The Development of Olympic Sports

The Development of Olympic Sports

The modern Olympic games have been held every four years since they were established in 1896, and have evolved and changed at almost all of the four-year meets. Winners of the athletics events that were part of the inaugural 1896 Games, for example, were given silver medals and olive branches while their runner-ups got copper medals and laurel branches. Today, of course, major prize money is involved as well.

Olympic Events Over Time

Grand Prix equestrian jumping, similar to modern show-jumping events, was introduced at the Games in 1900. Of the 45 entries received, only 37 competitors actually participated and first, second and third place went to 2 Belgians and a Frenchman respectively. At the very next Summer Olympics, in 1904, Boxing was included in the line-up for the first time. It has been played at every Olympiad ever since, with the exception of the 1912 Games in Stockholm. Judo has followed a similar pattern, and was introduced in 1964 in Tokyo. It has only been excluded once, in 1968, in all the time since then.

The next big addition to the Olympic calendar was Field hockey in 1908, and the modern pentathlon followed four years later in 1912. This involves different events, namely fencing, swimming, show jumping, and pistol-shooting and cross-country running blended together.

The 1936 Games marked the last time that field handball was played, with the indoor version being introduced at the Munich Games in 1972. This was also the first time that Badminton was included, although it was played as a demonstration game until the 1992 Olympiad held in Barcelona.

Synchronised swimming was introduced as late as 1984, and has been dominated by Russia since 2000. The country has won every single gold medal in these Olympic events, up to and including 2012. The debut of BMX events came in 2008, and the development generating the most excitement in the 2016 Rio Summer Games is probably the inaugural eGames.

 

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