Olympic Games: History, Symbols and India's Medals

The Olympic Games are the largest multi-sport event in the world, held once in four years. For competitive examinations the chapter is almost entirely a list of firsts: the first Games, the first host, the first Indian medal, the first symbol to appear. Very little of it changes, which makes it one of the safest chapters in Sports General Knowledge to learn once and keep.

The ancient Games and the modern revival

The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia in Greece in honour of Zeus, and the first recorded Games are dated to 776 BCE. They were abolished in 393 CE by the Roman emperor Theodosius I, who saw them as a pagan festival. Only free Greek men could compete, and the prize was a wreath of olive leaves rather than a medal.

The revival is the work of the French educationist Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who believed that sport built character. At a congress held at the Sorbonne in Paris he founded the International Olympic Committee on 23 June 1894, a date now observed as Olympic Day. The first modern Olympic Games were held at Athens in 1896. The first president of the IOC was Demetrius Vikelas of Greece; Coubertin himself was the second president and served far longer.

The symbols and what each one means

The five rings stand for the five inhabited continents and the meeting of athletes from all of them. The six colours, counting the white background, were chosen because every national flag of the time carried at least one of them, so no colour is officially tied to a particular continent. The motto was suggested to Coubertin by his friend Henri Didon, a French priest and educator.

How the Games are organised

The International Olympic Committee, with its headquarters at Lausanne in Switzerland, owns the Games and chooses the host city. The four-year gap between two celebrations is called an Olympiad, and the Summer Games are numbered by Olympiad, which is why the numbering continues even when a Games is not held. Three Games were cancelled by the World Wars, in 1916, 1940 and 1944. The Tokyo Games of 2020 were postponed by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic but kept the name Tokyo 2020, the first postponement in Olympic history.

The Winter Olympic Games began at Chamonix in France in 1924 and were held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992, after which they were shifted to a separate two-year cycle. The Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities are now held in the same host city soon after the main Games, and the Youth Olympic Games were held for the first time at Singapore in 2010. Japan was the first Asian country to host the Olympics, at Tokyo in 1964. Paris hosted the Summer Games in 2024, and Los Angeles is to host them in 2028.

India at the Olympics

India's strongest Olympic record is in men's field hockey, with eight gold medals won in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980. The run of six successive golds from 1928 to 1956 is unmatched in the sport, and Dhyan Chand, who played in the first three of them, is remembered as the finest player of that era; the National Sports Day in India is observed on his birth anniversary. After 1980 the team's dominance ended, and India's later medals have come mainly from shooting, wrestling, boxing, badminton and athletics.

Points examiners repeat

Learn the ancient pair 776 BCE and 393 CE together, and the modern pair 1894 and 1896. Attach each symbol to the Games where it first appeared: the flag and the oath to Antwerp in 1920 and the torch relay to Berlin in 1936. Keep Vikelas and Coubertin in the right order as first and second president of the IOC. Finally, note the exact wording of India's firsts, because the difference between the first medal, the first gold, the first individual medal and the first individual gold is where most marks are lost.