Thursday, February 18, 2010

Olympic Games: Ancient Vs. Today

The Olympic games of ancient times were much different from modern times. In ancient times, the games were solely for praising the gods with the people’s best abilities. However, nowadays the games do not even really serve this purpose any longer. The games today are more for different countries to come together and to “encourage international community and cooperation.” (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_purpose_of_having_the_Olympics) The Olympics of ancient times also had much different competitions than the Olympics of today; looking at the completely different cultures of the two times, it is not hard to see why. Games such as stadion racing, boxing, and chariot racing were of the most common then, while figure skating, bobsledding, and louge are of the common competitions seen in the Olympics happening now. Also, the Olympics today are broken up into two seasons, the winter Olympics, which are happening now, and the summer Olympics. This was a very recent change, and therefore was not used in ancient times. The Special Olympics and the Paralympics are also new additions. In the ancient Olympics, only the best of the best athletes could compete; anyone with a disability would be unable to compete. Now, different types of Olympics are held for people with the dream to compete, but disabilities holding them back. The Olympics of yesterday and the Olympics of today are very different, and who knows what the Olympics of tomorrow may be like!
Web Citations:
1. "WikiAnswers - What is the purpose of having the Olympics." WikiAnswers - The Q&A wiki. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. .
 2. "BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: The Olympics: Ancient versus Modern." Ow.ly - Shorten urls, share files and track visits - Owly. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. .
3. Image: http://vancouverolympics.wikispaces.com/file/view/800px-Olympic_Rings_svg.png/107706017/800px-Olympic_Rings_svg.png

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