The first Olympic games was in Greek in 776 before Christ and regularly every four years to year 393. It was greatly games with ceremonies and matches in Olympia in honour of Dius, who was a king of gods. During games, there were stopped conflicts and broke off wars.

In the very earliest Olympiad there was only one event - the 200 yard sprint. Soon other events were added: boxing, wrestling, the pankrathion, the discus throw, the jevelin throw and the long jump. By the 25th Olympiad the four-horse chariot race was added.

In 394 on interdict of Theodosius I was OG forbidden and in 426 the temple of Dius was burnt down and the other buildings were destroyed by earthquake in 6th century.

Diskobolos was one of the best the discus-thrower and one of the most successful athlete the 5th century before Christ .

In november 1859 in Athens 20 000 spectators saw 300 athletes on the first New-Greek OG. Evangelos Zappas was a man who have this idea and with country council decided about revival games in Olympia. Because the weather was bad, the games was in Athens. The next games was in year 1870, 1875 and 1887.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the man who stayed behind the revival of Olympic Games. At first nobody agreed with the revival of Olympic Games, but he didn´t surrender and he traveled around the world, promoted the Games. The people were fascinated and the international congress about sport in Paris decided about revival the OG.The first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens in honor of ancient Greeks. 13 countries participated in the Games but not Bohemia. The athletes competed in 9 kinds of sport and every winner gained olive twig, diploma and silver medal (until the Olympics in London in 1908 the award for winner was only silver medal). In 1924 in Chamonix was a „Week of winter sports“ – it was officially name. Today we consider this event as the first Winter OG. The games are organized every four years except the war years. Until 1992 were Summmer and Winter Games held in the same year. But the next OG rotated regularly every 2 years.

Medals from 1th moder Summer OG.

The Olympic symbols are icons, flags and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee to promote the Olympic Games. Some—such as the flame, fanfare, and theme—are more common during Olympic competition, but others, such as the flag, can be seen throughout the year.

 Motto:

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius , which means something like "Faster, Higher, Stronger". The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

Olympic ringsThe symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. This was originally designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914...: five intertwined rings in different colors - blue, yellow, black, green, and red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition. These five rings represent the five (inhabited) continents of the world: Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania (including Australia).

 

Each Olympic Games has its own Olympic emblem, which is a design integrating the Olympic rings with one or more distinctive elements. They are created and proposed by the Organizing Committee or the National Olympic Committee of the host country. It is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee to approve Olympic emblems for the Olympic games. The Olympic emblems are used in promotional materials, by sponsors of the Olympics, on the uniforms of every Olympic competitor

FlagCreated by Pierre De Coubertin in 1914. There are specific Olympic flags that are displayed by cities that will be hosting the next Olympic games. During each Olympic closing ceremony in what is traditionally known as the Antwerp Ceremony, the flag is passed from the mayor of one host city to the next host, where it will then be taken to the new host and displayed at city hall. These flags should not be confused with the larger Olympic flags designed and created specifically for each games, which are flown over the host stadium and then retired. Because there is no specific flag for this purpose, the flags flown over the stadiums generally have subtle differences, including minor color variations, and, more noticably, the presence (or lack) of white outlines around each ring.

Flame and torch relayMonths before the Games are held, the Olympic Flame is lit on a torch, with the rays of the Sun concentrated by a parabolic reflector, at the site of the Ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. The torch is then taken out of Greece, most often to be taken around the country or continent where the Games are held. The Olympic torch is carried by athletes, leaders, celebrities and ordinary people alike, and at times in unusual conditions, such as being electronically transmitted via satellite for Montreal 1976, or submerged underwater without being extinguished for Sydney 2000. On the final day of the torch relay, the day of the Opening Ceremony, the Flame reaches the main stadium and is used to light a cauldron situated in a prominent part of the venue to signify the beginning of the Games. Then it is left to burn throughout the Games till the Closing Ceremony, when it is extinguished to signify the end of the Games. Only twice has the Olympic Flame actually been carried over more than one continent, i.e. Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, both of which had actually involved all five continents.

A torch used in Vancouver 2010

Olympic medals The Olympic medals awarded to winners are another symbol associated with the Olympic games. The medals are made of gold-plated silver (commonly described as gold medals), silver, or bronze, and awarded to the top 3 finishers in a particular event. Each medal for an Olympiad has a common design, decided upon by the organizers for the particular games. From 1928 until 2000, the obverse side of the medals contained an image of Nike, the traditional goddess of victory, holding a palm in her left hand and a winners crown in her right. This design was created by Giuseppe Cassioli. For each Olympic games, the reverse side as well as the labels for each Olympiad changed, reflecting the host of the games.In 2004, the obverse side of the medals changed to make more explicit reference to the Greek character of the games. In this design, the goddess Nike flies into the Panathenic stadium, reflecting the renewal of the games. Since then the medals don't have a common side as the design for both sides is decided by the host organizers .

AnthemsThe Olympic Hymn, also known informally as the Olympic Anthem, is played when the Olympic Flag is raised. It is a musical piece composed by Spyridon Samaras with words written from a poem of the Greek poet and writer Kostis Palamas. Both the poet and the composer were the choice of Demetrius Vikelas, a great Greek Pro-European and the first President of the IOC. The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the 1896 Athens Olympic Games but wasn't declared the official hymn by the IOC until 1957.

Olympic saluteThe Olympic salute is a variant of the Roman salute: the right arm and hand are stretched and pointing upward, the palm is outward/downward. It is similar to the Hitler salute, albeit with the arm aiming higher.

 

MascotsSince the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France the Olympic Games have had a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. The first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Olympic flag or organization logos.

Our first Olympic winner was Bedřich Šupčík. He won the climb in Paris in 1924. Our most successful athletes which are known all over the world were Emil Zátopek – he surprisingly won 10 and 5 km run and marathon in 1952 in Helsinky, Věra Čáslavská – best gymnast in our history. Our first Winter Olympic winner was Jiří Raška. He won ski jumping competition in 1968 in Grenoble. Our football players won gold medal in 1980 in Moskva and our hockey players won the „Tournament of the century“ in Nagano in 1998.