| The Olympic Games or the Olympiad is the largest international combined sports competition of the present day which is held each four years.
The tradition existing in ancient Greece, in the end of the 19th century had been revived by the French public figure Pierre de Coubertin. Except for the years which had fallen to world wars, the Olympic Games are known also as the Summer Olympic Games and were held every four years since 1896. In 1924 the Winter Olympic Games were established and were initially played in the same year as the summer games. However, since 1994, the time of conducting the Winter Olympic Games has shifted to two years in reference to the time of holding the summer games.
Ancient Olympic games:
The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece had represented the religious and sports holidays spent in Olympia. Information on the origin of the games is lost, but some legends describing this event have remained. Though it is known that the games were played earlier also, the first documentary evidence confirmed that the celebrations relate to 776 BC. For the period of the holding of the games a sacred armistice was announced, during this time it was impossible to wage war.
The Olympic Games have essentially lost their significance with the arrival of the Romans. After Christianity became the official religion, the games began to be considered as a display of paganism, and in 394 B.C. they had been forbidden by Emperor Feodosius I.
Countries – Participants of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
It is expected; that for these games still more countries will participate than before for the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, however the number of sportsmen will be shortened to approximately 10500 people.
In February 2006, the first formed National Olympic Committee of the Marshall Islands, have the chance to send their players to the Games. On the 6th of July 2007, Montenegro (gained Independence from Serbia) and Tuvalu has the right to participate in the Games.
North and South Korea declared that they are willing to participate in the Games as a single team. The heads of both the National Olympic Committee and president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge met on the 5th of September 2006 for a possibility to serve as a combined team. Later the presidents of both the committees met separately, and then they had differences regarding the organization of the teams, although they declared that they are still ready to have discussions.
News from the 2006 Torino Olympic Games: Far, far away from the snow covered Alps in Europe, the site of the Winter Olympics in Italy, another sporting event has caught the attention of people in rural India. The sporting event in India is featuring everything from feats of strength to bull racing. The event is the Rural Olympics, a three day long affair that features a variety of unusual sports. There is bike jumping over a cow and a man pulling a tractor with his teeth. The bullock cart race is the highlight of the games. The competitor in that event stands on the back of a cart and holds onto two young bulls that race towards the finish line.
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