History in The Making: 4 Olympic Facts You Might Not Have Known

Olympic-MedalsWith the opening of the 2014 Olympics excitement has been building in anticipation of what teams will take gold, silver and bronze.  So far we have seen some great competition. Figure Skating, Snowboarding, Luge, Ski Jumping and Speedskating are just a few.  The Olympic tradition has been going on for centuries and has evolved into the great Winter and Summer Games we know today. Here are four historic facts about the Olympics that you may not have known.

1. Ancient Greece

The Olympics were originally celebrated as a religious festival starting in 776 B.C. celebrating the Greek God Zeus. History tells us the first Olympian to win an Olympic event was Coroebus who at the time was a chef. The event was The Stade which was a 192 meter footrace. Around 393 A.D the celebrated games were banned and wouldn’t surface again until 1894.

2. Olympic Revival

Though the Olympics were banned for quite some time, hope was not lost for the ancient games.  Baron Pierre De Coubertin proposed a reviving the games in a new tradition. The revival of the ancient games took place in Greece in 1896 which is what we now know as the Summer Olympic Games. The first Winter Olympic Games came about in 1924 and was held in France.

3. Four Years or Two

The Olympic Games were traditionally held every four years up until 1994. In 1986 the International Olympic Committee ruled that the games still be held every four years but on alternating cycles. This historic decision changed the Olympics to a 2 year cycle that alternated between the Summer and Winter games.

4. The Games in Your Living Room

We have grown accustom to watching the Olympics in our living rooms on T.V. for years, some of us for as long as we can remember but the games were not always at our finger tips. The Olympics were not televised until 1960.  On February 18th 1960 Walter Cronkite guided families through this historic televised event on CBS.  The Olympics have been broadcast over the airwaves ever since.

The Olympics have impacted history throughout the years whether you are watching them on T.V. or attending. After our historic opening ceremony of the Lakeside Office Olympics our athletes prepared for their first event; The Recycle Bin Relay. This intense relay challenged our athletes to recycle as many pieces of paper possible into a recycling bin within one minute. The event was fast passed and kept us at the very edge of our seats!

Congratulations to the first Lakeside Games winner; Customer Service! They took on the Recycle Bin Relay head on and never gave up.  Stay tuned to the Lakeside View! We have more exciting coverage of the #LakesideGames coming your way!

 

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