Track and Field Specs

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Track and Field

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Around the Track and Back

THE MODERN OLYMPICS

Development
The revival of the Olympic Games occurred in 1896. The Greeks themselves had tried to revive the Olympics by holding local athletic games in Athens during the 1800s, but without lasting success. A council did agree that the Olympics would move every four years to other great cities of the world. Thirteen countries competed at the Athens Games in 1896. Nine sports were on the agenda: cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weight lifting, and wrestling. The 14-man U. S. team dominated the track and field events, taking first place in 9 of the 12 events. The Games were a success, and a second Olympiad, to be held in France, was scheduled. Olympic Games were held in 1900 and 1904, and by 1908 the number of competitors more than quadrupled the number at Athens--from 311 to 2,082.

Beginning in 1924 a Winter Olympics was included--to be held at a separate cold-weather sports site in the same year as the Summer Games--the first held at Chamonix, France. In 1992 about 2,174 athletes from 63 nations competed at Albertville, France, in a program that included Alpine and Nordic skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, bobsledding, and luge. But the Summer Games, with its wide array of events, are still the focal point of the modern Olympics. The standard events are archery, basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian arts, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming and diving and synchronized swimming, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling (both freestyle and Greco-Roman), and yachting. The Games are governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Special Olympics
The Special Olympics is an organized athletic competition at the local, national and international levels for retarded children and adults. In order to compete boys and girls must be eight years old or older, and most usually have an IQ of 80 or lower. The Special Olympics was developed in the spirit of the Olympics to give the differently abled a chance to compete as well.