The Olympic Games

Olympic Games, international sports competition, held every four years at a different site, in which athletes from different nations compete against each other in a variety of sports. There are two types of Olympics, the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. Through 1992 they were held in the same year, but beginning in 1994 they were rescheduled so that they are held in alternate even-numbered years. For example, the Winter Olympics were held in 1994 and the Summer Olympics in 1996. The Winter Olympics were next held in 1998, and the Summer Olympics occured in 2000.
After they had achieved national independence from Turkey in 1829, the Greeks sought repeatedly to revive the Olympian Games in order to emphasize their ancient heritage. Their Games, which were limited to ethnic Greeks, were unsuccessful, were staged sporadically, and gained little international attention. They ceased entirely in 1889. Coubertin succeeded in his effort to reestablish the Games primarily because his conception of the Games was international rather than nationalistic. Although earlier in his career he had been interested in sports as a way to improve the military preparedness of France, he eventually envisioned them as an instrument to overcome conflicts among nations.
Coubertin had begun developing his ideas for an international sports competition in the 1880s. In 1894 he invited delegates to come to Paris to discuss amateur sports at an international athletic congress. The conference hosted 78 delegates from nine countries. During the conference Coubertin used art and music with classical themes to influence the delegates. When he surprised them with a proposal to revive the Olympian Games of classical times, they voted unanimously to begin the modern cycle. Coubertin wanted the Olympic Games to feature both ancient and modern sports. The discus event, for instance, symbolized continuity with the p