The
evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has caused
several changes to the Olympic Games. Among these adjustments are creating the
Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with
a disability, and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. The IOC has
adapted to economic, political, and technological advancements, shifting the
Olympics from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allow
participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media
created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercializing the Games. World
wars caused the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games to be cancelled. Large boycotts
during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games.The Olympic
Movement comprises international sports federations (IFs), National Olympic
Committees (NOCs), and organizing committees for each specific Olympic Games.
As the decision-making body, the IOC chooses each Games' host city, and
organizes and funds the Games according to the Olympic Charter. The IOC
determined the olympic program, which comprises the sports to be contested at
the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols; e.g., the Olympic
flag, torch, and opening and closing ceremonies. Over 13,000 athletes compete
at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400
events. The first, second, and third place finishers in each event receive
Olympic medals: gold, silver, and bronze, respectively.The Games have grown so
much that nearly every nation is now represented, creating many challenges such
as boycotts, doping, bribery, and acts of terrorism. Every two years the
Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to
attain national and sometimes international fame and the host city and country
to present themselves to the world.
Sports
Main
article: Olympic sports
The Olympic
Games program consists of 35 sports, 30 disciplines and nearly 400 events. For
example, wrestling is a Summer Olympic sport, comprising two disciplines:
Greco-Roman and Freestyle. It is further broken down into fourteen events for
men and four events for women, each representing a different weight class. The
Summer Olympics program includes 26 sports, while the Winter Olympics program
features 15 sports. Athletics, swimming, fencing, and artistic gymnastics are
the only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program.
Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping,
and speed skating have been featured at every Winter Olympics program since its
inception in 1924. Current Olympic sports, like badminton, basketball, and
volleyball, first appeared on the program as demonstration sports, and were
later promoted to full Olympic sports. Some sports that were featured in
earlier Games were later dropped from the program.Olympic sports are governed
by international sports federations (IFs) recognized by the IOC as the global
supervisors of those sports. There are 35 federations represented at the IOC.
There are sports recognized by the IOC that are not included on the Olympic
program. These sports are not considered Olympic sports, but they can be
promoted to this status during a program revision that occurs in the first IOC
session following a celebration of the Olympic Games. During such revisions,
sports can be excluded or included in the program on the basis of a two-thirds
majority vote of the members of the IOC. There are recognized sports that have
never been on an Olympic program in any capacity, including chess and surfing.In
October and November 2004, the IOC established an Olympic Programme Commission,
which was tasked with reviewing the sports on the Olympic program and all
non-Olympic recognized sports. The goal was to apply a systematic approach to
establishing the Olympic program for each celebration of the Games. The
commission formulated seven criteria to judge whether a sport should be included
on the Olympic program. These criteria are history and tradition of the sport,
universality, popularity of the sport, image, athletes' health, development of
the International Federation that governs the sport, and costs of holding the
sportFrom this study five recognized sports emerged as candidates for inclusion
at the 2012 Summer Olympics: golf, karate, rugby union, roller sports and squash.
These sports were reviewed by the IOC Executive Board and then referred to the
General Session in Singapore in July 2005. Of the five sports recommended for
inclusion only two were selected as finalists: karate and squash. Neither sport
attained the required two-thirds vote and consequently they were not promoted
to the Olympic program. In October 2009 the IOC voted to instate golf and rugby
union as Olympic sports for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic GamesThe 114th IOC
Session, in 2002, limited the Summer Games program to a maximum of 28 sports, 301
events, and 10,500 athletes. Three years later, at the 117th IOC Session, the
first major program revision was performed, which resulted in the exclusion of
baseball and softball from the official program of the 2012 London Games. Since
there was no agreement in the promotion of two other sports, the 2012 program
featured just 26 sports. The 2016 and 2020 Games will return to the maximum of
28 sports given the addition of rugby and golf.
