Olympic Games Have Survived Many And Varied Difficulties

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 13

Olympic Games Have Survived Many And Varied Difficulties

pi two days the sixteenth Olympic (James of the modern ~,. t ra T Tt e .° P u in Me| bourne by the Duke of Edinburgh. 1 hat the Games have so far survived all the tiaditiona difficulties— wrangling over venues and W r° l .®J’ ,s e. s “7* u nts that perhaps they retain at least some of the idealistic sentiment which inspired their revival.

forced of politics and nationalism, the Games would permit Hie free association of individuals from different countries which Baron Pierre de Coubertin hoped would help establish fnernHv international relations. But already politics have had their (fleet, largely through the political sponsoring of athletics in manv countries. Ihe present international unrest has led to the withdrawal of several nations, and requests have been made for other countries to be barred.

For all that, the Games at Melbourne promise to be remarkable and no doubt there will be considerable re-writing of world records. Exhibitions of national pride are almost inevitable but athletes are no less able than other sportsmen to regard their craft as being without geographical boundaries. This'feeling it is to be hoped, will be paramount at Melbourne; if it is the 1956 Games could be the greatest athletic occasion of all time

This is the first occasion on which the Olympic Games have been held in the southern hemisphere, and if other southern cities are to hold them, it will be necessary for members of the International Olympic Committee to be suitably impressed by the general administration and organisation, and particularly by the capabilities of the

Origins

Few of the thousands flocking to Melbourne will have given any thought to-the origins of the Olympic Games, which are lost in legend. The year 776 B.C. is popularly regarded as the date of the first Olympic Games, but this is only the date from which the records date. The first era of the ancient games has been conservatively estimated a* beginning in 1370-1104 B.C. and they had their origins in the informal athletic activities of the Greeks. Olympia in the celebrated valley of Elis in Greece was originally the scene of religious rites which gradu-

ally became associated with athletics. Various other Greek tribes also held athletic contests of a nature similar to those at Olympia,, and they eventually assumed such importance that Greek athletic life revolved round jhem for 12 centuries. ..The Olympic Games at least meant peace, even if only a brief truce between the continually warring Greek tribes. The Olympic peace—The Ekecheiria—lasted three months, during which educational and religious festivities took place and the Games themselves occupied three days. A three-month peace was necessary, for it took intending competitors from distant areas nearly two months travelling to and from Olympia for the Games and another month was spent training for the contests. The early Games were ended by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in 343 A.D., as many Christian bishops considered the Games sinful.

Revival

Guts Muths, the founder of German gymnastics was the first to consider the revival of the games along the present lines. The first real impetus was given by a lecture from Ernst Curtius on the Olympic at Berlin in 1852. This awakened interest in Greece and in 1859 the Pan-Hellenic Games were held when 20.000 spectators attended. They had little sporting value, however, nor .had the four subsequent Greek Games in 1870. 1875. 1888 and 1889: but they stimulated interest outside Greece.

Baron Coubertin was the driving force behind the revival of the present series of Games in 1896. He had a multiplicity of reasons for his aims, some apparently conflicting with his generally accepted high ideals for the Olympic Garres—but there is no denying his enthusiasm.