The Olympics of Ancient Greece
Although records(registros) cannot verify games earlier
than 776 BC, the contests(competiciones, concursos) in
Homer's Iliad indicate a much earlier(mucho más
temprana) competitive tradition. The ancient Greek games were
held, every fourth summer, at Olympia, in honor of Zeus. They reached their
height(cumbre) in the 5th-4th cent. BC; thereafter(a
partir de entonces) they became more and more professionalized
until, in the Roman period, they provoked much censure. They were eventually(finalmente)
discontinued(suspendidos, interrumpidos) by Emperor
Theodosius I of Rome at the end of the 4th cent. AD
Among(entre) the Greeks, the games were nationalistic in
spirit; states were said to have been prouder(más orgullosos)
of Olympic victories than of battles won. Women, foreigners(extranjeros),
slaves, and dishonored persons were forbidden(prohibido)
to compete. Contestants(concursantes, competidores) were
required to train faithfully(fielmente) for 10 months
before the games, had to remain 30 days under the eyes of officials in Elis,
who had charge of the games(estuvo a cargo de los juegos),
and had to take an oath(prestar juramento) that
they had fulfilled(cumplido) the training requirements
before participating. At first(al principio), the Olympic
games were confined to running(se reducían a carreras),
but over time(con el tiempo) new events were added:
the long run (720 BC), when the loincloth(taparrabos) was
abandoned and athletes began competing naked(desnudos);
the pentathlon (708 BC); boxing (688 BC); chariot racing(carrera de
cuádrigas) (680 BC); the pankration (648 BC), involving boxing and
wrestling(lucha) contests for boys (632 BC); and the foot
race with armor(armadura) (580 BC).
Greek women, forbidden not only to participate in but also to watch the
Olympic games, held(mantuvieron) games of their own,
called the Heraea. Those were also held every four years but had fewer
events than the Olympics. Known to have been conducted(llevados a
cabo) as early as the 6th cent. BC, the Heraea games were
discontinued about the time the Romans conquered Greece. The winners of the
Olympics (and of the Heraea) were crowned(coronados) with
chaplets of wild olive(coronas de oliva salvaje = laureles),
and in their home city-states male champions were also awarded(galadornados
con) valuable(valiosos) gifts and privileges.
The Modern Olympics
The modern revival(renacer) of the Olympic games is due(debido) in
a large measure(a grandes rasgos) to the
efforts of Pierre, baron de Coubertin, of France. They were held(celebrados),
appropriately enough, in Athens in 1896, but that meeting and the ones that
followed at Paris (1900) and at St. Louis (1904) were hampered(obstaculizados) by poor
organization and the absence of worldwide(mundial) representation. The first
successful meet was held at London in 1908; since then the games have been
held in cities throughout the world (see Sites of
the Modern Olympic Games , table). World War I prevented(impidió) the Olympic
meeting of 1916, and World War II the 1940 and 1944 meetings. The number of
entrants, competing nations, and events have increased steadily(constantemente).
To the traditional events of
track and field
athletics(pruebas de atletismo) , which include the decathlon and heptathlon, have been added
a host(gran cantidad) of games and sports—archery(tiro
con arco), badminton, baseball and softball,
basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, diving(submarinismo),
equestrian contests(concursos de hípica), fencing(esgrima), field hockey, gymnastics, judo and taekwondo, the modern
pentathlon, rowing(remo, piragüismo), sailing, shooting, soccer(fútbol), swimming,
table tennis(tenis de mesa), team
(field) handball, tennis, trampoline, the triathlon, volleyball, water polo,
weight lifting(levantamiento de pesas), and wrestling. Olympic events for women made their first
appearance in 1912. A separate series of winter Olympic meets, inaugurated
(1924) at Chamonix, France, now includes ice hockey, curling, bobsledding,
luge, skeleton, and skiing, snowboarding, and skating events. Since 1994 the
winter games have been held in even-numbered years(años pares) in which the summer games
are not contested. Until late in the 20th cent. the modern Olympics were
open only to amateurs, but the governing bodies(cuerpos
gubernamentales) of several sports now permit
professionals to compete as well.
As a visible focus of world energies, the Olympics have been prey to many
factors that thwarted(frustrado) their ideals of world cooperation and athletic
excellence. As in ancient Greece, nationalistic fervor has fostered(fomentado) intense
rivalries(rivalidades) that at times threatened(amenazaron) the survival of the games.
Although
officially only individuals win Olympic medals, nations routinely assign
political significance to the feats(hazañas) of their citizens and teams. Between
1952 and 1988 rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, rooted(alentó)
in mutual political antagonism, resulted in each boycotting(boicoteo
de ambos) games hosted by
the other (Moscow, 1980; Los Angeles, 1984). Politics has influenced the
Olympic games in other ways, from the propaganda of the Nazis in Berlin
(1936) to pressures leading to the exclusion of white-ruled Rhodesia from
the Munich games (1972). At Munich, nine Israeli athletes were kidnapped(raptados) and
murdered(asesinados) by Palestinian terrorists.
The International Olympic Committee
(IOC), which sets(establece) and enforces(hace
respetar) Olympic policy, has struggled(luchado) with the
licensing and commercialization of the games, the need to schedule(planificación) events to
accommodate American television networks (whose broadcasting fees help
underwrite(asegurar) the games), and the monitoring(seguimiento) of athletes who seek illegal
competitive advantages, often through the use of performance-enhancing
drugs. The IOC itself has also been the subject of controversy. In 1998 a
scandal erupted with revelations that bribery(soborno) and favoritism had played a
role in the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, Utah, and
in the selection of some earlier venues(sedes anteriores). As a result, the IOC instituted a
number of reforms including, in 1999, initiating age and term limits for
members and barring(impidiendo) them from visiting cities bidding(aspirantes) to be Olympic sites.
|
Inglés
|
Francés |
Alemán
|
Italiano |
Otros
1 (A-E)
| 2 (F-L) |
3 (N-S)
| 4 (T-U)
Árabe |
Chino |
Esperanto
|
Griego
|
Japonés
|
Portugués
|
Rumano
|
Ruso
|
Catalán
|
Euskera