The 2012 Summer Olympics is now being held in London, England (the Great Britain). It is a big events for all people on this planet. People in war even have to cerese fire to respect this big event. The opening ceremony was on July 27, 2012(Friday).

The closing ceremony will be on August 12, 2012. In the opening ceremony, the most impression one to me was the green hill with flags from all countries around the world, which represents all countries are united together as one big family.

Besides, unlike the usual Olympic Games, on the Athletic Torch Lighting Ceremony, the torch was lightened by seven ordinary people, it was beyond our expectation. I was so warmed by this scenario. These days, I have watched many splendid competitions and hoping more new records and surprises will be made.

When was the first Olympic Games held?

The first Olympic games were held in the year of 776 BC (over 2700 years ago), and had only one event, a kind of sprint (a short run that was called “stade”). The race was run by men who competed in the nude. A wreath of olive branches was placed on the winner’s head (in Greek, this is called a kotinos). The olive tree was the sacred tree of Athens, Greece.

Could women attend the games in the earlier Olympics?

Women were neither allowed to compete in the games nor to watch them, because the games were dedicated to Zeus, and were therefore meant for men.

The four-year period between the Olympic Games was called an Olympiad. Every four years, for 1,170 years, the Greeks held an Olympics, which continued to grow and change. Many other sports were added, including other races, wrestling, boxing, pentathlon (five events, including the long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, foot race, and wrestling), and equestrian events (events with horses and people, like chariot races and horse races) The Olympic games were banned by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II in the year AD 394.

When was the Modern Olympic Games held?

Over a fifteen hundred years later, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (1863-1937) (a French educator and sportsman) revived the Olympic Games. An all-male Olympic games were held in 1896, in Athens, Greece. The first winter Olympics were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France.

The flag of the Olympic Games

The flag of the Olympic Games has five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red) on a white ground，which represent the five parts of the world that were joined together in the Olympic movement, including Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. Baron de Coubertin designed the flag of the Olympics in 1913-1914.

The Olympic flag was first used in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. The Olympic flag is paraded during the opening ceremony of each Olympic Games. At the end of an Olympics, the mayor of the host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. The flag will remain in the town hall of the next host-city until the next Olympic Games, four years later.

Olympic Events:

The events in the Summer Olympics include: archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kayaking, marathon, pentathlon, ping pong, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, track and field (many running, jumping, and throwing events), triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman).

The events in the Winter Olympics include: ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, luge, bobsleigh, skeleton (a type of sledding), curling, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, slalom, downhill (Alpine) skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined (skiing plus ski jumping), and biathlon (skiing and shooting).

Which events do you like most? Which athlete is your favorite one?