By Silvana Wilson, Montclair State University
A Quick Recap: The History of the Olympic
The infamous Olympic games were first held in Olympia, Greece back in 776 BC. Zeus, the king of the gods was the inspiration that lit the flame to create these legendary competitions. Athletes would pray to Zeus and leave him gifts in honor of the games.
However, there was a turn of events in A.D. 393. The Romans decided to ban the Olympic games after Rome took over Greece.
There was a brief period of silence and then…
A Frenchman by the name of Baron Pierre de Coubertin decided to revive the Olympics. After 1,503 years of remaining dormant, the games were going to begin again. In 1894, he founded the International Olympic Committee to educate people about sports. In 1896, the first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece.
Let the games begin!
Added: New Sports That Will Be Showing Face In The 2024 Summer Games
- Breaking
What is widely known as breakdancing will be held at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This sport started in the Bronx in the 1970s and evolved into a competitive sport. When breaking was held at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, it was chosen for the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, it will not be at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. - Skateboarding
Skateboarding was originally held at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and is now traveling over to the Paris Games. In the Tokyo Games, Japan won three out of the four medals. I wonder who will be the victors this year? The street finals are July 27 and 28, and the park finals are August 6 and 7. - Sport Climbing
Like skateboarding, sport climbing also came from Tokyo. Two Spanish athletes took gold medals at the Tokyo Games. At the Paris Olympics, athletes will climb side by side up a 15-meter wall in the speed event. To learn more about the different types of sport climbing that will take place, click here. - Kayak Cross
In this unique sport, four people race each other from a ramp above the water where there are six downstream gates and two upstream gates. The race begins with the competitors being dropped from a fifteen-foot ramp into the water and in a bumper car style being able to hit each other with kayaks and paddles to strive for gold and win the race.
Dropped: Sports That Just Didn’t Make the Cut in 2024
- Baseball
Due to conflicting timing with the MLB, baseball will make its comeback at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028, but unfortunately, not this year. - Softball
Softball is an iconic sport but has been taken out of this year’s games. The main reason it was nixed was due to it being less popular and the support for the sport coming back was extremely low. Softball will make a return once the US holds the Olympics at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. - Karate
Surprisingly, Karate made its debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 but was taken out this year. It was deemed not popular enough to feature at the Paris 2024 games.
Since the Olympics began, there has been a lot of hype and television coverage. It was amazing to see the United States win its first rugby medal and Katie Ledecky win her ninth Olympic gold medal. This would mark the most gold medals won by any female Olympic athlete in history. Katie beat her own Olympic record as well.
Personally, I’d like to see pickleball become an Olympic event in the future. There could be singles and doubles pickleball events considering how popular the sport has become. Not only that but maybe chess could be added to the Olympics. There are over 600 million people who play chess throughout the world so it would make sense to have that become a new event. What would you like to see added to the Olympic games?
Sources:
Who brought back the Olympic Games?
How much time went by before the Olympic Games were brought back?
Sports that are removed for the Paris 2024 Olympics
