The Olympic and Paralympic Games
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Introduction
The Olympic Games are considered to be the world’s foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Games are held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. The Paralympics have grown from a small gathering of British World War II veterans in 1948 to become one of the world’s largest international sport events.
The five rings of the Olympic logo represent the five continents involved in the games and were debuted at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. The ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece. The first Games took place in 776 BC.
The Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games this year take place in London, UK. This will be the 30th Summer Olympiad. 10,500 competitors from 205 nations will take part in 26 sports. London is the first city to have hosted the Games three times, the first two occasions being 1908 and 1948.
The International Olympic Committee, the supreme authority of the Olympic Movement, selects the host city for each Summer and Winter Games. To date, 46 cities have hosted the Games, but no Games have ever been held in South America or Africa.
Organisation of the Games has to take into account much more than just the sporting events – on the busiest day, it is estimated that 800,000 people will use public transport to travel to Games events.
The Olympic motto coined in 1921 by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, is ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ meaning ‘Swifter, Higher, Stronger’.
