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First Olympic Games
While the Olympic games go back to ancient history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally organised the first modern Olympic Games in 1896; hosted in Athens, Greece. Image: http://orangecountysportsclub.com/blog/olympic-fever-u2026fun-facts-about-the-programming-the-world-is-watching/ -
First Female Athletes compete
In 1900, the first female athletes competed in the Olympic games. Helene de Pourtales became the first female Olympic champion as a member of the Swedish 2-3 ton yacht group. However, it was not until 2012 that every competing country included a woman. Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_de_Pourtal%C3%A8s -
Jesse Owens Dominates Olypmics
Jesse Owens went on to 4 gold medals. His dominance sent waves as Hitler intended to use this Olympics as proof of the "perfect Aryan race". Image: http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2010/05/jesse-owens-and-american-eugenics.html -
First Televised Olympics
The Summer Games of 1936 were the first to be televised. However, they were only locally televised. The event would not be internationally televised for another 20 years. Image: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/politics-policy-people/sociology/family-vs-technology -
First Paralympics
While not officially a part of the Olympics, a series of events called the Stoke Mandeville Games was established in 1948 to help encourage those damaged from WWII reintegrate into society. The Paralympics would be officially declared a segment of the Olympics in 1960. Image: https://www.womenfitness.net/paralympics-athletes/ -
Invasion Protests Lead to International Olympic Boycott
The Suez Crisis pushed Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq to boycott the Olympics as a form of protesting the Israeli occupation the Sinai Peninsula. A Soviet invasion of Hungary also sparked Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland to boycott the games as well. Image: https://clancytucker.blogspot.com/2017/10/4-october-2017-suez-crisis.html -
Civil Rights Protest
After competing in the 200M Sprint, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, donned black gloves and raised their fists in protest of the treatment of African-Americans in the US. Both men were promptly banned by the IOC. Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute -
Terror Attack in Munich
Palestinian terrorists attacked and kidnapped many of the Israeli athletes in order to negotiate the release of over 200 Palestinian prisoners. After a failed rescue mission of the hostages 11 Israeli athletes, 5 Palestinian terrorists, and 1 German police officer were dead. Image: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2015/09/26/olympics/munich-72-and-beyond-chronicles-aftermath/#.Wo4BNKjwaUk -
US boycotts Olympics
In the height of the Cold War, the 1980 Olympics were to be held in Moscow. The tension between the US and the USSR prompted President Jimmy Carter to declare a boycott on the games and instead hosted an alternative event in the US. Image: https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/1980-us-boycotted-the-moscow-olympics-because-russia-invaded-afghanistan/ -
Show of Unity for Korea
At the 2000 Olympics, North and South Korea walked together as one group for the first time as a sign of unity between the 2 conflicting nations. They would again display this unity at the opening ceremonies in 2018. Image: http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=23448 -
Refugee Athletes
While countless people were displaced from their homes due to the conflicts in the middle east, many athletes were not able to compete under the flag of a nation. This led to the first a group of refugee athletes who would compete under a neutral flag. Image: http://www.humnews.com/humnewscom/tag/refugees
