Title: Olympic Games Facts for Kids
Headings: Olympic Games facts for kids
Olympic Games facts for kids
Contents
Ancient Olympics
Modern Games
1896 Games
Changes and adaptations
Winter Games
Youth Games
Olympic Movement
Opening
Closing
Medal presentation
Sports
Amateurism and professionalism
Host nations and cities
Olympic Games host cities
Images for kids

Content: The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events. There is no agreement on when the Games officially ended, but many historians think it is 393AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all Pagan religious practices should end. Another date might be 426AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. After the Olympics stopped, they were not held again until the late 19th century. Modern Games
Baron Pierre de Coubertin
An attempt to copy the ancient Olympic Games was the L'Olympiade de la République, a national Olympic festival held annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France. The competition had several sports from the ancient Greek Olympics. Greek interest in bringing back the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833. Evangelis Zappas, a wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece, in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games. Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859, which was held in Athens.