A Brief Overview Before We Go Onto 2012 Olympics in London

2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London. The London 2012 Olympics will be organized from 27th July to 12th August 2012 and the Paralympic Games will follow immediately after Olympic Games, starting from 29th August to 9th September 2012. Note that the ‘Paralympic Games’ is for the sportspersons, who have challenged their physical disability to perform in an international sports event. However, before we start discussing 2012 London Olympics, let us have a quick peep into the history of Olympics and how it started.

Rich History of Ancient Olympics

Olympics is considered as the mother of all sports events. As an ancient sports festival of Greece, Olympics used to be held in the city of ‘Olympia’. The first Olympic Games had held in Olympia of Greece in the year 776 BC.

The games were used to be organized in the wooded valley of Elis in Olympia. This is the place, where the Greeks have created many magnificent statues and temples in the honor of Zeus, the supreme among all Gods. In that heritage place, you will find the temples in a groove, which is dedicated to Zeus and the most famous of all is a gold statue of Zeus, created by sculptor Phidias.

The Olympic Games were held in every four years and so is the Greek calendar that is based on Olympiad, the four-year span among two consecutive Olympic events. There were many saying about how and when exactly Olympics first started. Some believe that the Olympic event in 776 BC was not the first one and was actually started some years before.

The event had first started as a festival, marking the peace agreement in between the states of Pisa and Elis. It was King Iphitos who had started ‘Olympic Games’ and was told by Delphi Oracle to plant a tree of Olive. From that Olive tree only, Olympics got the custom of greeting the winner of a game with a wreath or coronal of Olive leaves.

Modern Olympics

The traditional amateurism to professional sports, Olympics has come a long way. Olympics now is not just a festival or event, it is an international sports competition, where more than 200 countries of the world participate. Over the centuries, Olympics has gone under many modifications, which eventually shaped the modern ‘Olympic Games’ that we see today.

After many dormant years, Olympics was successfully revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French sports lover. And finally, with great efforts, the ‘Modern Olympics’ held on Sunday, March 24, 1896. In this first summer event of Modern Olympics, an American college student, James Connolly was the first sportsperson to win a game.

The ancient Olympic Games have a glorious past of 1170 years, in which it has gone through many challenges. As we move closer to 2012 London Olympics, All About Olympics will take you through Olympics' rich history and discuss many more interesting information and stories about this prestigious sports event – ‘The Olympic Games’.