but the International Olympic Committee voted for Athens, to continue the link with the ancient Olympics held in Greece.

Before 40,000 spectactors at the renovated marble structure, financed by a Greek merchant, Geore Averoff, on the ruins of the Stadium of Herodis, built in 330 BC, the first Olympics were inaugurated by King Constantine of Greece on March 25, 1896. The men-only Games featured 13 countries and Greece finished top with 47 medals.

The dates of the Ancient Games are not known. But historians believe the earliest could be in 776 BC. The first Olympic champion was Coroibos, a cook from Elis, in 776 BC. A four- horse chariot race was popular in those Games. Kyniska of Sparta was the first woman winner in 396 BC. Leonidas from Rhodes won 12 championships for running from 164 BC to 152 BC. The Games were terminated by a decree issued in Milan by Theodosius, the Roman Emperor in 393 AD.

The second and third Olympics in Paris in 1900 and at St.Louis (United States) in 1904 were clubbed with World Trade Fairs. The Paris edition featured 1319 men and 12 women from 22 countries. France with 102 medals was the champion. So many events were held that IOC could not recognise all. Croquet, golf, cricket and tug- of-war were granted official status. Still-fishing in the Seine, pigeon flying, fire-extinguishing and ice skating were omitted. A tall (5'11") Chicago socialite, studying art in Paris, Margaret Abbot, won the golf medal. Abbot shot a 47 in a field that included her mother, Mary Ives Abbot,aged 65. Britain's Charlette Cooper, earlier won the tennis title to become the first woman medallist in the Olympics.

Only 12 countries, consisting of 681 men and six women went to St.Louis. The event was clubbed with Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Special items were held for Aboriginals, Pigmies, Moros, Sioux, Ainu and Patagonians. United States dominated winning a total of 238 medals (80 gold). Rome ,the host for the 1908 Games, withdrew citing financial difficulties. London substituted as the host. The American athletes breached the protocol by refusing to dip the Stars and Stripes in front of the Royal Box and created a controversy. Dorando Pietri, the gallant Italian marathoner, was the hero, despite not winning it. Leading throughout and totally exhausted when nearing the finish, he was physically assisted for a few moments to get on to his feet after he fell on the track for the fifth time, later he was disqualified .Johnny Hayes of the US was declared the winner. A special trophy was awarded to Pietri.

A placard bearer in front of each contingent was introduced in 1912 at Stockholm. Unique too was the brief sermon by Rev.Fr.Ashfelt, followed by a hymn from the Swedish Choral Association. Electronic timing made its appearance here as was the public address system. The star was a native American, Jim Thorpe, winner of decathlon and pentathlon. While presenting the medal, King Gustav said, " You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." A ticker-tape welcome was accorded to Thorpe on arrival. However, Thorpe was stripped of his medals following an accusation over his amateur status, reportedly for accepting cash of two dollars per game in baseball. Seven decades later, the IOC returned the medals to his family after the effort to locate him failed. Thorpe died in 1953, penniless in a trailer in Lomita, California.

The Olympic emblem was designed by Coubertin after a visit to the ruins in Delphi to commemorate the 20th anniversary of IOC in 1914. The 1916 Games at Berlin could not be held because of World War I and the flag was hoisted only in 1920 at Antwerp where the Games were revived. The flag has five rings-blue, yellow, black, green and red-representing the five continents against the white background symbolising peace. Fencing champion, Victor Boin, for the first time read the oath here. Boin later became the President of the Belgian Olympic Committee. Pavvo Nurmi of Finland, who later on went to earn the sobriquet"flying Finn," came into prominence here. He won the 10,000 metres and two Cross Country races. At one point, 22 world records from 1500 metres to 20,000 metres, were under his name. He was outstanding in the next two Olympics too, 1924 in Paris and in 1928 at Amsterdam.

The Olympic flame, that burns through the duration of the Games became a part of the ceremony in 1928 at Amsterdam. Women were allowed to compete in five Track and Field events.The first woman gold medal winner in athletics was Poland's Halina Konopacka, in discus. The leading figure in 1928 was the tall and muscular Johnny Weismuller, who later became the screen hero, Tarzan. He was the first of the four Olympic medallists who donned the famous Edgar Rice character. The others were Buster Crabbe, Herman Brix and Glem Morris.

The second Olympics in US-at Los Angeles in 1932 - gave birth to constructing a Village for competitors. The effect of the Depression was that only 37 countries, representing 1281 men and 127 women, figured from July 30 to August 14. For the first time, the star was a woman. Mildred (Babe) Didrikson, won two golds (80 metres hurdles and javelin) and a silver (high jump). She was best all round athlete, who played baseball, basketball, and golf and distinguished herself in singing and playing the harmonica. An American writer classified Didrikson as the "greatest athlete man or woman, the most flawless section of muscle harmony, of complete mental and physical co-ordination the world of sport has ever seen". She died young at 45 in 1956 from cancer.

The torch relay from Olympia, introduction of television and the impeccable performance of Jesse Owens were the highlights at Berlin in 1936. Adlof Hitler took personal interest in the Games. Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals (100, 200, 4 x 100 relay and long jump), is regarded as the greatest male athlete. Carl Lewis equalled this feat 48 years later at Los Angeles.

Fanny Blankers Koen, the Dutch house-wife and the mother of two, won four golds (100, 200, 80 metre hurdles and 4 x 100 relay) to come into the pages of athletics history in London in 1948 after World War II. Fanny Blankers (nee Francina Elsje) faced a lot of criticism for spending time on the field in training, and not caring for children and family. After the win, Fanny was taken on horse back down the streets of Amsterdam. A statue was also erected for her. She was declared as the athlete of the century last year.

Soviet Union came on the scene in 1952 at Helsinki. It made its impact immediately and pushed out US on medal count in 1956 at Melbourne, when the Games were held for the first time in the Southern hemisphere. Track and field, gymnastics and weight- lifting were the disciplines in which the Soviets demolished the rivals. Gymnast Larissa Latyinina was a great attraction at Melbourne. Owing to the strict Australian quarantine laws, Equestrian was shifted to Stockholm.

Dawn Fraser, the wonder Aussie swimmer, began her brilliant medal hunt at Melbourne. She is the only competitor to win three golds in 100 metres freestyle between 56 an 64. She was also the first to swim 100 metres in less than a minute. The African presence in the game was symbolised in 1960 by that magnificent marathoner who ran bare-foot, a personal guard of Emperor, Bikila who won again in 1964 at Tokyo.

Feminity Tests were introduced in 1968 at Mexico, where for the first time a 20-year old woman, Basilio Sotelo, was given the honour of lighting the Olympic flame. Despite protests from distance runners over the rarefied atmosphere at 7349 ft. some spectacular performances were recorded. The outstanding one was the 29 ft.2 1/2 in. (8.29 m) long jump by Bob Beamon. The record stood for 23 years.

The seven medal haul by the immortal Mark Spitz, and the massacre of 12 Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village by the Palestinian guerillas represent the ecstacy and agony of 1972 in Munich. Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 for Romania in 1976 at Montreal, and Ditiyatin's marvellous show in Moscow, despite the US boycott constitute the best of human effort in gymnastics.

Super power rivalry leading to political boycotts in 1980 and 1984 forced IOC to take tough measures. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Spanish aristocrat and diplomat, who took over as President in 1980 at Moscow introduced a measure of liberalisation which opened the floodgates to sponsorship. A travel executive, Peter Uberroth, shouldered the burden of hosting the Los Angeles Games of 1984. A profit of US$ 222 million was recorded. Since then sponsorship is the keyword behind Olympics with TV rights contributing a large chunk, as much 705 million dollars for the Sydney 2000. The opening ceremony acquired enormous importance to projecting the cultural ethos of the country and millions of dollars are earmarked for it. Top rated artistes and directors are roped in to craft the programme for the ceremonies.

Seoul, which spent around three billion dollars to match the Japanese in the continent in 1988, witnessed 160 countries in the fray. The spectre of drugs somewhat dimmed the lustre of the Oriental charm which the Koreans displayed. Ben Johnson of Canada after a monstrous 100 metres dash tested positive and forfeited the gold. Seoul was also witness to the great achievement of diver, Greg Louganis, the only male diver to win four gold medals.

Barcelona in 1992 stunned a 3.5 billion television audience by making a paralympian, Antonio Rebello, to fire a flaming arrow into the brazier to bring to life the Olympic flame. Atlanta in 1996 did an equally gripping spectacle of giving the honour to a living legend of boxing, Mohammad Ali, who as Cassius Clay, won an Olympic gold in 1960 in Rome.

The Centennial Games at Atlanta also witnessed a pipe bomb explosion near the Media Centre.

From a pure carnival to celebrating the flower of youth and skill, the Olympics today have become a gigantic exercise involving millions of dollars.

The clamour for more items is only enhancing the financial burden on the host who have no alternative to market sport as a commodity.

The Olympic motto, faster, higher and stronger, is now clouded by commercialism, corruption and doping.

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