News from France (39) Olympics, History and Development

By: Nenden Nurhayati Issartel (Correspondent, France)

Tri Indri Hardini (Lecturer, Indonesian University of Education)

As shown in the previous article about the history of the Olympics, Athens, Greece was the place where the first Modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 as a tribute to this country as the country where the Olympics originated.

2nd Olympiad in Paris in 1900 & 1924

Paris has hosted the Summer Olympics twice. Unfortunately, in 1900, for six months, the Olympics were focused on the universal exhibition that was also being held in Paris. Paris hosted the second Olympics, which offered an arena for “international competitions in physical exercise and sports” as part of the Exhibition/ Universal Exposition. The sporting event received little media coverage because Paris was also the host city. Universal Exposition.

The 1924 Olympics were different. This marked the rise of spectator sport with increased media interest centered on the Games, both in print and on radio, as well as the popularity of athletes and the emergence of products related to or associated with the Games. From this year, the vases (as trophies) of the 1924 Paris Olympics were introduced. These vases were designed by the famous Sèvres factory and were awarded by the city of Paris to the winners.

Worldwide Events

For a long time, the Olympics were originally reserved for athletes from powerful Western nations. The Olympics were opened to the rest of the world in the late 1960s. The Olympic event also evolved with an increase in the number of female athletes and a decrease in male-only events. The rise of media, especially television, provided a worldwide bombardment of sportsmanship and competition.

At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila won his first Olympic medal by running the marathon barefoot. Four years later, in Tokyo, he won the first double in Olympic marathon history. His compatriot Mamo Wolde succeeded him in 1968.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jamaica's Usain Bolt became the first athlete to break three world records at the same Games. His performances in the 100m, 200m and 4X100m were watched by more than 2 billion viewers.

The Olympics as a Well-Functioning Business Field

Since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the commercial benefits of the Games have been enormous. The event, first financed by private partners, has generated profits of 150 million US dollars. The sale of products related to the Games such as clothing, glasses, mascots, etc., contributed to the success. The rapprochement with multinational companies (Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Omega) and the income generated by television rights strengthened the financial situation.  Comité International Olympique – CIO ( ing: The International Olympic Committee).

In 1896, Kodak became the first company to sponsor the Olympic Games. Since 1928, Coca-Cola has been a partner of the CIO since the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. In 1968, 230 million matchboxes with the Grenoble logo were distributed in France and abroad. In 1972 the appearance of the first mascot at the official Munich Olympic Games: Waldi the teckel. In 2016 there were 40,000 official points of sale (under official IOC license) to market Olympic products in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1988, 21 million USD was the amount paid by nine companies for commercial operations at the Seoul Olympic Games.

2032 is the year when the contract linking the Omega brand to the Olympics and Paralympics ends.

Trophies / Cups & Awards

Giving trophies and awards is a way to honor athletes. In 1896, the first winner received a silver medal, complete with an olive branch (an olivier rameau)) and a certificate of appreciation. The second winner receives a copper medal, a laurel branch (a lauriets rameau) and award certificates. In 2016, the gold, silver, or bronze medals each weighed 500 grams and were made of recycled 30% silver and bronze.

Eugène-Henri Gravelotte (1876-1939), who won the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, became the first French Olympic champion at the age of twenty. In addition to the winner's medal, he also received a trophy from the hands of the Greek King George I.

Since the 2012 London Olympics, every French athlete who wins a medal has received a bonus: 50,000 euros for gold medalists, 20,000 euros for silver medalists, and 13,000 euros for bronze medalists.

Match Appearance

The official Olympic poster is the way to announce the Olympic Games. It is chosen by the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (COJOP). : Le comité d'organisation des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques), and this year the chosen design is the work of Ugo Gattoni who identifies the theme and the match held with an idea that is beyond reason. The theme that appears on this Ugo Gattoni poster (as written in the previous article on March 16, 2024) is showing the city of Paris as the stadium arena where this match will be held. On the poster, the Seine River is seen being used as a swimming competition area in natural water.

In 1912, during the Olympic Games in Stockholm, the first official poster was produced. Even though today, even though the promotion of the Olympics is done effectively through radio, television, and the internet, posters are still made because they are part of the Olympic tradition.

The official poster is selected through a competition organized by COJOP, which issues strict guidelines for its creation. The competition is open to everyone (foreigners or from the host country), and of course it offers artists the opportunity to benefit from worldwide distribution of sales.

The poster for the first Olympic Games held in Asia, in Tokyo, Japan in 1964, was a graphic novelty that presented the country's symbol in its clearest form, namely the rising sun.

In 1972, many famous painters of the time designed posters for the XX Olympic Games in Munich, including: Otmar Alt, Victor Vasarely, Pierre Soulages, David Hockney, Valerio Adami, Eduardo Chillida, Shusaku Arakawa.

The Olympic salute also uses the Joinville salute, which is part of the opening ceremony ritual. It is performed with the right hand folded and then extended to the side. Since the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, this salute was abandoned in 1946 to avoid confusion with the Nazi salute.

International Olympic Committee

The CIO (Comité International Olympique/ International Olympic Committee) is the principal body of the Olympic movement which is largely dependent on the Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games, International Federations, athletes and the Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games. Its mission is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world, by educating young generations to share sport without discrimination, in the spirit of solidarity, friendship and fair play.

On June 23, 1894, at the Palais de la Sorbonne (Paris), on the closing night of the CIO Congress attended by two thousand people including 79 representatives from twelve countries, Pierre de Coubertin, then 33 years old, confirmed the project for the resumption of the modern Olympic Games and created a commission responsible for studying the project. This event is considered the birthday of the International Olympic Committee (Comité International Olympique).

Organization of the 2024 Olympic Games (Comité d'organisation des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques) was founded on January 20, 2018 and its secretariat is at 46, rue Proudhon 93300 Aubervilliers. The organization has a budget of 4.38 billion Euros. The President's chair is held by Tony Estanguet, and its director is Etienne Thobois.

Ancient Heritage of the Greek Nation

As we have mentioned before, in 716 BC, the first Olympic Games began in Greece and were held in honor of the King of the Gods Zeus. For additional information, in 1766, an English archaeologist Richard Chandler discovered the site of Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Games were first held. These sports were held in honor of the gods, one of the sports of which was the Panhellenic Games, which had a very important religious character. Each competition was celebrated in honor of a particular god, such as Zeus, the king of the gods, in Olympia and Nemea, Apollo, the god of light and reason in Delphi, Poseidon, the god of the sea and horses in the plain of Corinth, but of all these games, the most prestigious were the Olympian games.

Pentathlon (5 matches)

The Olympic Games bring out the ideal qualities of athletes, namely strength, agility, speed and endurance. The Pentathlon in question includes 5 sports: sprint, discus, javelin, long jump and wrestling.

Pierre Coubertin

As stated in the previous article, the founder of the modern Olympics was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a social thinker, essayist and sports leader. Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) is known as the initiator of the Modern Olympics. The Games were first held in 1896 in Athens. Coubertin was inspired by ancient Greek sports practices (athletic races, games of strength and skill, duels) and inspired by sports practices in England (cricket, rowing, rugby).

In a speech delivered by Pierre de Coubertin on the evening of June 23, 1894 at the Athletics Congress at the Sorbonne, with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games. Pierre de Coubertin on the evening of June 23, 1894 at the Athletics Congress at the Sorbonne, with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games: Every four years, the restored Olympic Games should give the young generation the opportunity to experience a joyful and fraternal encounter.

Olympic Torch

Once the flame is lit, it is passed to the first torchbearer who passes it on to others until it reaches the host city. Its journey ends when the last torchbearer lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony held in the Olympic stadium to mark the official start of the Games.

In relation to the desire to preserve the Greek heritage but at the same time modernize the Olympic Games through spectacular events, it is worth noting that the tradition of lighting the torch dates back to the ancient Olympic Games in Athens, but no relay race was ever part of the ancient Games. The torch ceremony and relay began at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The appearance of the torch (material, shape, design) reflects the way in which each country that hosts the Games wants to distinguish itself and exemplify its cultural specificity. While a dove of peace appeared on the Mexico 68 torch. The Sydney 2000 torch took on the distinctive curve of the city's Opera House. The Beijing 2008 torch commemorated the ancestral knowledge of parchment (parchment/ writing on animal skin). Currently the 2024 Olympic torch in Paris is designed by Mathieu Lehanneur.

The first torch of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lit on April 16, 2024. From the Peloponnese, it was handed over by a dancer playing the Greek goddess Hera to Stefanus Douskos, the rowing gold medal winner in Tokyo 2020. The Olympic flame was then handed over to Laure Manaudou who joined Athena on a ship and crossed the Mediterranean Sea. On May 8, 2024 in Marseille, the flame was received by Florent Manaudou.

Florent Manaudou, the 50m freestyle Olympic champion from London in 2012, was the first French flame bearer. He was the first to step off the ship, Olympic torch in hand, in Marseille. The Manaudou family is a family of athletes. Florent's sister, Laure Manaudou, was the Olympic swimming champion in Athens 2004, before her sister became the Olympic champion in London in 2012. Thus, history repeated itself on Wednesday, May 8, as after Laure Manaudou became the first French torch bearer in Greece in the Olympic torch relay, it was Florent Manaudou who became the first torch bearer on French soil.

The Olympic flame has begun its journey in France. 11,000 torchbearers will take turns in the relay until the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on July 26, 2024.

Rituals and Symbols

Established more than a century ago, the modern Olympic Games have gradually gained importance and are followed worldwide. The success of the Games lies in the achievements of the athletes as well as the performances put on by the host country. The structure of sports in the Olympics follows a precise ceremonial process, accompanied by rituals, symbols, and traditions with great precision.

The Olympic flag was designed by Pierre de Coubertin, and was first flown at the opening ceremony of the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. The image on the flag is in the form of a ring representing the five hemispheres of the world.

The ritual that is always performed by each country's delegation is to march in uniform behind their respective national flags at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and this ritual began in 1908 in London. In 1928, the applicable rules were formalized: the Greek delegation leads the parade while the host country closes the parade at the back.

The Birth of the Paralympics

In 1960, based on the idea of Ludwig Guttmann, a British doctor of German origin, which was conveyed in 1948 after seeing the many soldiers who were killed in World War II, the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome (which became the Paralympic Games in 1988).

The outstanding performance of disabled athletes, allowed the competition to have a place in the sports calendar among the major sporting events. The success of the Paralympic Games in London in 2012 was marked by an unprecedented number of visitors during the event and media coverage. This marked a turning point in the history of the Olympic Games. Ludwig Guttmann promoted the sport to help disabled people integrate into social and professional life. Initially, in 1960, the Paralympic Games were only open to wheelchair users, and were attended by 23 countries, 400 participants, in 8 sports.

Beatrice Hess, a French swimmer at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, won five medals, including three golds. The disabled female swimmer from Alsace became one of the most prominent figures in the world of swimming.

The Olympics are a Reflection of Society

In addition to its sporting character, each Olympics symbolizes an era. The competition is used as a medium for conveying social and political messages. The Olympics are also an opportunity for CIOs to promote equality and balance in the Olympics.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, of the 11,444 athletes in attendance, 5,176 were women (more than 45%), and this was a first in Olympic history.

The Olympics in Paris in 2024

In September 2017, in Lima (Peru), Paris was chosen as the venue for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. After 100 years of waiting, the Olympic Games are finally back in the French capital. COJOP President Tony Estanguet stated that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are an effort to unite Paris and its surroundings, to unite Paris and Marseille, to unite all of France in a common project, a collective ambition.

To learn more about the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, as well as the decisions that will be made so that the Olympic and Paralympic Games can take place properly and safely, the next article will discuss the 2024 Olympics in the city of Paris.

Source:

https://olympics.com/cio

National Museum of Sports